Windows Vista has been plagued with a range of compatibility and support issues since its commercial availability at the end of January 2007. Although users have been putting the heat on Microsoft - because programs that functioned with little or no issues on XP fail to deliver the same performance and functionality in Windows Vista - it is not actually the Redmond Company's fault.

In fact, Microsoft has prepared Windows Vista just for such an occasion. While obviously Microsoft's hands are tied when it comes to delivering support for third party applications, compatibility is a different matter altogether. This is one aspect that Microsoft has nailed by preemptively providing a fix.

"Program compatibility is a mode in Windows that lets you run programs written for earlier versions of Windows. Most programs written for Windows XP also work in this version of Windows, but some older programs might run poorly or not run at all. If an older program doesn't run correctly, start the Program Compatibility Wizard to simulate earlier versions of Windows," revealed Microsoft.

You will simply have to right click the setup application or executable (*.exe) and, from the context menu that will pop-up, select Properties. Choose the Compatibility tab, check the box in the Compatibility area next to "Run this program in compatibility mode for" and then select the operating system that you used to run the application in.

Microsoft delivers a consistent set of options. In fact, applications can be run in compatibility mode for Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0 (SP5), Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 (SP1).