Troubleshooting Programs That Won't Run in Vista

Got a program that won't run (or won't run properly) under Windows Vista? You can give your apps a little help by enabling what's called "Compatibility Mode." The idea? If you have an app that used to run well on your old computer (or before you upgraded), Compatibility Mode can make it run in as if you're running an older Windows OS (from Windows XP way back to Windows 95).

If you find an app giving you trouble, enable Compatibility Mode by right-clicking the program (if you can't find the actual .EXE file, Vista is intelligent enough that the shortcut will usually work), and clicking Properties. Click the Compatibility tab, then simply click the checkbox next to "Run the program in compatibility mode for" and then choose your selected OS from the dropdown box below. (For most of you, this will probably be "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)," but experiment with other choices if the program still doesn't run properly.

Given that the list of Vista-incompatible apps continues to grow longer, not shorter, Compatibility Mode can be a real savior. Give it a try next time you run into app trouble.