This is the Troubleshooting Guide for QPP, QPP40, and QRP.  "QPP" is used in the text but the Tips are for all versions of the software unless noted otherwise. Additional notes for QRP users:  When opening QRP, a pop-up window will ask if you want to "UPDATE" something.  Respond by clicking on"NO".  Also, QRP does not run on Excel 2007.  It runs well on any version of Excel from 2002 to 2006.   Tip 0 Increase your virtual memory:  Right-click on My Computer.  Go to Properties > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced > change the virtual memory settings.  720MB is sufficient.   Tip 1   Make sure that you have copied and unzipped the zipped file into a folder on your hard drive.  Do not try to run from inside the zip folder.  Here is the downloading/extracting (unzipping) process in greater detail: By following the directions below for a download, you are accepting the User Agreement (so you will want to read it)---the full address is: http://www.quantext.com/subpage2.html If you accept this agreement, proceed: Enter http://www.4shared.com/dir/1028747/fa591c9a/sharing.html in your browser. After hitting the square button with the green arrow (the download button) for QPPDoptions32.zip (or whatever your version of the trial is:  32, 33, 50, etc.), it takes you to a 4shared site where you hit the blue “Download Now, no viruses detected” button in the center of the page.  It will ask you to wait for under a minute, and then offer a button entitled “Click here to download this file”.  From here, it kicks you back to your computer where you choose SAVE.  It then downloads.  When it is finished, you can choose OPEN.  Then it takes you to wherever you saved the ZIPPED FILE on your computer.  You double click on it.  It takes you to a place where you can do things to the file.  On the left side of the page, you can choose "Extract All Files".  Do this.  An "Extraction Wizard" will help do this; push NEXT when it wants you to.  Once the Extraction Wizard is finished, you can double-click on the icon.  Keep double-clicking on it until it shows 4 .pdf files and 1 .xls file.  Read the Quick Start Guide.pdf to get going from there. Dial-Up Connections  In the case of a dial-up line the downloading of the trial is only half of the trouble; the real issue is that the program needs to be able to go out onto the web and retrieve data on the stocks/funds that you are choosing to analyze.  This is true for the licensed version on disc as well.  A dial-up connection will definitely be slow and may cause issues with the program hanging up. Did you Extract/Unzip the files before trying to open/run QPP?  This could be the problem if it is not opening correctly.  This could be the problem even if it looks like it opened but the password is not entering correctly, even though you are using correct capitalization and no extra spaces. If you have a CD (the licensed version), the files are not zipped, but you still need to drag the entire folder on the CD onto your hard drive somewhere (save it somewhere)—you can pick the folder you want to drag it into.  Do not save it directly into "the Desktop". Further details on this process:  There are two ways to move the files from the CD to your computer.  1) Open one window for the disc drive (if this does not automatically open when you insert the CD.)  Open another window that shows where you would like to store QPP (somewhere in My Documents, perhaps.)  Position the two windows so that you can see most of both.  Left click on the QPP folder in the disc drive window and drag it to the open space in the other window. 2) Another option is to Right Click on the QPP folder in the disc drive window, and choose Copy.  Then go to the place on your computer where you would like to store QPP (in My Documents somewhere.)  Right click anywhere inside of that window, and choose Paste.   Tip 2 Replace all of the "-" symbols in the sections where you enter tickers with a real ticker and then run again--use MSFT, for example.  You can allocate these extras to zero.  There seems to be an EXCEL bug that makes the program not like these symbols in some versions.  (As a test, you can run with TIP in every slot to make sure that it is not one of the tickers that QPP doesn't like.)   Tip 3   Make sure that you have Calculations in Excel set to Automatic--this is important for QPP to run.  You can make sure that Calculations are set to Automatic by looking at Tools>Options>Calculation and make sure that the button marked Automatic is checked.  If in doubt, hit F9.  This runs calculations manually.  Hit F9 before hitting Get Data, if you are needing to run Calculations manually. If you are having issues with the Calculations Setting resetting itself back to Manual, please follow these instructions:  Close QPP, keeping Excel Open.  (Close by using the pull down menu from File.)  Change the Calculations to Automatic, using the above instructions.  Save.  Then open QPP. Special Instructions for Excel 2007:  Click on the Windows icon in the upper left corner of the Excel screen for a pull-down menu.  At the very bottom of this menu look at Excel Options > find Calculations > Automatic.   Tip 4 For trial users, your name and password were given at the very bottom of the initial Download and Run email.  For licensed users, the name and password are on the half sheet included with your CD. You enter the name and password in two boxes to the RIGHT of the yellow boxes on page 1 of QPP once you have opened QPP.  Some people have their screens 'zoomed in' so that the username and password boxes do not show (even after scrolling up to page 1).  If this is the case, you will need to scroll over to the right a little bit to see these boxes.  Look at the box marked Annual Standard Deviation (in yellow) near where you entered your username and password on Page 1 of QPP.  If that reads 0%, you have entered your username and password incorrectly.  Make sure that you have no extra spaces and have matched the capitalization on the username that was sent.  Though the username appears to have spaces in front of it, it does not.  There are no spaces before or after the name, just one between first and last names.  There are no spaces in the password.  (Here's the "check":  As you enter the name and password correctly, the 0% changes to 15.07 %.) If you cannot get the password and username to enter correctly, please check the following: In the case of the downloaded trial:  Please check that you downloaded the version mentioned in your Download and Run Guide (the initial email.)  The password is unique to that trial version. Please check to make sure that you unzipped/ extracted all of the files after downloading them; please review Tip 1, above. In the case of the licensed CD, please make sure that you copied the files to the computer.  The program will not run off of the CD directly.   Tip 5  Make sure that Macros are enabled.  Every time that you are opening QPP a pop-up window should appear.  This window asks you if you will enable the macros.  To run QPP, you will have to enable the macros.  (The program has to be allowed to go out to the web and retrieve data on the tickers that you would like to use in your analysis.) If for some reason the pop-up does not appear as you are opening QPP, then you will have to take a couple additional steps.  Close QPP, but leave Excel open.  In Excel, (but not from within QPP), go to Tools > Macros > Security and set the security to Low.  Then open QPP from within Excel (File > Open >  . . . Quantext Portfolio Planner v4.0) Special Instructions for Excel 2007:  Close QPP, but leave Excel open.  In Excel, (but not from within QPP), click on the Windows icon in the upper left corner of the Excel screen for a pull-down menu.  At the very bottom of this menu look at Excel Options > Trust center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings (from left panel) > Enable Macros.  Save.  Then open QPP from within Excel.   Tip 6 If QPP has run before but now crashes this means that either your trial has expired or that Calculations have set themselves back to manual—which happens in EXCEL if the program gets hung up.  Please see Tip 3 for setting the Calculations back to Automatic.   Tip 7 Check your version of EXCEL.  If it is old, QPP may not run.  QPP runs seamlessly with any newer versions but there have been issues with EXCEL 2000 and older.  Attempting to run QPP in versions of Excel that are 2000 and older will typically result in the following error message: "Not Enough Memory"; these versions of Excel were not built to support programs as large as QPP. If you need Excel, or a newer version of Excel, to be able to run the trial, here is the URL for a free trial of MS Office: http://us1.trymicrosoftoffice.com/default.aspx?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=733AD993-21D5-44E8-8908-8CD2A0C7D150   Tip 8 If you use McAffee for your security, try this: 1. Click on the "Personal Firewall Plus" tab of the McAffee Security Center. 2. Click on the "Options" tab.  The Personal Firewall Plus pop-up screen will appear. 3. Click on the "Internet Applications" tab on the Personal Firewall Plus pop-up screen. 4. Scroll down the applications list until you reach the "Microsoft Office Excel" line.  Highlight this line. 5. Change permission to "outbound access only" (in the lower right hand corner of the screen.)   Tip 9 You will need to have installed and enabled the Analysis ToolPak in EXCEL.  In the upper tool bar of EXCEL once you have opened QPP go to Tools >> Add Ins and make sure that Analysis ToolPak is checked.  If this was not installed on your computer when Office was installed, you will need the disc to install this.  You can choose Analysis ToolPak or Analysis ToolPak VBA, either one will work.  (You can have both checked if you like.)  Special Instructions for Excel 2007:  To check if the Analysis Toolpack is installed, click on the Windows icon in the upper left corner of the Excel screen for a pull-down menu.  At the very bottom of this menu look at Excel Options > Add Ins > choose Analysis Toolpack or Analysis Toolpack VBA (either one will do.)   Tip 10 If you are having issues with QPP hanging up, you may try disabling Auto-recover.  Even if you are not having issues with hanging up, you can disable Auto-recover just to save system resources.  To do this, in EXCEL go to Tools menu and then select Options.  In Options, select Save and then click the box to disable Auto-recover.  (Turning off Auto-recover has also been found to be one of the possible solutions for the "Run Time Error 1004 -Unable to open. . .")   Tip 11 Changing the name of the QPP Excel file will cause QPP to not run.  It needs to have its original name, or else the program, once it has retrieved data from the web, cannot find its way back to QPP.   Tip 12  Enter the tickers carefully.  Spaces before or after the ticker symbols will not work.  Similarly, any other typo will prevent QPP from running successfully. You need to make sure that all of the tickers that you enter are currently traded publicly (and listed at Yahoo!Finance.)  You can check tickers individually at Yahoo!Finance.  At Yahoo!Finance you can look at the historical period of each ticker and make sure that the data that you're asking for is available. The graphs available at the lower, right side of the Y!F screen for each ticker are useful in this quest.  (QPP will give you an error message of "short record" if the problem is just the historical period, but this is a handy tool.)  If what you are trying to put in is not a valid ticker, you may need to use a proxy.  For example, for money market funds that are mere cash repositories, you could use an ultra short bond fund, or a publicly traded money market fund such as DVMKX.  To further illustrate this, let’s consider the two money market funds, VMMXX and DVMKX.  VMMXX is not publicly traded; it is essentially a cash repository; QPP will not be able to use it.  It does, however, show up at Y!F if you type in that ticker and hit “Get Quote”. The reason that it will not work in QPP is that the historical data is not available to QPP.  The easiest way to identify this at Y!F is by the graph on the right side of the screen.  This is the link to the screen for DVMKX, a money market fund that is publicly traded: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=dvmkx If you follow this link to Y!F you will note that there is a graph on the right side of the DVMKX page.  (On the VMMXX screen there is no graph.)  Under the graph, buttons are given for graphs of greater detail.  The historical periods listed as graphing options (the buttons) already give you a sense of the historical period that Y!F has, but if you click on MAX, than you will be able to see how far back Y!F's data goes. Individual bonds will also require the use of a proxy.  You can use a bond fund, such as AGG, as a proxy when trying to model an individual bond. --or use an ETF that invests in TIPS (TIP).  --or, you could look on Yahoo!Finance for a bond fund that suits your purposes. If you have not yet run QPP successfully and encounter difficulties upon hitting the GET DATA button, please refer to Tip 14.  If you have been using QPP successfully and then encounter an error message after hitting GET DATA, then check the tickers.  A test that you can perform to check whether the issue is being caused by one or more of the tickers, is to fill every ticker slot with SPY.  To perform this test, please fill Start Date with 4/30/2005 (in that format) and fill End Date with 4/30/2008.  Hit GET DATA.  If this test results in every slot in the “check” column filling with OK, then you know that the tickers and/or dates that you were initially using need inspection.  (Tip 16 is helpful in performing this test.)  For inspecting the required formatting for dates, please see Tip 13. Tip 13   The formatting of numbers and dates must be in US English format.  This includes what you enter, as well as your Excel’s reading of the entries.  People speaking languages other than English commonly have their Excel set up to read other number formats.  Correct Format:  Please note that the dates entered by the user just above the GET DATA button, must be in U.S. format.  For example:   May 31, 2008 needs to be entered as 5/31/2008 The dates must be put in in the correct order.  The earlier date goes on the left (Start Date), the more recent, on the right (End Date). Also, numbers must be entered in U.S. format.  For example:  One hundred thousand dollars and 50 cents must be entered as 100000.50 or 100,000.50 (you do not need to enter the $.)  The following European format will not work:  100.000,50 Changing Excel’s Format Setting:  Here are some indicators to look for if you are having issues, and how to remedy the problem: On page 1 of QPP check that all of the entries are in US format.  If some of the numbers appear to be formatted European style -or other- (with a comma where US format would have a period) please check the Locale Setting (described below.) Page 3 of QPP:  Even if you DO have the dates typed in in US format, check that your Excel is able to read them.  To do this, look directly below the GET DATA button.  If Excel can read the US date formatting, it will instantly calculate and fill the "months" and "years" from that information.  (Hit F9 if you are not certain that Calculations are set to Automatic as described in the Troubleshooting Guide, Tip 3.) How to change the Excel setting (Excel 2002-2006):  Please look under Format > Cells > Number.  Then look for the box marked Locale.  Please choose English US. Select OK. Then SAVE the whole file.  This will do it. For Excel 2007:  Go to the Windows Icon at the upper left corner of the Excel screen.  Click on this to pull down a menu.  Go to 'Popular' from left most list.  At bottom, you will see Language Settings.  Choose' English (United States)'. If not, try this:  Close QPP (and all other Excel files) but leave Excel itself open.  Make the above change to the number formatting.  Save.  Then open QPP from within Excel (File > Open > . . . .> Quantext Portfolio Planner v4.0)   Tip 14   Run Time Error '1004' Unable to open http://chart.yahoo.com/table. . . Internet site reports that the item you requested cannot be found. This error message can be caused by several different things.  The following is a checklist designed to help users rectify the situation: a)  Trial users:  Did you unzip/extract all of the files after downloading?  Please see Tip 1 in the Troubleshooting Guide.  b)  Licensed users:  Did you copy and save the files from the CD onto your computer?  This is also covered in Tip 1 of the Troubleshooting Guide. c)  Did you enter the username and password correctly?  Please see Tip 4 -and note that there is a 'check' for this issue. d)  The issues discussed in Tips 3, 10, 11,13, 17 and 18 are important. e)  If you continue having issues with Run Time Error messages –even after you have checked these Tips, do them in this order:  (a) open Excel without opening QPP; (b) set "automatic" calculations (Tip 3); (c) disable autorecover; (d) WHILE STILL IN EXCEL, open QPP using File > Open > . . .QPP.  For a very few users the settings will not remain set; the sequence of events has made all the difference. f)  Once you are up and running without issue, this error message simply means that one or more of the tickers is not acceptable.  Regarding this, Tips 2 and 12 are the important ones.  If you are unsure if the program is "up and running", try entering SPY into EVERY ticker slot and hitting GET DATA.  Please make sure that there are no extra spaces after the ticker symbols. When it gets stuck on the green and yellow GETTING DATA page, press the tab labeled portfolio report at the bottom left of your screen to return to the planner.   Tip 15 Running QPP on a Macintosh:  Mac users have many more problems than other users.  Apparently, EXCEL is not truly 100% compatible when run on a Mac.  A workable solution is the following: If you have an Intel-based Mac you can install "Parallels," which gives you the ability to switch to a whole different operating system on the fly. Parallels costs $80. www.parallels.com Once you have Parallels with Windows with Excel, it is easy.  You just start Parallels, make sure the networking part is working (e.g. by opening a browser in the Windows session and making sure you can get somewhere).  Then open Excel, open QPP, and follow the directions.  One user’s experience may prove useful to anyone trying to run QPP on a Mac:  When I first subscribed to QPP (middle of 2008), I used a MacBook Pro with Leopard operating system (OS 10.5) running Parallels 3.0, Windows XP, and Microsoft Excel.  A QPP file would analyze a QPP file in about eight minutes, but with considerable computer overheating.  I discovered that a much older Dell Inspiron notebook running Windows XP would do the same analysis in 2.5-3.0 minutes, so ended up using the Dell exclusively.  Upgrading the Mac operating system to Snow Leopard (OS 10.6) resulted in two unfortunate consequences.  First, QPP appeared to hang up using Excel for Mac.  I had run it for as long as 60 minutes, with no apparent progress.  Second, the Snow Leopard upgrade required an additional upgrade to Parallels 4.0.  When using Parallels 4.0, Windows XP and Microsoft Excel, I was getting an error message that stopped QPP. I did some more investigating of my Parallels setup, and discovered that the internet setup had not been properly initiated.  Apparently v4.0 has more flexibility and complexity than v3.0. To my surprise, when this was done, a fresh QPP calculation was done in less than 30 seconds--better than an order of magnitude improvement over Mac Leopard OS 10.5 and Parallels 3.0.  Also, several times faster than my old Dell. Now I'm quite pleased, and if you get similar questions from others, urge them to read the Parallels manual carefully! Tip 16 Preserving a Portfolio and Allocations In running different scenarios, there are several ways to preserve work so that reentering data by hand is not necessary: 1) You can save multiple copies of QPP in differently named folders.  You can only have one open at a time.  (As noted in Tip 11, you cannot rename the QPP Excel file.) 2)  Another option is to open a fresh Excel file and paste your portfolios and allocations in there.  Then you can grab them and paste them back into QPP when you want to return to a particular scenario. When pasting in allocation percentages, be sure to use “paste special” > “values”.  You need to re-run “Get Data” whenever you paste different tickers into QPP.  (However, you do not need to “Get Data” if you are merely changing the allocation percentages.) You can paste QPP’s results into a different Excel file, also, which is a nice way to preserve/compare your results.  To copy and paste, say page 3 of QPP, into a different Excel file, here are directions.  The directions vary slightly for Excel 2007 (see below.) For Excel 2002-2006: Highlight and copy area of interest in QPP Go to other Excel file, place cursor at the top/left portion of the grid that you want to paste the copied material into From the Edit menu at the top of your screen, choose "paste special", then select "Formats", OK Go to the Edit menu again, (leaving the cursor where it is), choose "paste special" again, this time choosing "Values and number formats", the last option on the right, hit OK.  That should do it. For Excel 2007: Highlight and Copy area of interest in QPP Open a different Excel file. (If you would like to create one now, go to the Windows Icon in the upper left corner of your Excel screen and select OPEN.  Choose Blank Workbook.  Hit Create.  Later you can call this Excel file whatever you want, and keep it wherever you want, using Save As.) Place the cursor at the top/left most portion of the grid to which you would like to paste the copied material.  From the Home Menu at the top of the Excel screen, choose the Paste button with the tiny arrow under it.  "Paste Special", then select "Formats, OK. Without moving the cursor, choose "Paste Special" again.  This time, choose "column widths", hit OK. Again, leaving the cursor where it is, choose "paste special".  This time choose "values and number formats" (the last one on the right) and hit OK. That should do it! 3)  The third option is specifically for saving QPP reports -but it does not allow you to easily re-enter the portfolio back into QPP. If you would like to save an entire QPP report, you can create a pdf.  If you do not have a pdf writer, CutePdf offers a free download.  Once you have downloaded CutePdf, it will appear as an option when you select Print in Excel.  If you select CutePdf, it will create a pdf and ask you where you'd like to save it.  You can save it wherever you like, and call it whatever you like. Tip 17 Firewalls on Company Networks Other than the information given in Tip 8 about McAffee Security Systems, we have not heard of users having difficulties with security systems on their personal machines.  However, we have had users run into trouble with firewalls when the computer is part of a company’s network.  In these cases, the system administrators have had firewalls up that prevent QPP from going out the web to retrieve data.  In this case, the Run Time Error message pops up almost immediately upon the user hitting GET DATA.  If you are experiencing a very quick Run Time Error response, please look at Tip 18.  If that is not the issue, please talk to your system adminstator about granting QPP permission to breach your company’s firewall. Tip 18 You must be connected to the internet for QPP to be able to go out onto the web and retrieve data.