subject: How To Make Windows 7 Compatible With Software Programs [print this page] Programs' compatibility with every new release of Windows operating system is an all time concern for Windows users from the day Windows Vista was launched. Due to this program's incompatibility problem in Windows Vista most of the Windows users had switched back to Windows XP. But, with the advancement of technology, Microsoft has tried to resolve this issue in its new operating system, Windows 7. Though, this new operating system from Microsoft has been designed to support latest technologies; options to support earlier programs are also embedded in it.
When you try to open a program in Windows 7, which is incompatible with it then you receive the "This program has known compatibility issues" message. This message does not mean that you cannot continue using with that program but you have to set compatibility option for that program. For example, if you know that the program is compatible with Windows XP Service Pack 2 then you just have to set the required compatibility mode the program. Following steps help you to make a program compatible to run on Windows 7:
1. Whenever you receive the "This program has known compatibility issues" message, right-click the program and select Properties.
2. Select Compatibility tab.
3. Select Run this program in compatibility mode for check box and select the Windows operating system with which you previously used the program.
4. Click the Apply button.
5. Click the OK button.
Now, the program has become compatible to run on Windows 7. In this way, you can resolve the compatibility issue in Windows 7. Mentioned above was the compatibility issue that you need to deal with at the time of installation of a specific application. However, you may also have compatibility issue while using a specific application, documents created in the previous version of that applications, etc. One of the example, you can consider to understand the application specific compatibility issue is Microsoft Word 2007.
Documents created in MS Word 2007 cannot be opened with earlier versions of MS Word because the Word 2007 saves documents in.docx format instead of.doc format. Same issue occurs with MS Excel 2007, MS Power Point 2007, and other applications of MS Office 2007. However, there is a solution provided in these applications to resolve compatibility issues. To remove the compatibility issue with earlier versions of MS office, you need to save the documents into 97-2003 compatible formats. You can select this option by clicking the Microsoft button at the top of application, then Save As, and then select the 97-2003 compatible formats to save the document in the format that can supported by earlier versions and also by upcoming versions.
In this way, you have to find out compatibility of other applications too to get rid of the compatibility issue in Windows 7.
