Vista and old software

A friend recently purchased a Vista system and then discovered old programs
wouldn't work with it. I heard this is true with the new Office suite not
allowing you to open and save files in old versions. I am going to be
helping my Ma buy a new PC, and don't want this to happen to her.

My question is, does someone know of how, if possible, to convert software,
remove and install the old operating system to allow use of old programs
files etc. with Vista?

On the left side of this windows community page, click on "Columns". Then
scroll down to "Find Your Match". It gives several different suggestions on
what to try. Good luck. We are all in the same boat!

"jeem" wrote:

> A friend recently purchased a Vista system and then discovered old programs
> wouldn't work with it. I heard this is true with the new Office suite not
> allowing you to open and save files in old versions. I am going to be
> helping my Ma buy a new PC, and don't want this to happen to her.
>
> My question is, does someone know of how, if possible, to convert software,
> remove and install the old operating system to allow use of old programs
> files etc. with Vista?

"BrysNoni" <> wrote in message
news:5368E24C-1235-45E0-ADBD-...
> On the left side of this windows community page, click on "Columns". Then
> scroll down to "Find Your Match". It gives several different suggestions
> on
> what to try. Good luck. We are all in the same boat!
>
> "jeem" wrote:
>
>> A friend recently purchased a Vista system and then discovered old
>> programs
>> wouldn't work with it. I heard this is true with the new Office suite
>> not
>> allowing you to open and save files in old versions. I am going to be
>> helping my Ma buy a new PC, and don't want this to happen to her.
>>
>> My question is, does someone know of how, if possible, to convert
>> software,
>> remove and install the old operating system to allow use of old programs
>> files etc. with Vista?

Needing the same advice but I have no idea what you are pointing to, "this
windows community page"?

On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 06:36:03 -0700, jeem
<> wrote:

> A friend recently purchased a Vista system and then discovered old programs
> wouldn't work with it.


Whenever a new operating system comes along, there is always a certain
amount of older software that won't work with it. My personal
experience with Vista is that, except for a couple of minor utilities
that I could easily do without, *all* the software I run works just
fine with Vista.

Your friend should look into the various compatibility options with
Vista. See, for example,
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...tibility-mode/

or http://tinyurl.com/3yy254

Using one of the compatibility modes, most (not all, but most)
programs can be made to work.


> I heard this is true with the new Office suite not
> allowing you to open and save files in old versions.



No, you are mixing apples and oranges here. You are probably referring
to Office 2007. First, note that this has nothing to do with Vista;
Office 2007 is not part of Vista. On the one hand, Office 2007 can run
under Windows XP; on the other hand, Vista can run older versions of
Office.

Second, there *is* a potential incompatibility between Office 2007 and
older versions of Office. By default, Office 2007 saves files in a new
format, and older versions of Office can't read that format. For
example, in Word, that format's extension is .docx, as opposed to the
old .doc.

However there are two easy ways around this issue if you need
compatibility with older Office versions. First, in Office 2007, you
can simply choose to "Save as," instead of "Save," and choose to save
in the old format. Alternatively, you can install the "Microsoft
Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File"
into the older versions of Office to let them read the new formats.
See
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

or http://tinyurl.com/y5a879


> I am going to be
> helping my Ma buy a new PC, and don't want this to happen to her.
>
> My question is, does someone know of how, if possible, to convert software,
> remove and install the old operating system to allow use of old programs
> files etc. with Vista?

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

The Windows Vista Community page is the page you are on as you read these
discussions. Look to the left side of this page for Columns, etc.

"/\rtful ])odger" wrote:

>
> "BrysNoni" <> wrote in message
> news:5368E24C-1235-45E0-ADBD-...
> > On the left side of this windows community page, click on "Columns". Then
> > scroll down to "Find Your Match". It gives several different suggestions
> > on
> > what to try. Good luck. We are all in the same boat!
> >
> > "jeem" wrote:
> >
> >> A friend recently purchased a Vista system and then discovered old
> >> programs
> >> wouldn't work with it. I heard this is true with the new Office suite
> >> not
> >> allowing you to open and save files in old versions. I am going to be
> >> helping my Ma buy a new PC, and don't want this to happen to her.
> >>
> >> My question is, does someone know of how, if possible, to convert
> >> software,
> >> remove and install the old operating system to allow use of old programs
> >> files etc. with Vista?
>
> Needing the same advice but I have no idea what you are pointing to, "this
> windows community page"?
>