FreeWX / FreeWX-Wi Program Requirements

FreeWX and FreeWX-Wi are 32 bit applications for the Microsoft Windows environment on a PC compatible computer. The programs were developed using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 SP5 and require the Microsoft Visual Basic runtime files to be installed on the target machine. Most computers with recent versions of Windows will already have the required runtime files but to ensure you don't experience difficulties, the most recent version of the Visual Basic runtime files are included in the full version distributions of FreeWX and FreeWX-Wi.

FreeWX and FreeWX-Wi have been run successfully with Windows 98 (all editions), Windows ME, Windows NT (SP6a), Windows 2000 and Windows XP. FreeWX and FreeWX-Wi are NOT supported under Windows 95. There are numerous issues with outdated or missing components in Windows 95 and while the programs may run on some systems they refuse to work on others. 

It should be noted that FreeWX and FreeWX-Wi are designed to be run continuously in order to gather meaningful meteorological data. As the programs rely on many parts of the Windows operating system, performance and stability is linked to your Windows installation. The most reliable Windows versions for long term stability are XP and 2000. Windows NT4 is quite stable but is now somewhat dated as is Windows 98. As such, both NT and 98 should be fully updated with the most recent service packs. Windows ME (as I have learned from personal experience) seems to be intrinsically unstable and is best avoided for any application that needs to run reliably for long periods.

FreeWX and FreeWX-Wi have to do a lot of "real time" processing. The minimum computer hardware is probably something like a Pentium 200 with 64MB RAM. You must have a minimum screen resolution of 800 x 600 at 256 colours to fully display the main window.

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