Tag: compatibility
January 22, 2010 by
Jason
Uninstalling and reinstalling inbox audio driver repeatedly on Windows 7 or Windows Vista might not be the best thing to do, as Microsoft has warned that users could leave their platforms incapable of playing audio. The Redmond company does not specify the exact number uninstalls/reinstalls needed for some DirectSound output to be rendered unable to play audio, but apparently, just several such actions are sufficient.
Here is the scenario described by the software giant: “You use software to render/play audio via the DirectSound API (for example: DDK tool Graph Edit). On Vista or Windows 7, via a driver testing tool (or manually) you uninstall and then reinstall audio drivers such as “High Definition Audio Device” (HDAudio) several times. You attempt to render/play the audio stream again to a non-default DirectSound device (for example – DirectSound:Speakers as opposed to Default DirectSound device).”
Provided that users managed to reproduce the situation exemplified above, Microsoft indicates that no audio will be produced as a result of the stream leveraging a non-default DirectSound device for rendering. In addition, Vista and Windows 7 customers will receive the following error message: “These filters cannot agree on a connection. Verify type compatibility of input pin and output pin. Cannot play back the audio stream: no audio hardware is available, or the hardware is not responding. (Return code:0×80040256).” Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
October 08, 2009 by
Jason Windows 7 may be Microsoft’s most anticipated product ever. It builds on Windows Vista’s positives, and eliminates many of that OS’s negatives. It adds new functionality, too all in a package that is less resource-hungry than its predecessor. And whether or not you’re upgrading from Vista or skipping it altogether and moving up from Windows XP, you’ll need to know how to make the most of it in your environment.
1. Pick Your Edition. Most business users do not need the more expensive Ultimate Edition; stick with Professional unless you specifically need BitLocker.
2. Upgrading? Go 64-bit. As the second major Windows release to fully support 64-bit, the x64 architecture has definitely arrived on the desktop. Don’t buy new 32-bit hardware unless it’s a netbook.
3. Use Windows XP Mode. Yes, it’s only an embedded Virtual PC with a full copy of WinXP but it’s an embedded Virtual PC with a full copy of Windows XP! This is the first profoundly intelligent use of desktop virtualization we’ve seen and a great way to move to Windows 7 without giving up full Windows XP compatibility.
4. Use Windows PowerShell v2. More than just a shell, this is the administration tool you’ve always wanted: Parallel, distributed processing for administrative tasks! Manage 100 machines literally as easily as you manage one with the new Remoting feature. Windows PowerShell v2 ships for the first time in Windows 7, and within six months will be available for older versions of Windows. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 4 Comments »
October 05, 2009 by
Jason Redmond-based software company Microsoft released several months ago its own solution aimed at offering Windows 7 RC users the possibility to enjoy compatibility with the older Windows XP operating system, the Windows XP Mode. Available for download initially in a beta flavor, the RC iteration of Windows XP Mode is currently up for grabs for those who installed the RC version of Windows 7, and is bound to become final in the near future.
A recent post on the Windows 7 Team Blog states that Windows XP Mode was released to manufacturing on October 1 and that the final version of the solution is expected to become available for download as soon as Windows 7 hits the market, on October 22, to be more precise. The RTM version of this solution is meant to offer OEMs the possibility to include the XP Mode within the PCs they will bring to the market, the post also notes.
“Windows XP Mode is designed to provide small business and mid-sized businesses running Windows 7 Professional (or higher) the ability to run Windows XP productivity applications that may not be natively compatible with Windows 7. We expect many Windows XP applications to be compatible [with] Windows 7 however Windows XP Mode is meant to serve as an added safety net so small and mid-sized businesses can migrate and run Windows 7 without any road blocks. Windows 7 Professional is designed to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses,” Brandon LeBlanc describes the software solution. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, Windows XP | 1 Comment »
September 19, 2009 by
Jason Are you running an older computer with Windows Vista or Windows XP and looking to upgrade to the latest iteration of the Windows client once it becomes available on October 22nd, 2009? Then you need to know that Microsoft has done its best to streamline the evaluation process of existing machines when it comes down to Windows 7 upgrade readiness. All you have to do is download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and run it locally on the computer you’re looking to upgrade to Windows 7. A Beta development milestone of the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is currently available via the Microsoft Download Center.
When it comes down to Windows 7 upgrades,meeting the hardware requirements is just a part of the equation. Fact is that more complex details are involved. And while it might be easy for end users to tell whether their system’s hardware configuration matches the Windows 7 requirements, when it comes down to application compatibility and device driver support, things are a tad more complicated. Except if you turn to the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.
“Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor scans your PC’s system, programs and devices to check if it’s able to run Windows 7. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
September 17, 2009 by
Jason
Internet Explorer 8 includes a security feature that shuts down misbehaving applications before they can harm your system.
This capability, known as Data Execution Prevention (DEP), runs by default when IE 8 is installed on XP SP3 and Vista SP1 or later, but it may not always be clear to you why DEP has put the brakes on one of your PC’s applications.
DEP is the best reason I know for updating to Internet Explorer 8 and Vista SP1. For many years, Microsoft has included DEP which is also called No-Execute (NX) only in parts of Windows. For example, DEP is available in IE 7 but is off by default to avoid conflicts with old, incompatible programs.
DEP is now a key part of Vista and Internet Explorer 8. When I try to install older software on newer machines, I must configure Data Execution Prevention to allow the software installer to run with DEP disabled.
To open the Data Execution Prevention dialog in XP, open Control Panel, choose System, and then select the Advanced tab. Click the Settings button in the Performance section and select the Data Execution Prevention tab. In Vista, choose Performance Information and Tools, click Advanced Tools in the left pane, select Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows, and click the Data Execution Prevention tab. Read More»
Posted in Internet | No Comments »
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»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »
VistaUACMaker is a free application which can help you make windows xp based applications and programs to run with proper compatibility in vista and windows 7. As vista has introduced a new feature called UAC ( User Account Control ) which controls the way and permissions on different users to execute applications on your computer.
In order to make any application as per vista and windows 7 complaint, the manifest file of the application should contain some information which provide the privileges required by the application and UI Interaction of application.
There are 3 types of privileges that can be mentioned in the manifest file.
requireAdministrator : Run as administrator
asInvoker : Run as same privilege as parent process
highestAvailable : Run with highest privilege available for user
Here is how you can use this utility to provide the necessary privileges to the program
Just run the utility and browse the executable of the program of xp which you want to run in vista or windows 7.
In just 3 steps, your application can be made to run on Vista or Windows 7
1. Select the application using Select browse button.
2. Set one of the privilege required for your application from selection box [ mainly Administrator [ requireAdministrator ]
3. Check the “Yes” button if your application interacts with high privilege applications on UI level in vista.
4. Click on “Make It” button, that’s it done. Now you can run this application in vista or windows 7
Download VistaUACMaker
Posted in Windows 7, Windows Vista | No Comments »
The latest release of the Compatibility View list update for Internet Explorer 8 went live earlier this week and is now available for download. In an effort to maintain compatibility between IE8 and website developers for IE6 and IE7, Microsoft introduced the Compatibility View feature in the browser.
The Redmond-based company also maintains a list of websites that fail to play nice with the gold version of Internet Explorer 8. For this specific content, IE8 doesn’t use the latest version of its rendering engine, tailored to modern web standards, but rather behaves like older releases of the browser.
“An update for the Windows Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View list that is dated June 23, 2009, is available. This Compatibility View list update makes Web sites that are designed for older browsers look better in Internet Explorer 8. When you install Internet Explorer 8, you can decide whether the sites that you browse should be displayed in Compatibility View. After you install this update, you may have to restart Internet Explorer,” Microsoft informed.
Read More»
Posted in Internet | 1 Comment »
Downloads of the Open XML Compatibility Pack have passed the 100 million mark, Microsoft revealed. The Redmond-based company is offering the Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats for users of Office releases prior to Office 2007 in order to enable them to not only open, but also edit, and even save documents, workbooks, and presentations in Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007 file formats, namely the Open XML ISO standards. The software giant indicated that the number of Open XML Compatibility Pack downloads was illustrative of the increase in adoption of the OOXML standards introduced with the advent of the Office 2007 System.
“The compatibility pack is a manual download. It is not pushed through any update channels. In order for an end user to obtain it, they must visit the Microsoft download center, select one of the 35 available languages, and download the 26MB installer. To say it differently, more than 100 million people have had cause to seek out and download the compatibility pack for Open XML; likely due to their encountering a document stored in one of the formats,” explained Gray Knowlton, Microsoft Office Group Product Manager. Read More»
Posted in Office | No Comments »
Microsoft is pushing ahead with the final stretch associated with the development process of its next iteration of the Windows client. Windows 7 will continue to cook for a little over a month as the Redmond company is baking the RTM build, with the Release Candidate milestone continuing to be available for a taste of the platform’s final development build. As Windows 7 starts on the last yards ahead of next month’s release to manufacturing, the software giant is not only focusing on the testing for the operating system, but also on getting the ecosystem of hardware and software solutions orbiting Windows ready for the successor of Windows Vista. One aspect of the company’s efforts is the Windows 7 RC Training Kit for Developers.
“The Windows 7 Training Kit for Developers includes presentations, hands-on labs, and demos. This content is based on Windows 7 RC and provides an early peak to our final training. This training kit is designed to help you learn how to build applications that shine on Windows 7 by utilizing key features such as: Taskbar, Libraries, Multi Touch, Sensors and Location, Ribbon, Trigger Start Services, Instrumentation and ETW, application compatibility,” Microsoft explained. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
Loading ...
