Vista won't load software- getting frustrated

Heres the situation. I do not know Vista yet but am willing to learn. I
do have 25 years plus on other systems but am no hacker. I've got Vista
Home Premium running on a six moth old Dell xps 410. Very nice machine
and looks great. This computer was used at a location with very slow
(26.4 and less) dialup so its probably way behind in updates. It has
never run efficiently, even though an intern (a genuine nuclear power
plant engineer) managed to get it set up to do simple emailing, and much
complaining. I now have it at a location where I can connect it to
broadband, catch up and generally put all my xp era software on it Now i
find that I can't load even the most reliable softwares: new downloads
of firefox, Nod 32, ccleaner, thunderbird, tax software, photoshop, etc,
much less odd business stuff like a proprietary database, planning
software and a major GIS. I get a small black screen for a second and
it just disappears. Not even a hint that something rejected it as
incompatible. Run as Administrator (yes, I am the ADMIN) does nothing.
Run in compatibility mode, does nothing. Whats this secret admin thing?
What about transferring from my old computer running xp? There has got
to be something so basic, it just escapes me.
M

 

You have to install every old piece of your software from scratch as if you
never installed this stuff on XP, meaning that you have to have original zap
files slated for Vista. If you are doing exactly this, then you should
explain more carefully, step by step, less emotionally what you are doing,
describing buttons you hit, etc.

The adm thing I can explain. The Administrator is an OBJECT. Suppose you
purchased this machine (this case scenario simplifies understanding, your
case might be somewhat more complicated) then when you first sign in you are
implicitly given the right to add your sign in name to the group
Administrators. On Vista Home Premium you have to do it via Control Panel to
get to the GUI: Control Panel>>System and maintenance>> Administrative
Tools>Computer Management>Local Users and Groups.

Open up thumbnail Groups, open up Group "Administrators" (nb: it is plural)
and you will see the object "administrator" in there. Add yourselves to this
group. Close the GUI.

 

Been there, did that. I'm quite aware of what and where Admin
privileges are set. The files to be loaded are on a cd which was just
made from another computers fresh downloads. The Vista computer can see
the files but can not start the setup process. A very fast small balck
rectangular screen pops up and disappears behind the scree prompting for
permission. You cant read it. The process then stops with no file set up
procedure.

 

OK, open Command Prompt as an administrator.

Navigate yourself to that CD and via the maze of the directories to that
exec file. Your last option is to type the file name with /?

This may (and I want to stress may) give you the help info on this file.

However, even while I am typing this I am realizing what the problem is.
This is not going to work for you.

You can open the directory in windows explorer and find a file autorun.exe
(on CD). click on it.

If it does not help, it means there is a compatibility issue. It may be that
this software is not Vista compatible. You may try to install it in safe
mode. You can also try virtual pc.

But try the Command Prompt first. If you cannot see much still, then type
this:

fileName.exe /? > C:\users\yourName\documents\myResult.txt

You will find the result in that file.