Tag: compatibility issues

Vista SP2 Application Compatibility Update

August 27, 2009 by Jason

Microsoft is constantly tending to the evolution of its Windows client and server platforms, not only through major upgrades, such as service pack releases, but also through minor updates made available through the Windows Update infrastructure. It is the case of the latest application compatibility update for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. The refresh is currently served through WU, but as of August 25th, 2009 the bits can also be grabbed as standalone download via the Microsoft Download Center. If you don’t want to use WU to grab the August 2009 Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Application Compatibility Update simply use the links at the bottom of this article.

“Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update is a software update that addresses common application compatibility issues in Windows Vista. Microsoft regularly releases application compatibility updates for Windows Vista and for Windows Server 2008,” Microsoft noted.

The Redmond company explained that Application compatibility updates were designed to introduce modifications in the way Vista and in Windows Server 2008 were dealing with various programs that posed incompatibility problems. Read More»

Stick with standard Office file formats

June 18, 2009 by Jason

You can minimize file-compatibility issues by standardizing on the most common file formats. By default, OpenOffice.org saves files in Open Document Format (ODF). Microsoft’s by-the-book support for ODF, unfortunately, breaks some spreadsheet files, according to a recent ZDNet blog post.

OpenOffice reads and writes Office 2007’s default .docx and .xlsx XML file formats. But the older .doc and .xls formats are still the ones most often used. I suggest that you make the classic Office formats your defaults in OpenOffice. To set .doc as the document default, for example, open any OpenOffice program and do the following:

Step 1. Choose Tools, Options;

Step 2. Select General under Load/Save;

Step 3. Click Text Document under Document type in the Default file format and ODF settings section; Read More»

Windows 7 Compatibility

March 03, 2009 by Jason

With the next iteration of the Windows client, Microsoft is hard at work from day one to ensure that the development of every element of Windows 7 has Application Compatibility at its core, even though this was synonymous with changed features and designs that needed retouching. Grant George, the corporate vice president for testing in the Windows Experience team, has revealed that as far as Application Compatibility goes, Microsoft has just one purpose with Windows 7, namely ensuring that all the programs that currently work with Windows Vista will also work with its successor.

“Our engineering process includes automated quality checks to assure public APIs don’t change, and our test engineers have the right tools, engineering time and information that is used to find application issues as early as possible in our development cycle. Telemetry information is collected to assess and prioritize the breadth of applications our users depend on, paired with market data and install base information, across a wide variety of software categories to make sure they work as expected in our new OS version,” Grant said. Read More»

Hardware Support for Windows 7

February 01, 2009 by Jason

Even though Windows 7 is essentially the evolution of Windows Vista, as the operating system is available in public Beta, users of the development milestone will inherently come across glitches, including hardware incompatibility problems. Furthermore, some Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 testers are bound to run into incompatibility issues even with Microsoft’s own hardware products, namely the peripherals that the company is building through its hardware division. However, the software giant already has software in place designed to make its hardware products play nice with Windows 7 Beta.

According to Microsoft, the Habu Laser Gaming Mouse and the Reclusa Gaming Keyboard do not have Beta software available for Windows 7 Beta. “Habu Laser Gaming Mouse will continue to have basic functionality without an additional software download. Reclusa Gaming Keyboard will continue to have basic functionality without an additional software download,” the company informed. Read More»

Fifty Best Firefox 3 Extensions

July 26, 2008 by Jason

Here is an attempt to collect the 50 popular and best firefox extensions which make your browsing, downloading and navigation in Firefox as easy as possible, while harnessing the full power and features of Firefox.

These extensions should work on the latest versions of the Firefox. Use the extensions which work best for your needs. The fastest way to install these extensions from developer sites is to drag them to the url bar.

When you upgrade to a new Firefox version, some extensions might not work till the AddOn owners upgrade them, use the Nightly testers tools to remove compatibility issues. Read More»