Living Cookbook software

[lindag]

What's happened to it?  My LC 2015 has stopped working (along with that of many others).  Checking with Radium Technology forum, this has happened to others and the creator (Lee Grainger) seems to have gone missing. 

Anyone know what's going on?  If I can't get my LC back and running I'll have lost all of the many thousands of recipes I've store there since LC began many years ago.

What the heck am I gonna do?

[AlaMoi]

define thousands. 

if the definition is in the vicinity of 65,535-'ish it could be an "integer" bug in the software.

could be issues of file sizes.

for such problems there is no fix except by the author / access to the source code.

 

silly question, but did this happen when installing to a new machine and/or upgrading the operating system (i.e. to Win10, etc)

 

do you have a back up copy of your data from before this problem?

I would back up the current state of the program; delete all traces of it (see Revouninstaller.com) and reinstall with the old data to see if that is still working.

 

[lindag]

AlaMoi,

thanks for your help, I will give it a try!

[MSRadell]

Have you tried it contacting Radium Technologies with their contact us form? They sell the software and are still advertising it so they might have some knowledge of what's going on with it.  Radium Technologies Contact Us

[lindag]

There have been many requests made to Lee Grainger (owner/creator) over the past many months without any response at all.

Amazon had been selling the software but now it shows as 'no longer available'.  I have a bad feeling about all this.  Seems like Grainger has taken a powder for some reason or other and the subscribers have been left to hanging out to dry.

 

[IndyRob]

First thing:  If you have Windows 10 (or anything recent as recent as Win 7) installed, try running the program by finding the program on the Start menu, right-clicking it, and choosing 'Run as Administrator'.  That might work.  If not, do you have a specific error message it's giving you?

 

Out of curiosity I downloaded a trial version and created a dummy recipe.  Then I tried to find my data without the use of the program.  The data appears to stored in the file...

 

"C:\ProgramData\Radium Technologies\Living Cookbook\5.0\Database\lc50.mdb"

 

The ProgramData is a hidden directory and I had to select the Show Hidden Files option in Windows Explorer to see it.

 

This file appears to be an older version Microsoft Access database.  Unfortunately, it appears to be password protected.  But, being an older version, you may be able to find a utility that will unlock it (Microsoft Office encryption used to be easily crackable).  There's a small chance that your license key is the password, but I doubt it.

 

Another possibility is the backup file.  I found reference to the fact that something like every fifth time you run the program it should prompt you to do a backup.  When I did a backup it asked me where to create it.  The file it created had a .lcb extension.  You could search your computer using a utility (I suggest a free program called Agent Ransack).  This appears to be some sort of proprietary compressed file comprised of the above file and various other files containing user preferences and such.  If you could find a backup file you could try the Restore option (I'd recommend a full backup of your system first though).

 

Their website also has the procedure to move the program to another machine.  This involves uninstalling the program to free up the license key and installing it on another computer.  Then using the backup file to restore your data.

 

This might work since I've been able to install the program and run it seemingly without issue (Win 10).

[lindag]

IndyRob,

I do have Windows 10 and I also have a couple of backups on an SD card.

Many, many people are still successfully running this software, I don't know what there is in common with those of us who cannot run it now. 

I've tried using a System Restore on my pc and changing back to a point in time prior to when I started having the problem, but that didn't work.

Your suggestion to move the software to another pc sounds feasible; I do have a Win7 PC I use as a backup to my other PC.

 

 

 

[Deryn]

I read this thread and wondered if you have recently installed Windows 10? If so, you may have the answer if you can move everything to a Win 7 computer. Perhaps the difference between you and those still able to run this program is that they are still using some version of Windows previous to 10. If this guy has 'disappeared' perhaps he never got around the making the software compatible with Win 10. Sounds as though you may be also lucky if your data was not stored on a 'cloud' somewhere (owned by the person who markets this software, who disappeared).

 

This is one reason I do not trust anything to 'cloud' storage - if that 'cloud' fails (and it can since it is on a server somewhere) or the company fails and stops supporting everything you could definitely lose all your data. Nothing magical about 'clouds' - they are still hardware based, just not in your house. But, one hopes that is not the case here.

 

I hope you get all your recipes back, safe and sound. Good luck.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[IndyRob]

It appears to work fine on my Win 10 machine, although I've done nothing more than create a dummy recipe and do a backup.

 

But you're right about 'The Cloud'.  It's just someone else's computer.

[Martin Fisher]

21 minutes ago, Deryn said:

This is one reason I do not trust anything to 'cloud' storage - if that 'cloud' fails (and it can since it is on a server somewhere) or the company fails and stops supporting everything you could definitely lose all your data

 

Yeah!

I do quadruple backups on different media forms because I'm naturally paranoid! 

[AlaMoi]

Win10 updates what Microsoft thinks needs an update, whether the user has any other ideas or not.

system files, program files, driver files - basically the computer is no longer under user control.

and since computer "configurations" vary, not everyone gets the same set of updates.

 

the pro version of W10 allows automatic updating to be turned off.

 

Microsoft has a long, colorful and bloody history of issuing updates that break their own software as well as other software.  and frankly my deer, they don't give a damn.

 

unless and until someone trips across what "updated file/whatever" has disabled the software, and in the absence of the author, you're toast.

 

your best option is to get it reinstalled and working on an older computer and then export all the recipes/data.

you'll very likely need some new recipe software - or not - keeping your recipes outside of highly proprietary software could prevent a repeat at some point down the line.

[IndyRob]

I haven't had a problem with Win10 (or Win8 for that matter).  I have a pretty complex program that I wrote 18 years ago that still runs fine.  As long as it is run as Administrator.  For security reason, the rules have changed regarding where a program can store data by default.

 

But this program does appear to run on my Win10 machine.

 

An evolutionary step is taking place where computers are not simply static things.  They are increasingly part of a (sometimes dangerous) ecosystem.  Updates are good.  But that's probably enough for this forum.

 

[Deryn]

IndyRob - It may seem as though a discussion related to 'computers' or 'software' in general is a bit off topic here but I am inclined to think that reading this thread could cause a number of people who like to keep their recipes online, and/or in some kind of an app, rather than in a hard copy (book or paper) or even on their own computers (accessed via a purchased program or just in a note/file, etc.) to think carefully about whether that is the only way they want to store recipes that are 'precious' to them. We have had a number of threads here talking about what app, etc. that people like to use for their recipe storage.

 

Several years ago, I carefully scanned in recipes from my great-grandmother's handwritten cookbook (of which only one paper copy existed and it obviously cannot be recreated) and was going to make a real cookbook from those recipes - at least for family distribution, if not more. I took backups constantly however one day I dropped tea on that computer keyboard and fried it. I tried to move the backups to a new computer but for some reason they would not move in any form that was readable - apparently not just the keyboard was destroyed. I could not just go back and redo the work either. The original cookbook was ruined - it was left in a place where rodents got to it, unbeknownst to me - and it now is history. I learned a valuable lesson. Now, I keep several paper copies of anything important and I keep them in different places, and I back up my computer religiously. And I put those backups, like DiggingDogFarm may do, on hard media (DVDs) and a couple of external backup drives as well as keeping copies on different partitions on the same computer. I may never care about any recipes as much as I did about those family ones but I don't want to find out later when I no longer can find them that I did.

 

In short, while I don't think most need to be as paranoid as I am (and DDF says he is too), I do think they need to consider how much they value their recipes, etc. and consider where/how they store them - and whether they would be concerned (and what they would do) if their culinary data (or access to it) was lost.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[Martin Fisher]

5 hours ago, Deryn said:

And I put those backups, like DiggingDogFarm may do, on hard media (DVDs) and a couple of external backup drives as well as keeping copies on different partitions on the same computer.

 

Yes.

I've recently started digitizing the irreplaceable stuff and archiving it on M-Discs (1000 year archival DVDs.)

I'll store those in a very safe place as well as distribute copies to family and friends.

Edited April 10, 2016 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[lindag]

Thanks to everyone for the valuable advice, I'll let you know if I have success when I try to reinstall on my other computer (hopefully later today).

 

 

Update:  I found my LC program in my C drive under 'Radium Technology'.

I removed the program.

Then I downloaded the trial version of LC15 and re-entered my license keys.

Then restore my latest backup.

Voila!  Everything is now back to normal and it wasn't the huge disaster I thought it was.

Now I'm just thinking I need to find a replacement software for LC since it doesn't seem to be supported any longer.  I'd appreciate any suggestions for that replacement would be appreciated.

Thanks for you help!

Edited April 10, 2016 by lindag (log)

[Martin Fisher]

2 hours ago, lindag said:

Voila!  Everything is now back to normal and it wasn't the huge disaster I thought it was.

 

I'm happy to hear that!!!

[Deryn]

lindag - Sorry you had to go through this 'scare' but I am thrilled to hear it has been resolved in a very wonderful way!

 

I don't know what to suggest to you as a replacement but you might want to consider, if you choose to use any app, whether the data is stored in way that it can be a) viewed without a specialized app at all even if it is not pretty (i.e. has a basic text format that can be seen in a basic OS supplied text editor) and b) can be 'ported' to other applications should you have this issue again in future. Additionally, if it were me, I would want a way to be able to print out the full collection easily (again, the text formatting should help there) rather than 1 recipe at a time (so you can keep a printed copy, allowing for a manual recreation if nothing else, in case everything is lost at some future date).

Edited April 10, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[AlaMoi]

Good Shew! as Ed would say . . .

 

as for replacement software, if you must go fancy,,,, look for "open source" software.  this is computer code that is in the "public domain" meaning if Programmer A gets hit by a bus, it's likely Programmer B will pick up the pieces and keep it functional.

 

here's some starters:

http://ostatic.com/blog/get-cooking-with-these-open-source-recipe-management-apps

[IndyRob]

Glad to hear it.  Now you may want to explore the File/Export option.  It's disabled on my trial version, but it should allow you to at least save your saved data in a more universal format.  If some of those are specific recipe file formats, researching those might lead you to new software that can import your saved data.

[lindag]

Thanks for the suggestions!  I look for something that can import from LC, I think I saw one or two that indicated that.  I'd also like one that I could use from my tablet, something that was impossible with LC.

[MattKal]

I had the same problem as others. The company appears to have gone dark. Searching for a replacement, I found Paprika Recipe Manager. It successfully imports LC recipes, maintaining categories, photos, etc. and it works on PC, Mac, iPad, etc. recipes sync between devices. I do not work for this company, but had to share my find with other frustrated LC users. 

[robirdstx]

I had been using LC for years, but last year I went from Windows to a Mac. I hadn't played with the LC program in some time but recently decided to do some checking around for another. I read lots of reviews and decided to give MacGourmet Deluxe a trial. I exported my LC recipes to our home server and have successfully imported the file into MacGourmet on my Mac. I spent several hours today going through the User Manual and playing with the various features. I think I will be purchasing this software sometime in the next few days. My main purpose in having this type of program was to make a Cookbook, which I did with LC, and plan to update and expand with MacGourmet.

[rustwood]

I am an avid user of Paprika recipe software so I would second @MattKal's recommendation for it.  It runs on my phone, tablet and PC, so hopefully it will continue to be supported for a long time.  FWIW, I find I use it on my phone far more often than I would have expected.  That is my primary device for referencing recipes while cooking or shopping.  I use the shopping list feature whenever I am going to cook one or more recipes that that require more than a few ingredients that aren't staples.

 

This thread had me wondering about conversion though so I just played with it a bit.  Recipes are synced between devices via the free cloud service that is included with purchase of the program so backup is not a huge issue.  I did add a copy into a backup folder though - just in case.  The export function allows you to save in their (apparently) proprietary format or in html.  It is not designed to create cookbooks, but the html files it produces are cleanly formatted so they could easily be opened and edited in MS Word.  As a last resort, exported html files could also be imported into another program if necessary.

[rthomas268]

Hi,

I am going to start typing my mother's recipes in a software program and have decided that I would like to try Living Cookbook. Does anyone know if this software is still being used and supported.  I haven't been able to find any current info about it and don't want to download and start something that isn't going to last a while.

 

Thanks

[robirdstx]

On 2/3/2017 at 8:23 PM, robirdstx said:

I had been using LC for years, but last year I went from Windows to a Mac. I hadn't played with the LC program in some time but recently decided to do some checking around for another. I read lots of reviews and decided to give MacGourmet Deluxe a trial. I exported my LC recipes to our home server and have successfully imported the file into MacGourmet on my Mac. I spent several hours today going through the User Manual and playing with the various features. I think I will be purchasing this software sometime in the next few days. My main purpose in having this type of program was to make a Cookbook, which I did with LC, and plan to update and expand with MacGourmet.

 

Bit the bullet and purchased a license for the MacGourmet Deluxe program today. Got a coupon code worth just under $15 for switching from LC. Also bought the mobile app and all of my recipes are now synced on all my devices. Total cost just under $37.00. Much easier to navigate than LC.