Sunday, November 1, 2009

New operating systems and Windows XP

Most of us have been successfully running programs on Windows XP as the operating systems for many years. Many of us plan to continue to do so. However some people need to or want to upgrade their computers and operating systems.

Three years ago Vista arrived and those who purchased new computers or upgraded discovered that many of their programs no longer worked. In some cases when new versions of programs were installed on Vista the basic program worked but some features disappeared. The Help in DB/TextWorks is one example as Microsoft has decided to no longer support the code on which this feature is based.

If problems occur using Vista to run older programs it may be possible to do so by utilising the XP Compatibility feature in Vista after downloading Microsoft Virtual PC.

The following articles outline the procedure.
Running Windows XP inside of Windows Vista - http://www.pcmech.com/article/running-windows-xp-inside-of-windows-vista/

Running Programs with XP Compatability in Vista - http://www.pcmech.com/article/running-programs-with-xp-compatibility-in-vista/

Windows XP Compatibility Mode in Windows Vista - http://help.unc.edu/6037

Now Windows 7 is available.

Some versions of Windows 7 also include XP compatibility.

A search in Google for 'windows 7 xp compatibility' provides many posts including the following:
Revealing XP Mode for Windows 7 - http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/04/24/secret-no-more-revealing-virtual-windows-xp-for-windows-7.aspx

10 reasons why Microsoft's XP Mode is a Big Deal - http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=926

An important point to note is that additional memory is required to sussessfully run XP Mode within Windows 7 - at least 2 GB RAM (one reviewer recommended 4 GB).

Additional advice from the PC Rescue website:
Four Reasons to Wait Before Upgrading to Windows 7 - http://www.pcrescue.com.au/four_reasons_to_wait_before_upgrading_to_windows_7.htm

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