I recently ran into something incredibly useful on Windows Vista. I was trying to install a program that was developed for every version of Windows except Vista because it was released before Vista was. So I tried to install it on my Vista machine knowing that the installation program might halt because it detects the wrong version of windows.
Sure enough I get and error message stating that this version of Windows is no longer supported. So I did a search on the internet for how to trick the application into thinking it was installing on a supported version of Windows. Instead I found out about the Program Compatibility Wizard. It is probably one of the best tools M$ could have included with Vista.
It’s not easy to find though. Most of you probably access the “Programs and Features” tool in Vista by viewing the Control Panel in “Classic View”. Well you can’t get to the Program Compatibilty Wizard through there (at least as far as I can tell, please let me know of another way, if there is one). The way I had to get to it was to view the control panel in “Category View” or by clicking on the link above “Classic View” called “Control Panel Home”. I just love how everything is different in Vista >:0.
Anyhow, after you’ve switched to “Category View” you must click on the Programs category. After in the Programs category you can find a link called “Use an older program with this version of Windows” right under the Programs and Features category. After that it’s pretty straight forward. I like this feature alot. I’d like to know if any one else has used this feature and what you think of it.
