[Python-bugs-list] problem downloading python (PR#99)

[tim_one@email.msn.com]

[janderson@novazen.com]
> I received the following error upon installation of Python:
>
> " This application uses CTL3D32.dll, which is not the correct version.
> This version of CTL3D32.dll is designed only for WIN 32 or
> Windows 95 systems"

This is not a bug.

The Python installer does not ship with this DLL.  It's a Microsoft DLL that
the installer happens to *use* (specifically, the installer uses it to give
its progress bar a three-dimensional "look").  The message means what it
says:  you have the wrong DLL for your operating system.  Some previous
installation of something else did this to you, but you never noticed it
before because few programs-- other than, it seems, installers! --use this
DLL.

Search the web for CTL3D32.DLL, and you'll find over a thousand pages
complaining about the same thing for hundreds of other products.  One of the
funniest <wink> is at

    http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q181/0/17.asp

where Microsoft itself got burned by this problem.

You can ignore the error (it doesn't affect the installation), or you can
get the correct DLL for your system.  For example, from your Windows
installation CD, or from

    http://www.techadvice.com/tech/C/CTL3D32.htm