Running old programs on Vista (tips and tricks)

So We’ve talked about how to get Vista to shut down better.  So I thought we talk about getting Windows XP programs to run on Vista and be more stable.  You can do this with Windows XP, ME, 2000, NT,. and 95 programs.

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  • Run the program in compatibility mode — This is something Vista comes with now for running old programs in Vista. To do this you will have to do some minor things.  Go to where the program is and right click on the program.  Select properties>compatibility.  Select “Run this program in compatibility  mode for:” Select  windows Operating System that you think would work with the program.

  • Run the program as Administrator —  This is a really good tip and trick to sometimes get programs to run with vista.  It goes hand in hand with the last one.  Right click on the program and select “Run as Administrator”.  I find some old programs don’t know about the kernel protection in Vista and you need to give them permission to use the kernel for the program to work.

  • Give the program special access —  Yes this one takes a little skill but should fix some of the problems with vista and old programs.  Right click on program and select properties.  Select security, and then select the group you want to associate with it.  I always suggest putting it in the administrator group because of the problems with Vista and the kernel.

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These few tips and tricks will greatly increease the likely hood of a old program to run in Vista.  Now remember if you have a Vist x64 Version you might need to do the Run as Administrator more than not.  I am not sure why I just know it is sometimes required.  Let me know what other tips and tricks you use with Vista and I’ll be sure to pass them along!!

Four Graphical User Interfaces in Vista that just needs fixed:

The First and foremost is the User Access Control, UAC for short. The UAC is never been ready for Windows. Microsoft knew this and so did most of the Beta testers who were formerly known as LongHorn Project. The UAC has several shortcommings. The one that really burns my biscuit is after you disable the UAC. The way you disable the UAC is by Start, type msconfig.exe [ENTER]. Once Msconfig loads up you click on the tools tabs, Looking for [Disable UAC] hightlight it. Click Launch. That’s it no more UAC, btw You have to have ADMIN for all users to be able to disable UAC for all accounts. Now everytime I boot up it comes up with a Security alert saying, your system is not protected(A scare tactic that I do not like). So you have to google to find the other reg code needed to disable that little icon from showing up. Go google and find out how.

The second and most annoying is game play for Vista. Most if not all my games have some kind of trouble with vista. Wolfenstein:Enemy Terriroty, COD the Original, and some others the ones that I like the most do not work. Vista always says they stop responding and has to exit. I’ve tried everything from googling the games and vista and nothing. I’ve also had problems with programs like Trillian and other programs stop responding or have difficulty running due to Vista. Most of my games I have to load up Ubuntu and play it in Linux, if you think it is hard actually it is quite easy. This one the only work around that actually works.

The third one is DRM(Digital Rights Management). DRM has been a thorn in people sides ever since they first introduced it. It is designed to prevent people from illegally copying content, but the truth is If I have a copy of Harry Potter and I wanted to take it on the plane to watch but leave the CD home, that is not going to happen. The Vista DRM will not allow anyone to copy files to the hard drive to view later, althought there will always be tools to circumvent it. DRM just makes it harder on the end user and tries to control every aspect of Copy Protection.

The Forth is the System speed on Vista. I have a dual core 1.67ghz system and every time Vista runs and startups it takes from anywhere 2 mins to 5 mins for everything to be ready after logging into my account. I also think the system is sluggish and slow in whenever I try to use a large file. I admit I have 1gig of memory for the system. I know it might slow it down but XP only needs 128 megs of memory to run. I do not think it should slow down this much. If it wasn’t for ReadyBoost this system wouldn’t be running Vista, I’d have install Ubuntu and wipe the system clean.

With that said, I hope when SP1 Comes out for Vista it makes the system more stable, and secure and more useable.

Copyright 10-3-2007
May not use without authors permission