Readyness for MT4 update
Guys,
NVP asked me to post a message just to summarise what is going on with the MT4 update.
So, MT4 is receiving a major update on the 3rd February. The majority of the changes are around the MQL language, changing it to be very similar (if not identical) to MQL5.
The first point to state is that, Metaquotes have said that compiled indicators will continue to work in the new version of MT4. There is a caveat about this (that I won't go into here because it is not really relevant), but for the purposes of supporting this thread, the strengthmeter should just continue to work fine. And in fact, the majority of all those ex4 files that you have, will continue to work with the new version of MT4. No changes to make, nothing to do, just run MT4 as normal. This update is all to do with the underlying MQL source files. If you never write any MQL, then you will be fine.
Here is my advice for what to do today. The MT4 upgrade is planned for Monday 3rd, although I don't know a specific time. I suspect it’ll actually be over the weekend while the markets are closed. So, before the close this evening I suggest you take (at least one) copy of your MT4 directories. You can pretty much just copy the entire folder then then dump it somewhere else and then run it from there as a 2nd copy. Once you’ve done that, and confirmed the copy works fine, you should be in a good shape.
Then after the broker has updated their server and the client update is ready to be rolled out, if you run windows Vista, or Windows 7/8, then leave UAC on (and switch it back on if you turned it off). The reason is, that UAC detects when the MT4 executable tries to go off and update itself, so actually, when it tries that and UAC pops up and says “do you want to allow it?”, you can just click No, and MT4 will then carry on working as normal, without updating.
So, then go to your back up folder, and you can allow the update to take place. You can then play with it, see what is broken/what isn’t etc. And, when you are happy (in a few days, whatever), you can allow the UAC to do the update on the main folder. This is how I’ve managed previous releases, and it has worked pretty well for me.
Note that at the broker, they have a way to mandate a minimum version of the client. Typically, they allow the last few versions to continue to work, because not everyone can update immediately (especially in companies where the update process is controlled separately) so you should be ok. There is a slim chance that Metaquotes will immediately mandate that this new version is the only version to work, but that is not good practise so I doubt (hope) they won't do that. If they do, there will be nothing you can do, you will have to update...
Note that this is all broker independent. It doesn't matter which broker you are with, they will all be affected.
Separately, if you run XP, then you won’t have UAC to block the update, so you will probably just have to accept the update automatically.
If you do this, today, then you should be in a good position to deal with the update. One point that is worth mentioning is that, the update moves the locations of MQL files, out of the MT4 directory and into the Users application folder. I personally maintain slightly different versions of indicators and EAs in various MT4 installations/folders, so that I can do proper testing and rollout of my own indicators in a controlled fashion. I do not know how the update will deal with multiple installations, and moving/merging all these different indicators into one user folder. So, this is something to be aware of, and is another reason why you should be backing up all your directories, BEFORE the update takes place.
Hope that helps...
J