What’s This About?

There is a huge range of free software (Freeware and Portable Freeware) available for earlier Windows operating systems, including many very useful utilities as well as more sophisticated programs, some of which have already been reviewed on this site. So what do you need to do to run these programs? Well, Windows 7 provides a “Compatibility” mode and “Run as Administrator” that will allow many older programs to run, but first:

Why Would You Want to Use “Old” Software?

The fact that software is “old” does not make it less useful, often the biggest problem with some of these utilities is that the original programmer or software developer has “moved on” and the program is no longer supported or updated to work with the newer operating systems. With some programs this doesn’t matter and they can just be run on the new OS, but to have no problems at all is rare. For other older software Windows 7 has a “Compatibility” mode which provides a method of running these programs under the new Windows 7 OS but as if they were being run under the selected older Windows OS.  Modes are provided  from Windows 95 through to Windows Vista Service Pack 2, including Windows Server, Windows NT and Windows 2000, so a pretty comprehensive range.

However with other programs the change to the new operating system is terminal because of the way the software has been written to interact with the OS and/or hardware and even the Windows 7 Compatibility functionality won’t overcome the problems.

 Another factor when running older software and the way they interact with the operating system and hardware is that malicious code (viruses, Trojans, etc.) behave in particular ways to takeover your PC, reveal sensitive information or just make the PC unusable To do this they have to be able to do things such as change critical programs or components, write files, change the registry and disable other processes. Generally these type of actions require the system to be running under “Administrator” status. In fact it is generally advised that you should run your PC under a lower level of privileges which can be done by setting up a suitable user account which you use generally and log on as Administrator only when you need. However, this can be anything from fiddly to a major time waster if logging out and then in again takes a long time which is often the case where systems have lots of background processes running or where the OS has been in use for quite a long time since first installation.

Personally, I am already using many of my favourite portable programmes on Windows 7 and adding to them every day.

So What is Compatibility Mode?

Although there are many features in Windows 7 to protect against unauthorised programs causing problems running portable and other freeware applications is really quite easy. This is because Windows 7 provides a lot more to help in running older portable applications and other “old” software programs (not necessarily just freeware) whether you are using a USB stick, portable hard drive or the main disk storage on your PC. As with all new operating systems Windows 7 has few programs specifically written to work with it when first released, so the ability to use your existing favourite programs with Windows 7 is a real bonus. With this new operating system Microsoft has provided two things that help to run programs written for older versions of Windows. These are Compatibility and Run as Administrator. Windows 7 also has User Account Control or UAC which is designed to help stop malicious software causing damage or taking over your PC. You need to also be familiar with UAC as it will appear frequently when you first set up and run many of these type of applications.

Run as Administrator

However, just setting compatibility is not sufficient as the program has been written to make changes that Windows & doesn’t allow unless Administrator Privileges are set. Run as Administrator allows the user to assign administrator privileges to a specific programme whether or not you are logged in as an administrator to make running programmes that require this level of access much easier. Windows 7 also appears to “monitor” a new programme and will suggest that it may not have installed correctly, offering options to reinstall or start the compatibility wizard.

For more details and a guide on how to use Compatibility Mode, Run as Administrator and UAC (User Account Control) see the next post

Windows 7 – Compatibility Mode for Running Freeware, Portable & Older Applications

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Windows 7. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.