Managing Compatibility Issues

Although the compatibility evaluators, the Microsoft Compatibility Exchange, and the ACT Community all provide information about application compatibility issues, you might still uncover an undocumented issue. After adding your compatibility issue, you can use the Microsoft Compatibility Exchange to upload and to share your issue information with both Microsoft and the ACT Community, if you are a member. You can also add compatibility solutions to any compatibility issue in your ACT database, regardless of whether you entered the issue.

You also can resolve any active compatibility issue in your ACT database, regardless of whether you entered the issue. Resolving an issue means that you are satisfied with the state of the issue and are closing it from further edits. However, you can still add solutions or reactivate the issue if you discover that you resolved it in error. Marking an issue as resolved also changes the issue status from a red X to a green check mark in your compatibility reports, report detail screens, and for the overall group score in the ACT Community data.

To add a compatibility issue, perform the following steps:

1. In the left pane of the ACM, click Analyze.
2. In the Quick Reports pane, click Applications in the Windows 7 Reports section.
3. In the Windows 7 - Application Report, right-click an application and then click Open.
4. On the Actions menu, click Add Issue to open the New Issue dialog box.
5. In the Title box, type a title for the issue.
6. In the Priority list, click a priority.
7. In the Severity list, click a severity level.
8. In the Symptom list, click a symptom.
9. In the Cause list, click a cause for the issue.
10. In the Affected Operating Systems dialog box, select the check boxes next to each operating system on which this issue appears.
11. In the Issue Description box, type a description of the issue.
12. On the File menu, click Save.

To add a compatibility solution, perform the following steps:

1. In the left pane of the ACM, click Analyze.
2. In the Quick Reports pane, click Applications in the Windows 7 Reports section.
3. In the Windows 7 - Application Report, right-click an application and then click Open.
4. On the Issues tab, double-click the issue for which you want to add a solution.
5. Click the issue's Solutions tab.
6. On the Actions menu, click Add Solution.
7. In the Title box, type a title for the solution.
8. In the Solution Type box, click a solution type.
9. In the Solution Details box, type a description of the solution.
10. Click Save.

To resolve a compatibility issue, perform the following steps:

1. In the left pane of the ACM, click Analyze.
2. In the Quick Reports pane, click Applications in the Windows 7 Reports section.
3. In the Windows 7 - Application Report, right-click an application and then click Open.
4. On the Issues tab, double-click the issue that you want to resolve.
5. On the Actions menu, click Resolve. A note appears in the Issues tab that says the issue is resolved and a green check mark appears in the Status column of the Issues tab.