I am considering buying a new laptop but have been told that much of my old software 
will not work on vista.  I have literally 100s of programs that I have collected 
over the years each of which have associated files that I have generated.  It would 
therefore not be acceptable if very few of them worked with vista.  Have I been correctly 
informed of this problem?  If so would it be possible to have parallel operating 
systems on the new computer?  

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re: Backwards compatability Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 8:25 am Posted by jbmcmillan (672 messages posted) http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Backwards compatability Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 9:54 am Posted by quick69gto (840 messages posted) You can create a dual boot setup on the new laptop but it can be a little hard to do. http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2007/10/06/how-to-dual-boot-vista-and-xp-with-vista-installed-first/ Personally I would keep the old PC for your old programs possibly upgrade the hardware on it (i.e. bigger hard drive, more RAM). There is nothing wrong with having a couple of PCs in the house. The other option is to actually order a new laptop with XP instead of Vista. Dell, I believe, has this option. Good luck! [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Backwards compatability Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 10:26 am Posted by Shawn (610 messages posted) Hi Mick, In addition to the other posts, this will show you how to Compatibility Mode to help use a program in Vista that is not quite compatible without any problems. http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/75909-compatibility-mode.html Shawn There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Backwards compatability Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 10:59 am Posted by Steve Dunn (914 messages posted) There are a lot of compatibility issues - and if you really have 100's of old programs, I'd suspect a good number of them won't work (including compatibility mode). This is what I've found, and I don't have hundreds of old apps. As well as dual booting, there is the option of using a virtual machine in vista (obvious advantage - no need to reboot). Microsoft's Virtual PC is now free, though obviously you need licence/install media for any operating system you wanted to load in it. If I didn't need to support Vista, I'd still be using XP (I still have it on test machines). Its going to be around, and relevant for several years at least. I'd go for XP machine, but with a good enough spec to run Vista if you decide to upgrade later (ie, at least 1GB RAM, 2 is better, and decent size hard drive - Vista uses lots more of both than XP). On Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 2:21 am, mick wrote: >I am considering buying a new laptop but have been told that much of my old software >will not work on vista. I have literally 100s of programs that I have collected >over the years each of which have associated files that I have generated. It would >therefore not be acceptable if very few of them worked with vista. Have I been correctly >informed of this problem? If so would it be possible to have parallel operating >systems on the new computer? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Backwards compatability Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 1:20 pm Posted by mick (8 messages posted) Dear All, Many thanks for all your replies. It will take a while to digest them and visit the links but all replies are gratefully received. Mick On Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 2:21 am, mick wrote: >I am considering buying a new laptop but have been told that much of my old software >will not work on vista. I have literally 100s of programs that I have collected >over the years each of which have associated files that I have generated. It would >therefore not be acceptable if very few of them worked with vista. Have I been correctly >informed of this problem? If so would it be possible to have parallel operating >systems on the new computer? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Backwards compatability Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 7:40 pm Posted by jbmcmillan (672 messages posted) http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Backwards compatability Sunday, January 6, 2008 at 5:49 pm Posted by bmhome1 (19 messages posted) Using compatibility mode in installer properties, most general productivity legacy applications run fine in Vista, with notable exceptions widely reported. Some installers stumble looking for IE6 or require NET 1.1 updated. Old versions such as XP Office run far faster than newest versions such as 2007 on older hardware also. [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows Vista Discussion Forum