Program Compatibility Assistant

If you have an individual application that needs Windows 7 compatibility remediation, one mitigation tool that might be effective is the built-in Program Compatibility Assistant. To run the Program Compatibility Assistant, right-click the application's.exe file, click Properties, and then click the Compatibility tab to view the application's compatibility settings. If the program is used by multiple users on the same computer, click Change Settings For All Users to change the settings selected here to affect all users.

Program Compatibility Troubleshooter

The Program Compatibility troubleshooter can help resolve many application issues. Using the troubleshooter, you can test various compatibility options on various programs to find the setting that allows the programs to run under Windows 7. To start the Program Compatibility troubleshooter, click Start, Control Panel, Programs, and then Run Programs Made For Previous Versions Of Windows. The Program Compatibility troubleshooter starts. To begin the application compatibility diagnostic process, click Next.

Note To get the most accurate results with this troubleshooter, log on to the computer with a user account that has standard user rights, not administrator rights.

Application Compatibility Toolkit

You can use the ACT for anything more than a few one-off, simple mitigations. It helps you create an inventory of the applications in your organization. It also helps identify which applications are compatible with Windows 7 and which applications require further testing. The following are some of the major components of the ACT solution:

• Application Compatibility Manager A tool that enables you to collect and analyze your data so that you can identify any issues prior to deploying a new operating system or a Windows update in your organization. You use this program heavily during the initial phases of an application migration project. You should consider this tool as the primary user interface for the ACT.
• Application Compatibility Toolkit Data Collector The Application Compatibility Toolkit Data Collector is distributed to each computer and scans by using compatibility evaluators. Data is collected and stored in the central compatibility database.
• Setup Analysis Tool (SAT) Automates the running of application installations while monitoring the actions taken by each application's installer.
• Standard User Analyzer (SUA) Determines the possible issues for applications running as a standard user in Windows 7.

The ACT is indispensable for testing a wide variety of applications across a variety of computers and operating systems within your organization, using solutions based on a common pool of application fixes provided by vendors and users. You can use the ACT tools separately or together, based on your organization's needs. Some tools, such as the SAT and SUA, are intended for developers to enable application remediation and are not necessarily used in the scanning and mitigation process.