Mike
02-08-2007, 04:22 PM
There are a number of differences between Windows Vista and it's predecessors such as Windows XP. One of them is that Vista will not allow software to have free reign on your PC unless you specifically allow it.
This means that some older games and applications may initially refuse to run under Vista. There are several possible solutions to this depending at which stage the software is refusing to run
I have installed my software but it wont run
1. Find the icon you normally double-click to run the program
2. Right-click on the icon. You will see a drop down menu
3. Left-click on PROPERTIES
4. Look along the tabs along the top of the window that appears and find COMPATIBILITY. Left-click on that tab.
5. Find a small tick box down the bottom of the page labelled RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR. Left-click on it and a small tick will appear in that box.
6. While you are there, you can also 'tick' the RUN THIS PROGRAM IN COMPATIBILITY MODE box and select a version of windows from the drop down box beneath it. This will make the software believe it is running under the selected version of windows. This can help sometimes, but you normally don't need to do it though.
7. Left-click on OK
I cannot even install my software from the CD/DVD
1. Make sure the installation CD/DVD is in your optical drive and cancel any window that pops up as a result of the disc being inserted.
2. Left-click on the round start button (bottom left corner of your screen)
3. Left-click on COMPUTER in the resulting menu
4. You will see a list of storage drives. Look for your DVD (optical) drive under DEVICE WITH REMOVABLE STORAGE. When located, right-click on the drive letter
5. Left-click on OPEN
6. You will see the contents of the CD/DVD.
7. In the top left hand corner of the windows, find ORGANISE and left-click on it.
8. Left-click on FOLDERS AND SEARCH OPTIONS
9. Left-click on the VIEW tab
10. Look down the list and find SHOW HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS. Left-click in it so that a blue dot appears next to it.
11. Click on OK
12. You will now be able to see *all* the files on the DVD, including all the hidden ones.
13. Find the file AUTORUN.INF, right-click on it
14. Left-click on OPEN WITH and then on NOTEPAD.
15. Left-click on OK.
16. You will see a something along these lines:
[AUTORUN]
OPEN=SETUP.EXE
ICON=SETUP.ICO
You will need to write down the bit after OPEN= as this is the launcher file. In the above example it would be SETUP.EXE.
17. Now left-click on FILE and then EXIT. If asked if you wish to save any changes, select NO
18. Now that we have the launch file, try and find it on the CD. Once you have found it, right-click on it.
19. Left-click RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR
20. Follow the installation prompts.
This means that some older games and applications may initially refuse to run under Vista. There are several possible solutions to this depending at which stage the software is refusing to run
I have installed my software but it wont run
1. Find the icon you normally double-click to run the program
2. Right-click on the icon. You will see a drop down menu
3. Left-click on PROPERTIES
4. Look along the tabs along the top of the window that appears and find COMPATIBILITY. Left-click on that tab.
5. Find a small tick box down the bottom of the page labelled RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR. Left-click on it and a small tick will appear in that box.
6. While you are there, you can also 'tick' the RUN THIS PROGRAM IN COMPATIBILITY MODE box and select a version of windows from the drop down box beneath it. This will make the software believe it is running under the selected version of windows. This can help sometimes, but you normally don't need to do it though.
7. Left-click on OK
I cannot even install my software from the CD/DVD
1. Make sure the installation CD/DVD is in your optical drive and cancel any window that pops up as a result of the disc being inserted.
2. Left-click on the round start button (bottom left corner of your screen)
3. Left-click on COMPUTER in the resulting menu
4. You will see a list of storage drives. Look for your DVD (optical) drive under DEVICE WITH REMOVABLE STORAGE. When located, right-click on the drive letter
5. Left-click on OPEN
6. You will see the contents of the CD/DVD.
7. In the top left hand corner of the windows, find ORGANISE and left-click on it.
8. Left-click on FOLDERS AND SEARCH OPTIONS
9. Left-click on the VIEW tab
10. Look down the list and find SHOW HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS. Left-click in it so that a blue dot appears next to it.
11. Click on OK
12. You will now be able to see *all* the files on the DVD, including all the hidden ones.
13. Find the file AUTORUN.INF, right-click on it
14. Left-click on OPEN WITH and then on NOTEPAD.
15. Left-click on OK.
16. You will see a something along these lines:
[AUTORUN]
OPEN=SETUP.EXE
ICON=SETUP.ICO
You will need to write down the bit after OPEN= as this is the launcher file. In the above example it would be SETUP.EXE.
17. Now left-click on FILE and then EXIT. If asked if you wish to save any changes, select NO
18. Now that we have the launch file, try and find it on the CD. Once you have found it, right-click on it.
19. Left-click RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR
20. Follow the installation prompts.