Choosing the Best Tool

You can use five primary tools to mitigate application-compatibility issues: Program Compatibility Assistant, Program Compatibility Wizard, ACT, Windows XP Mode, and application virtualization. The following sections describe each tool and when it is appropriate to use each tool versus using other tools or technologies.

The first two tools provide approaches for users and one-off support issues but are not for use in a large-scale deployment. The remainder of this tutorial focuses on using the ACT to inventory, analyze, and mitigate compatibility issues, because this is the tool that organizations primarily use in large-scale deployment.

Note The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP ) Toolkit 4.0 is a free tool from Microsoft that you can use to plan your Windows 7 migration project. It can help you assess your environment's readiness for Windows 7. For more information about MAP , see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd537566.aspx.