Are you planning to purchase the new Microsoft Windows 7, but are concerned that you may have to spend further money for upgrading your older programs also? Or, have you recently upgraded to Windows 7 and don’t know how to run your older software applications on this new operating system? Don’t worry. Please be aware that most of the programs that worked on Windows Vista will also work in Windows 7. Moreover, a majority of programs that ran on Windows XP will also work on Windows 7. However, there are some older programs that ran on Windows XP or Vista, but they might not run properly or might not run at all on Windows 7. This article is written to help you in this regard – what to do if an older program does not run on Windows 7.
Before I proceed further, let me point out at the outset itself that you can easily find out whether or not an old software works on Windows 7 by visiting the official Windows 7 Compatibility Center maintained by Microsoft. On this site, you can search by software name or by browsing the software categories, to find out which programs may not work with Windows 7.
Okay. Now let’s see what should you do if you find that an older program does not work properly on Windows 7. This issues can be resolved in four different ways, as explained below.
(A) Find software updates:
As a first step, try to contact the software publisher concerned to find out whether they’ve released a software update for Windows 7. If so, get the update and install that to solve the problem. This would be the best and the most obvious solution.
(B) Try to re-install the program:
Uninstall the program and then try to re-install it using the proper procedure for installing programs for Windows 7, to see whether it works that way.
(C) Try changing the compatibility settings for the program:
If the above two methods do not work, and the program still does not run properly in Windows 7, then try changing the compatibility settings for the program. You can change these settings either by using the Program Compatibility troubleshooter or manually in Windows 7.
Important: However, please note that you if the program that is not running properly in Windows 7 is an older anti-virus program, disk utility, or some other system program, then please do not use the Program Compatibility troubleshooter since it might cause data loss or create a security risk to your computer.
(i) Using the Program Compatibility troubleshooter to change compatibility settings:
To open the Program Compatibility troubleshooter, right-click on the program’s icon or shortcut and then click on Troubleshoot compatibility. Or alternatively, open the Program Compatibility troubleshooter by clicking on the Start button, and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type troubleshooter, and then click on Troubleshooting. Thereafter, under Programs, click on Run programs made for previous versions of Windows. Now follow the on-screen instructions in the troubleshooter to change the settings of the program that is not running properly on Windows 7. If you were not able to install a program, then try to run the installation file through the troubleshooter, by selecting the program’s setup file; if necessary, insert the CD/DVD containing the installation files. However, please note that if the installation file for the program has an .MSI extension, the troubleshooter will not work for it.
(ii) Changing the compatibility settings manually:
You can also try to manually change the compatibility settings for a program if it is not working properly in Windows 7. For this purpose, right-click on the program icon, click on Properties, and then click on the Compatibility tab.
Manually changing the compatibility settings of the program will depend upon the problem being faced in running the program. Find out from the following, whether the problem is one of the following types and if so, try to take the action suggested for that and see if that works for you:
(1) Try to use the “Privilege level” setting to run the program as an administrator, since some programs will run properly only with administrator privileges. This setting is however available only when you’re logged in as administrator.
(2) If you’re sure that the software you’re trying to run in Windows 7 is designed for, or had worked in, a particular previous version of Windows, then try to run the software using the “Compatibility mode” setting by using settings from a previous version of Windows.
(3) If the GUI (graphical user interface) of the program is not rendered properly when you run it in Windows 7 or it appears jagged, then try to run the program using the “Run in 640 × 480 screen resolution” setting.
(4) Sometimes, when you run an older program in Windows 7, its menus or buttons on the title bar of the program do not appear properly. If that is the problem, then try to run the program using the “Disable visual themes” setting. See if it solves the problem.
(5) If you’re facing a problem with regard to rendering of colors in your program, try using the setting “Run in 256 colors”. Using a limited set of colors in the older program may perhaps solve this problem if it was designed originally to use less number of colors.
(6) Try using the “Disable desktop composition” setting if the window movement appears erratic or other display problems are seen when you run the program.
(7) If the appearance of the program, when you run it in Windows 7, does not appear to be proper due to large-scale fonts, try using the setting “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings”.
(D) Try to run the software in the Windows XP Mode:
If the above-mentioned three methods do not work and the program is still not running properly in Windows 7, then you can try to run the program in Windows XP Mode in Windows 7.
Please note that if a program runs in Windows XP, but it cannot run at all or it cannot run properly in Windows 7 even after changing its settings appropriately (for example, as explained in the above methods), then such a program can generally be made to run properly in the Windows XP mode in Windows 7. In that sense, the XP mode in Windows 7 makes all programs that can run in Windows XP, compatible with Windows 7, which is a big benefit of using this XP mode. This can save a lot of money which you’ve to otherwise spend for upgrading existing software or buying new software.
Since I’ve already extensively written on the Windows XP Mode in Windows 7, I’ll not repeat the same. If you want to know more details about the XP mode, please read my earlier articles, (i) Windows XP mode in Windows 7; (ii) How to setup Windows XP mode in Windows 7. These articles explain about XP mode and how to set it up in Windows 7, that can allow to run your older programs in Windows 7.
Generally speaking, an older program should always run in the XP mode in Windows 7, if it worked in the Windows XP operating system.
Conclusion:
It is hoped that the above-mentioned methods will work to make your older program run in Windows 7, if it did not run properly on its own.
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