I don't know what version of Windows you're running, but make sure you try
to launch the executable
​or the command prompt window ​
as an administrator
​ (even if you're logged in as an admin).​
​ I imagine that anything that tries to have the system listen on port 103
would require elevated privileges with Windows 7 and up.​


I'd also check the event log to see if any clues can be gleaned from it (my
apologies if this was obvious to you).

If you have a system running an older version of Windows (as far back as
Windows 98 from what I saw in the system requirements), try that.

Good luck.  I'd be curious how you make out with it.



John Lolis
Coordinator of Computer Systems
White Plains Public Library
100 Martine Avenue
White Plains, NY  10601

tel: 1.914.422.1497
fax: 1.914.422.1452

http://whiteplainslibrary.org/


On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 1:33 PM, Will Martin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> All,
>
> We've got a copy of this book of abstracts for presentations at a chemical
> engineering conference in 2005:
>
> http://odin-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/und:und_all:ODIN_ALEPH006134188
>
> It's got a CD-ROM included with the full papers for hundreds of them, and
> now we have a patron who wants to consult one of them.
>
> Unfortunately, we can't get the dang thing to work.  The files on the disc
> are encrypted.  There's a utility which is supposed to decrypt them, but it
> doesn't work.  When you run the program, it starts a web browser and takes
> to localhost:103.[1]  After that, it times out and reports that it's unable
> to connect.  Yes, I disabled the Windows firewall completely and tried it
> in multiple browsers.
>
> There are several little executable files on the CD, all of which appear
> to do the exact same thing -- open a failed connection to localhost:103.
>
> Executing them from the command line yielded no useful information, even
> using command-line switches like -h, --help, /?, and /h.  None of them had
> any help text, though a few produced badly written HTML output claiming
> they couldn't access things, or that they were corrupted.  I take that as
> an indication that my wild-ass guessing at their purposes and usage were
> wrong, rather than actual file corruption.
>
> I've sent an email to the company that made it (they're still around!) but
> thought I'd ask here also.  Any insights?
>
> Will Martin
>
> Web Services Librarian
> University of North Dakota
>
> [1] Firefox blocks port 103 by default.  To get by that you have to
> manually enable port 103 by putting
> user_pref("network.security.ports.banned.override", "103"); in your
> profile's user.js.
>