How to Run Old Versions Of S/W in Win 7 Using Program Compatibility Mode

Running Software in Program Compatibility Mode

 I am going to walkthrough how to make older software run 

after an OS update, say Vista to 7 or XP to Vista.

Step 1: If you find that one of your programs is not working 

properly, right click on it and select Troubleshoot 

Compatibility.

Step 2: Your next step should always be to try the 

recommended settings suggested by Windows.

Step 3: You can then begin a test run of the program using 

the recommended settings and see if it is fixed or not.

Step 4: If it worked, you have the option to save the settings 

so that they will apply every time that you launch it.

Step 5: If it didn’t, do not give up yet. You can also try to fix 

it on your own!

Selecting No, try again using different settings will 

bring up the manual troubleshooting menu, where you can 

input your own experiences with your troubled program.

You can also start with manual options at the beginning of 

 troubleshooting by choosing Troubleshoot Program at 

the first menu.

Step 6: Now you have the chance to specify the problems 

that you notice when trying to run the program.

Step 7: The contents of the next window will depend on 

what options you chose in the previous dialogue. They are 

merely a line of more specific questions to help identify the 

exact problem that you are having.

For instance, if you chose The program worked in earlier 

versions of Windows but won’t install or run now  

then you will be greeted by the following message.

In this example, it shows a variety of different display 

problems you could be having.

Step 8: Once again, it is time to run the program and see if 

the settings have fixed the problem.

Step 9: If you still find yourself with a broken piece of 

software then you should send a generated problem report to 

Microsoft to make them aware of the problem.

 Manually Select Program Compatibility 

If you know what version of Windows that your program once worked in then you can skip all of the troubleshooting and just jump right into things.

Step 1: Right-click the program and choose Properties to 

open up another menu where you will select the 

Compatibility tab.

Step 2: Within the Compatibility tab, check the box beside  

Run this program in compatibility mode for:.

Step 3: From the drop-down list, choose the version of 

 Windows that your program worked best on. Click Apply, 

and the settings will be saved for the next time that you run 

the program.

Wrapping Up

If all of the above tools do not help, don’t forget that Google 

is your best friend. Sometimes a simple search in Google, 

 describing your problem, can lead to a forum, which leads to 

 a post, leading to another post, that all ends in a solution to 

your problem. Or, if you already know a good forum, try 

using  Blekko to customize your search results.

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Lock the Screen Shortcut

To Lock Screen in Windows 7 you have to 

press the Windows Key + L to lock it, now. The screen would be locked and password 

protected in case you have one.
 

In case you don‟t like shortkeys or you keep 

forgetting them, there‟s another option for 

screen lock.

 

Simply create a new shortcut to C:\Windows

\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll, 

LockWorkStation and place it whenever you want.

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New Autoplay Autorun options in Windows7

         Whenever an external device is plugged in
Windows it showed an Autorun options for
choosing what happens when you insert it.

 It can be configured at Control Panel > Autoplay

In order to help prevent malware from spreading
using the Autorun mechanism, the Windows 7
engineering team made two important changes to
the product:


1. AutoPlay will no longer support the Autorun
functionality for non-optical removable media. In
other words, AutoPlay will still work for
CD/DVDs but it will no longer work for USB
drives.

Before the change (left) after the change (right)
2. A dialog change was done to clarify that
the program being executed is running from
external media.

Before the change (left) after the change (right)
Some smart USB flash drives can pose as a
CD/DVD drive instead of standard ones. In
this specific scenario, the operating system
will treat the USB drive as if it is a CD/DVD
because the type of the device is determined
at the hardware level.

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Create new instance of an Application in Windows 7 Super Taskbar

In windows 7 Taskbar instance of an application
can easily be created by using Win + Number Key.
Here number key signifies the position of the
Application in the Taskbar.

If you press Windows + 1, it will create a new
instance of the first icon in the task bar. In the
taskbar Shown here it will open an instance of
Internet Explorer while Win+5 open Windows
media Player, Win+7 to Windows Live writer and
so on.

Now that‟s when i wish there must be Double digit
Keys as well in Keyboard.

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User Account pictures in Windows 7

You can find the default pictures of Windows 7
user Account in a hidden folder, path given below.
Also you can find Admin & guest account picture
here.
 The default Pictures are located in the hidden
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account
Pictures\Default Pictures folder.

 The default Standard and administrator
account picture is the hidden
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account
Pictures\user.bmp file.

 The default Guest account picture is the hidden
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account
Pictures\guest.bmp file.

If you wish to change these simply replace them
with another file up to 128 x 128 pixels in size to
prevent it from being automatically cropped to fit
the user picture display box.

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Customize the Windows 7 log-on screen

Windows 7 makes it easy changing the Windows 
 log-on screen.

1. Go to start, and click on Run, type Regedit &
    press enter there.

2. Navigate to : 
 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft
 \Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\ 
 LogonUI\Background
3. Double-click the OEMBackground DWORD 
     key

4. Set value of the key to 1.  

5. Select a background image for Logon Screen   
     with size less than 256KB in size (Use of Image 
     Resize software like VSO Resizer can help)

6. Copy that image into the
    C:\Windows\system32oobe\info
     \backgrounds folder

7. Rename the image to backgroundDefault.jpg

8. Reboot, and now your logon Image would have
    changed.  

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Application based Volume Mixer

Volume Mixer in Windows 7, not just show device volume but also lists all applications that are currently running and producing the audio. You can control the audio of any of the application from there on. So when you are having more than one application that is producing sound you can control from here and stop it as well.
@ the time when i snipped the screen, there were few applications running on my system, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, few media players Windows Media Player, VLC Media player, QuickTime and one video clip was also being played in Windows Live photo gallery (yes it can play Video as well apart from Images)

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