WinHelp

WinHelp WinHelp was an early type of online help for software. It runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems. Now, WinHelp is never used for new help projects, but some legacy systems use it.

WinHelp can include graphics, multimedia, hyperlinks, and pop-up windows. Therefore, for topics, there are no disadvantages compared to the current help formats. A large limitation is the navigation, which is very difficult to use, because you cannot easily view both the contents list and the content at the same time. Microsoft compiled HTML Help overcomes this limitation.

Windows Vista and WinHelp

According to Microsoft Knowledge Base article 917607 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607), Windows Vista partly supports WinHelp. WinHelp has two formats:

16-bit .HLP files. The files are read using the WinHelp.exe program, which is supplied with Windows Vista.
32-bit .HLP files. The files are read using the WinHlp32.exe program, which is not supplied with Windows Vista.

Although 32-bit WinHelp files can be viewed in Windows Vista by downloading and installing WinHlp32.exe, Microsoft recommends that software developers change the online help to an alternative help file format, such as compiled HTML Help, HTML, or XML. For more information, see 'Help Engine Support' in 'The Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Developer Story: Application Compatibility Cookbook' on the MSDN website (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480152.aspx#appcomp_topic30).