Installing Paltalk

   
Security alerts    
Anti-virus Windows temp  
Login problems Text patch Other

Please submit any bugs you find here here.

Most installation problems can be resolved by following these steps...

Step 1 - Download and save the installer
Download the OFFICIAL version of Paltalk at http://www.paltalk.com.

you will see a 'Download Now' button to the top right of your browser screen.

hover over the 'Download Now' button with your mouse button and 'right click'

select 'save target as' from the menu that appears

Step 2 - Save the installation file
Once the download starts a security warning may appear and ask you what you wish to do with the Paltalk installation file.
note:  the version number attached to the file may appear different than the screen shots


A file browser window will appear that will let you select a location to save the Paltalk installation file.  Be sure to select a location that is easy to find again such as your desktop.

Step 3 - Installation
Once the download has completed, double click on the Paltalk icon that will appear in the folder in which you saved the file.


The icon image will look like a little chat bubble with people in it

A security warning may appear



press the RUN button to continue

This will begin installation of Paltalk to your computer.

After installation completes Paltalk will launch or 'run' automatically.

note: In order to assure that Paltalk installs and registers it's dll files properly, you may wish to follow these additional steps.

  • Close any versions of Paltalk that you may have running.

  • Save your work on any other programs you have running and close them.

  • Reboot your computer.

  • Uninstall any old versions you had previously installed.

  • Install the new version of Paltalk that you just downloaded.


Security alerts:
Anti-virus or security scanners may generate alerts during the installation process.

You should 'allow' or 'always allow' Paltalk to connect to the internet, and 'exclude' it from future scanning.

Norton Antivirus Spyware Edition recommends that you 'exclude' Paltalk from future scans as we are rated as a low risk.

note:  Certain scanners have mistakenly flagged Paltalk as 'adware' - Paltalk is ad supported when using the free version of the software and does NOT report your browsing habits like an 'adware' or 'spyware' program would do.  Paltalk simply displays ad banners within its own windows.  Paid subscribers do not see any ad banners.  We hope this helps you to understand the distinction between 'adware' and 'ad supported' software.

Web enabled Paltalk Express or Web Client issues:

If you have tried our web enabled versions of Paltalk you may experience difficulties when testing our betas or running our standard versions. This is possibly caused by incompatible versions of dll files left on your machine by our web rooms.

To correct this problem download our web conference uninstaller HERE

Browser issues:

If you are just clicking the file and selecting 'open' to install directly from the web without downloading the installer to your hard drive, you may have trouble installing.  This is because previous versions of the installer may be in your browser's cache, and the browser may not overwrite the old file.

To correct this try cleaning your temporary internet files out.

(Do this at your own risk. In general it is totally safe to do this.)

For Internet Explorer:
Select the 'Tools' menu
Select 'Internet Options'
Press the 'Delete Files' button

Your temporary internet folder will be cleared!

Try downloading and installing again.

For Netscape:
Select the 'Edit' menu
Select 'Preferences'
Click the '+' to the left of 'Advanced'
Select 'Cache'
Press the 'Clear Disk Cache' button
Your Netscape cache folder will be cleared!

Try downloading Paltalk and installing again.

Windows 'Temp' folder:

Some users have trouble installing because previous install attempts have left old files in your windows 'Temp' folder. For some reason these files are not replaced properly and the user winds up with an old version installed, even though they downloaded the correct file.

(we are not quite sure why this happens, but it is very rare)

Open your 'windows explorer'

Go to C:\Windows\Temp

Delete these files:
Paltalk.exe
ctrlkey.dll
ftpclient.dll
WebVideo.dll
palsound.dll
PalTextCtl.dll
shfolder.dll
 

The rest are not critical to the installation of Paltalk.

Try downloading Paltalk and install again.

Anti-Virus software:

This may sound bizarre but you may want to disable your virus scanner during the installation process.  The reason for this is that Paltalk needs to make certain adjustments to your system registry and register dll files with Windows.

SOME (not all) anti-virus software will throw alerts and interfere with the installation.  We recommend that you download Paltalk to your hard drive, then run a virus scan on it to be sure it's ok, then disable your antivirus program.  Now run the Paltalk installer.

(Norton Anti-Virus does not seem to have this problem and can be left running)

Other problems:

If for some reason none of the above has worked for you, try this.  Do not uninstall previous versions of Paltalk.

This assumes that Paltalk is on your C drive. If this is not the case substitute 'C' with the correct path.

Open your 'windows explorer'

Go to C:\Program Files\Paltalk  < click to open the folder now!

Back up your 'Received Files' directory to avoid loosing files.

Delete the entire C:\Paltalk directory.

Try downloading Paltalk and install again.

Text Patch:

This patch is primarily for Windows 95 and Windows 98 users who get illegal operations or 'blue screens' when entering groups.
(DO NOT INSTALL this patch if you are not having problems with text!)

If you have trouble with colored fonts or the text chat display being blank when you type or someone types to you, you will need  to replace your current version of riched20.dll. This is a Windows system file and you must do this at your own risk. We have had no reports of an adverse reaction from replacing this file.

There is NO NEED for you to do anything if you are not experiencing problems  related to enhanced text features!

This file is located in your c:\windows\system directory. We suggest renaming  your existing riched20.dll to riched20.BAK rather than deleting it or replacing  it. This way if you have a problem you can always revert back to the original file.

The certified working versions of riched20.dll are...

5.30.23.1200
5.30.23.1205
5.30.23.1210
5.40.11.2210

Identified non-working versions of riched20.dll are...

5.0.152.0
5.0.153.0

If you have an identified non-working version of this dll you may experience  problems such as not being able to type or click on URL's, large blocks of highlighted  text in groups as other users type, smearing colors.

For those of you who want an installer to do this for you we have a patch  program that will replace your riched20.dll file for you. We still suggest that  you rename the existing file before doing this.

Get the ReFix.exe patch by clicking HERE

There is another patch which MAY help if the above patch fails.
A new installer will be coming shortly that will address this issue.

Login Patch:

If you are not getting logged into the system (endless spinning hourglass or Paltalk vanishes from your screen and never comes back) you may need to go to your c:\Paltalk directory and double click on the regfixer.exe file. A black window will flash on your screen as registry settings are being restored.

If you do not have regfixer.exe you can get it by clicking HERE.

(note: This patch is for older beta versions and should not be needed, but we put it here for you just in case...)
 



Minimum System Requirements

Windows XP Service Pack 3
Windows Vista
Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit versions supported)
Windows 8
Internet Explorer 7 or greater