Problems installing software upgrades and software patches

[MartynB]

I have a small home network comprising 2 notebooks and two desktop machines.

I have particular problems when installing either product upgrades orproduct patches. Original installations of (for example) PP8 may have been made on my older desktop machine which is now not used for mainstream work but merely as a quasi file server/backup device and is soon to be decommissioned. This machine has been replaced by a more powerful and up-to-date machine and later versions (PPX2 then PPX3) have been installed on that machine.

When I attempt to install an upgrade (MPX3 being the latest) it would not install unless the older machine was accessible. The same is true of the latest patch for PPX3.

It seems clear that the Serif installation routine is validating the installation (I have no problem with that) but it would appear that the installation routine is also checking machines on the same network on which older versions of software were or are installed.

Please can anyone advise me as to how I can tweak my main PC so that I no longer need to go around the house switching on old machines to patch software that was once installed on it but no longer is? This is particularly the case since I am about to get rid of the older machine in question and this infers that I'll never be able to upgrade or patch software installed on my primary machine.