[How To] Use Compatibility Mode in Windows 7

One nice feature that makes Windows 7 appealing is its much improved application compatibility. If you have an application that doesn’t run in Windows 7 by default. The first thing you should try is the compatibility mode, which offers two methods.

Compatibility Mode #1

Right click on the program’s icon and go to the Compatibility tab, and lie to the program about which version of Windows you are running. This isn’t actually a lie, it patches up APIs and generally makes things friendly for the old application. If this doesn’t help, try the method #2.

Compatibility Mode #2

Type in “compatibility” in the Start Menu and select Run Program made for previous version of Windows, which launches Program Compatibility wizard. And then you walk through a Wizard, explaining what worked before, and it will suggest what it can do about it. See a simple example below, Try the recommended settings first, and troubleshoot program second. Most of the time, you should now be able to run the application that doesn’t run in Windows 7 naturally. However, if you still don’t have that luck, try the new XP mode.