Hi Arild,

If you just copied the old installation onto your new computer then
asteroids will be out of date.
Firstly, are you using MPCORB.dat? If so a new version needs to be
downloaded. Of course if you just want to use the built in database,
just untick MPCORB in Extras.

The main problem though sounds like the double X's. This has been around
quite a bit but really it is caused by a file called Comets.dat
This file is updated each time you download updates through Extras, Add
comets and asteroids.
The ones that you had on your installation 5 years ago will still be
there, so what to do is..
Find this file
edit it
Delete all of the data in this file.
Then put the number ZERO i.e. 0 in the empty file.

Now when you fire up Guide it should get rid of all of those extra X's

Hope this helps.

Best Regards

Alan

In message <hgl21r+bqvo@...>, astralscooter
<astralscooter@...> writes

>  
>
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm an old Guide user who's been away from the hobby for about five
> years. I recently bought a second hand ETX 105, and have thus found
> renewed interest in battling the poor weather to do some astronomy.
>
> Now, Guide was always my favourite astro program, and it was only
> natural to dig out my latest installation to pick it up where I
> left off.
>
> I just copied the old installation onto my current computer, pulled
> down the latest fixes from /new.htm and started up.
>
> All worked like a charm, but for some funny reason, some asteroids
> are displayed twice, and with several minutes of arc's separation.
>
> The duplicates (ie. those NOT configurable through the Asteroid
> options-dialog) are displayed like "(89) Julia".
>
> Now, my primary observering interest when I quit observing 5 years
> ago, was indeed asteroids, so I have a hunch these duplicates may
> come from a user-defined file.
>
> If so, where could this file possibly be, in order for Guide to
> recognize, or is there another likely explanation for the
> duplicates?
>
> Thanks for any info offered! It's amazing how much is purged from
> one's memory in just five years, but it is all coming back to me.
> Or much of it anyway ;)
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Arild Moland
>

Alan Cahill (J94)
Abbeydale Observatory,
Gloucester.
UK
http://mountabbeydale.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk