HTML Help is in maintenance mode, which means no new features are expected for either the runtime or the compiler. ISVs please keep in mind the safest approach is probably to install the full Workshop. This is generally an OK practice if the ISV knows what they are doing. There are a few Independent Software Vendor (ISV) that install HHA.DLL and itcc.dll separately instead of installing the full MS HH Workshop (htmlhelp.exe). HTML Help Workshop (HHW) installer is called HtmlHelp.EXE and contains a copy of the HTML Help Run-time installer (HHUpd.EXE). This is a free, very basic authoring system provided by Microsoft and must be installed before any other authoring tool (e.g. The HTML Help compiler is part of MS HTML Help Workshop (HHW.exe). It’s deep integrated to the Windows operating system. It’s nearly 20 years old und was first shipped with IE4 and Windows 95. Please note that the proprietary file format is normally generated by MS HH Workshop (hhw.exe). chm too, because the internal structure of a CHM file is complicated and you need a compiler for generating CHM's. Please see snapshot of a special view with FAR HTML below (left side only, navigation pane).

for full text search or an index with keywords. You can’t rename a foobar.html to foobar.chm and get this working for a single file, because CHM is like a zipped webpage with all files needed inside and some more internal files e.g. I've seen never an online version or a USB solution for effective HTMLHelp (CHM) compiling.

Chm reader online