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

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Popularity: 5% [?]

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The post

Windows 7 – How to Run Older Software – Freeware & Portable Applications

provides a an outline of why you would want to run programs written for earlier Microsoft Windows operating systems under Windows 7 and how Windows 7 provides Compatibility Mode and Run as Administrator which, either on their own or combined, are useful ways to help get this older software to run under the new operation system. You can also use User Account Control to help but need to be aware of the potential dangers!

This post describes more on what using Compatibility Mode and Run as Administrator are about and how to use them.

Please note: While Compatibility mode and Run as Administrator will allow some software to run under Windows 7 NOT ALL older programs will be supported. You may also find that software will run but that some of the functions will not work. This means that it is probably worth testing for a while to make sure the program will still do all that you need or you can manage without some functions working.

Why Would You Want It?

Simply to be able to run as many as possible of software applications be they commercial freeware, portable, etc. that were written for earlier versions of windows from Windows 95 onwards up to Vista.

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Allows some older software to be run under Windows 7

Pros: What’s Good?

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Popularity: 4% [?]

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CyberShredder is another very small portable application which is designed to remove all traces of old file data from your hard disks. It does not touch any existing files or the files in the recycle bin. This is very useful to ensure that files that have not been securely deleted cannot be recovered.

Why Would You Want It?

As noted under the previous post Privacy – Use CyberShredder to Securely Delete Files & Folders :-

When Windows deletes files from your hard disk using the standard delete or cut/paste methods it does not erase all the file details, just the index entry. So the file is still there you just can’t see it. There are plenty of free, portable programs available to recover such files ( see Recuva – Easy and Quick Way to Recover Deleted Photos and Files). Over time the “deleted” file may be overwritten by new files but this could be slow and is a random process. If you need to make sure personal details or other sensitive information is erased, for instance if you want to sell a hard drive or your old computer, then you need a program like CyberShredder.

Disk Redactor provides the complimentary piece of software to CyberShredder by “wiping” the areas of the disk that may contain information from files not deleted by a secure method.

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Overwrites unused disk space
• Securely erase single or multiple folders
• Uses different methods depending on level of security

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware

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Popularity: 92% [?]

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CyberShredder is a very small portable application whose only purpose is to delete files and folders on your hard disk and remove all traces of the file. It does this by overwriting the file with other characters and changing the file entries in the system file  index.

Why Would You Want It?

When Windows deletes files from your hard disk using the standard delete or cut/paste methods it does not erase all the file details, just the index entry. So the file is still there you just can’t see it. There are plenty of free, portable programs available to recover such files ( see Recuva – Easy and Quick Way to Recover Deleted Photos and Files). Over time the “deleted” file may be overwritten by new files but this could be slow and is a random process. If you need to make sure personal details or other sensitive information is erased, for instance if you want to sell a hardrive or your old computer, then you need a program like CyberShredder.  However see the “Cons” and “What Could Make it Better” sections below.

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Securely erases single or multiple files
• Securely erase single or multiple folders
• Uses different methods depending on level of security

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware

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Popularity: 80% [?]

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ClipGuru is a semi Portable Application which monitors the clipboard and stores the information it finds there as text or images. This type of application is generally referred to as a “clipboard extender”. It stores this information in a database which provides a history of stored clips that can be reused. It has a variety of useful options for both storing and recalling the stored information

Why Would You Want It?

ClipGuru is a small, portable and light on resources. It allows you to store text clips or images (copied on there own without any text).So if you need to store text on it’s own, or images on their own, with the option to save different sets and paste multiple selections this could be very useful.

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Monitors the Clipboard for text or Images
• Stores information in a simple database
• Multiple storage sets
• Clip text searching
• Combine clips
• Combined pasting
• Manage clips

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware

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Popularity: 91% [?]

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DisplayFusion (Portable Freeware version*) provides the ability to move and resize windows between monitors in a multi-monitor setup. It also allows you to set wallpaper and backgrounds from photos on your computer or from Flickr. It is a great alternative to the shareware “Ultramon” program.

* There is a shareware upgrade to a Pro version however the Free version does everything that I need.

Why Would You Want It?

If you use a multi-monitor setup (and for a serious computer user the only reasons I think you shouldn’t is lack of money or space) then moving windows, particularly maximized windows between the monitors is something you wan to easily do. The ability of DisplayFusion to move a maximized window from one monitor to another by dragging and dropping makes it worth installing for just this one feature. The addition of hotkey window operations and wallpaper/background management are just an incredible bonus

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Drag Maximized Windows between monitors/screens
• Move, Size and Maximize Windows with Hotkeys
• Set Separate Images as Screen Background/Wallpaper
• Auto Snap Windows to Monitor edges

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware

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Popularity: 94% [?]

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Flexible Renamer is a portable program that will rename files and folders, change file attributes including dates, change tags for different file groups (music, photos, docs, etc.) It has very powerful rules and methods combined with a wide range of options, defined presets and methods as well as both simple and advanced ways of working.

Why Would You Want It?

The need to rename batches of files in collections of photos, music tracks, documents, archives, websites, etc. can be met by many programs. However, Flexible Renamer offers this and more in a small portable program which includes comprehensive renaming rules, changing dates, changing attributes, changing tag information for most common tagged files and the ability to create batches of prenamed files. Sometimes you just want to add something to a file name, for instance you may want to add a place and date to the name of all the photos you took on holiday. You might want to add  something to a batch of documents that all relate to the same project. As you can use the file date for sorting in many file explorer programs you may want to change dates as a method of indicating that older dated files are part of a “most recent” set on a particular subject. This, combined with the ability to also change the folder names and tag information makes Flexible Renamer very powerful

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Renames Files and Folders
• Provides comprehensive rules and rename methods
• Changes Attributes including dates
• Changes File Tag information for common tagged file types
  such as photos, music, documents, etc.
• Adds Shell Extensions for Context Menus (Optional)

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware

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Popularity: 100% [?]

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PicPick is a portable freeware screen capture program and a drawing program combined with some other useful drawing tools including a screen ruler, color picker on screen drawing and screen protractor. The capture and drawing utilities are very much like Faststone Capture which is no longer freeware.

I first saw this on winAddons.com a couple of days ago, since when it has “been doing the rounds” on many of the tech blogs. So read on if you are interested in some more detail and screenshots on the full potential of this great little portable program. The version reviewed here is PicPick 1.8

Why Would You Want It?

PicPick provides several tools in one small portable package, all integrated into a single main Manager window(GUI) and also accessible from the system tray menu.

The main functions can all be used independently of each other so you could still use it as a drawing and picture or photo annotation tool even if you don’t need screen capture. Of course you might just want it as a free, portable and very versatile screen capture tool. The fact that extra tools are included is a real bonus

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Captures Screen
  • Full Screen
  • Active Window
  • Window Control
  • Region
  • Fixed Region
  • Freehand
  • Repeat Last Capture
  • Autoscroll (for pages longer than the on screen window)
• Drawing Program/Image Editor with
  • Standard shapes, arrows, lines, etc.
  • Blur, opacity, hue, contrast, brightness, pixelate, etc.
  • Rotate, Flip, etc. (Whole or selected part of picture)
• On Screen Drawing Tools (Whiteboard)
• Color Picker
• Color Palette
• Screen Crosshair
• Screen Protractor

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware
• Portable

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Popularity: 60% [?]

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Winsock XP Fix is a tiny utility whose only purpose is to simply repair Winsock and TCP/IP errors from errors or corruption of the registry, etc. It also makes use of the Freeware ERDNT Registry Backup Program so that you can make a backup copy of the registry before changes are made.

Why Would You Want It?

Sometimes things just get messed up for no obvious reason, there are many reasons corruption of files and settings can occur. It may be a power failure or spike, a hardware malfunction or the action of some malware,virus or spyware. Maybe TCP/IP and Winsock settings are changed by mistake on the users part or installation/removal of software causes a problem. Firewall software may change settings or some sort of utility that needs proxy settings to work. The removal of Adware is a very common cause of these sort of problems. Whatever the cause it can be very difficult and time consuming to try and manually sort out the registry settings.

Winsock XP Fix provides a very simple and easy to use solution to the problem. It provides the means to backup the registry although, personally, I would prefer to create a Restore Point in Windows before applying.

So if you have Internet or Local Area Network Connection problems WinSock XP Fix is well worth a try

but create a Restore Point or backup your registry first

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Repairs Winsock and TCP/IP Registry Settings
• Provides Registry Backup Facilities
• Gives Access to System Information Dialogs

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware

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Popularity: 46% [?]

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MMM Free is a utility that runs in the background that automatically alters the Explorer context menu to a configuration that you can choose. MMM Free is a cut down version of a shareware product but it does a very good job of moving items that you use infrequently to a “Rarely Used” Submenu. It is a good alternative to using ShellExView which was reviewed earlier. Control Your Context Menu Items with ShellExView

Why Would You Want It?

When ShellExView was reviewed I said:

MS Windows provides many shell extensions as part of the OS. Also lots of programs add their own commands to the Explore context menu, Internet Explorer, etc. when they are installed to help with using the program. This makes the right click context menu in the system applications very useful for carrying out all sorts of operations and commands, however they can become cluttered with commands you never need or use. This can make it difficult to find what you want.

MMM Free allows you to still have all the context menu items available but in a sub menu to the single line “Rarely Used” in the context menu rather than switching them off permanently (or until you enable them again using the ShellExView program). So MMM Free gives you the option of always having all the context menu items but in a more user friendly and manageable arrangement.

What Does It Do – The Essentials?

Summary:

• Wakes up your computer from Standby or Hibernation
•  

Pros: What’s Good?

Features & Benefits

• Freeware

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Popularity: 28% [?]

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