Make Windows XP Programs Run in Windows 7

So you upgraded to Windows 7 because it's the new, cool operating system. You were excited when you first started using this new OS, but now you're frustrated. There are hundreds of dollars' worth of computer programs sitting on your desk – now useless because they were designed for Windows XP. Apparently Windows 7 does not want to run these programs. What do you do now?

Fortunately, Microsoft put a little bit of thought into XP-to-Windows 7 compatibility. The programmers created a solution: compatibility mode. This helps you run more of your XP programs in Windows 7, which will save you lots of money and frustration. Here's how to make your older software work like it should in the new operating system environment.

The nonfunctional program should have a shortcut link. Find this and right-click on it.

You should see a menu that's full of options. Left-click on "Properties."

Now click the "Compatibility" tab in the menu that just popped up.

There should be a box marked "Run this program in compatibility mode for" – followed by a scrolling menu with all sorts of operating systems and options listed. Make sure that the "Run this program…" box is checked.

Now look at that huge list of operating systems and options. Click on the OS that is compatible with your program. By default, most of your software was probably designed to be compatible with Windows XP, so select that OS first.

Click "OK."

Now restart the program that you just tried to fix. In most cases, the software will run without too many more problems.

Sometimes, however, you still have trouble with the program that you're trying to run. If that's the case, you can go back to the compatibility-mode menu and change some of the options. Try selecting a different operating system from the list. Change the checkboxes beneath that list. Restart your PC, too, as that can fix the problem.

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How to Enter BIOS or CMOS Setup

There are various methods for entering the BIOS or CMOS setup depending on the make, model and age of your computer. I will try and explain some of the most popular methods.

Most modern computers will require you to press one of the following keys during start up:

• F1
• F2
• DEL
• ESC
• F10

You should press the key when you see a message such as press <f2> to enter BIOS or try tapping the appropriate key slowly during startup.

On some modern computers, pressing and holding down a key during boot will cause a stuck key error. This may give you the option to enter BIOS setup

Older computers may require one of the following key sequences during startup:

• CTRL + ALT + ESC
• CTRL + ALT + INS
• CTRL + ALT + ENTER
• CTRL + ALT + S
• PAGE UP KEY
• PAGE DOWN KEY

If the above suggestions do not work please check the access key lists below.

List of BIOS access keys for major computer manufacturers.

Acer – Aspire, Power, Veriton, Extensa, Ferrari, TravelMate, Altos

• Press Del or F2 immediately after powering on.
• The BIOS on the Acer Altos 600 server uses the Ctrl+Alt+Esc key and the F1 key for advanced options.
• Older Acer computers may use also use the F1 or Ctrl+Alt+Esc keys to access BIOS.

Compaq – Presario, Prolinea, Deskpro, Systempro, Portable

• Press F10 while the cursor in the top right corner of the screen is blinking.
• Older Compaq computers may use the F1, F2, F10, or Del key.

Dell – XPS, Dimension, Inspiron, Latitude. OptiPlex, Precision, Vostro

• Press F2 when the Dell logo appears. Press every few seconds until the message Entering Setupappears.
• Older Dell desktops and laptops may instead use Ctrl+Alt+Enter or Del.
• Older Dell laptops may use Fn+Esc or Fn+F1.

eMachines – eMonster, eTower, eOne, S-Series, T-Series

• Press Tab or Del while the eMachine logo displays on screen.
• Other eMachine computers may use F2.

Fujitsu – LifeBook, Esprimo, Amilo, Tablet, DeskPower

• Press F2 once the Fujitsu logo appears.

Gateway – DX, FX, One, GM, GT, GX, Profile, Astro

• Press the F1 key repeatedly after restarting the computer.
• Some older Gateway computers use F2.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) – Pavilion, TouchSmart, Vectra, OmniBook, Tablet

• Press the F1 key after restarting the computer.
• HP Tablet PCs may use F10 or F12.
• Other HP computers may use the F2 or Esc keys.

IBM - PC, XT, AT

• Press F1 immediately after powering on the computer.
• Older IBM computers (including some laptops) may use the F2 key.

Lenovo (formerly IBM) – ThinkPad, IdeaPad, 3000 Series, ThinkCentre, ThinkStation

• Press F1 or F2 after powering on the computer.
• Older Lenovo products use Ctrl+Alt+F3, Ctrl+Alt+Ins, or Fn+F1.

Micron (MPC Computers) – ClientPro, TransPort

• Press F1, F2 or Del immediately after powering on the PC.

NEC - PowerMate, Versa, W-Series

• Press F2.

Packard Bell - 8900 Series, 9000 Series, Pulsar, Platinum, EasyNote, imedia, iextreme

• Press F1, F2, or Del.

Sharp – Notebook Laptops, Actius UltraLite

• Press F2 after the computer starts.
• Some very old Sharp PCs require a Setup Diagnostics Disk.

Shuttle – Glamor G-Series, D'vo, Prima P2-Series, Workstation, X Mini XPC, Surveillance

• Press F2 or Del on startup.

Sony – VAIO, PCG-Series, VGN-Series

• Press F1, F2 or F3 after turning on the computer.

Toshiba – Portégé, Satellite, Tecra

• Press F1 or Esc after powering on.

List of BIOS access keys for major motherboard manufacturers.

abit – ab9, an7, an8, av8, aw9d, be6, bh6, ic7, in9, ip35, kn8, kn9, etc.

• Press Del while the PRESS DEL TO ENTER SETUP message is displayed.

ASRock – 4coredual, 775dual, 939dual, k7s41gx, p4v88, k7vm3, etc.

• Press F2 right after the computer starts up.

ASUS – p5b, a7v600, a7v8x, a8n, a8v, k8v, m2n, p5k, p5n, etc.

• Press Del right after starting the computer. A few ASUS motherboards use Ins instead.

BFG – 680i etc.

• Press Del when the enter setup message briefly displays at the bottom of the screen after powering on the computer.

BIOSTAR – 6100, 550, 7050, 965pt, k8m800, p4m80, ta690g, tf7050, etc.

• Press the Del key while the full screen logo is showing on screen, immediately after starting the computer.

DFI – LANParty Ultra, Expert, Infinity 975x, NF3, NF4, cfx3200, p965, rs482, etc.

• Press the Del key when the Press DEL to enter setup message appears, immediately after the memory test.

ECS Elitegroup – k7s5a, k7vta3, 741gx, 755-a2, 945p, c51gm, gf7100pvt, p4m800, etc.

• Press either the Del or F1 key.

EVGA - 790i, 780i, 750i, 680i, 650i, e-7150/630i, e-7100/630i, 590, etc.

• Press Del immediately after powering on the computer.

Foxconn – c51xem2aa, 6150bk8mc, 6150bk8ma, c51gu01, etc.

• Press Del.

GIGABYTE – ds3, p35, 965p, dq6, ds3r, k8ns, etc.

• Press Del during POST (Power on Self Test), right after the computer is turned on.

Intel - d101ggc, d815eea, d845, d850gb, d865glc, d875pbz, d945gccr, d946gtp, d975xbx, etc.

• Press F2 during the initial boot process.

JetWay - jm26gt3, ha04, j7f3e, hi03, ji31gm3, jp901dmp, 775gt1-loge, etc.

• Press Del immediately after powering on.

Mach Speed – Viper, Matrix, pm800, 917gbag, v6dp, s755max, etc.

• Press Del after the boot process begins.

MSI (Micro-Star) – k8n, k9n, p965, 865pe, 975x, k7n2, k9a2, k8t neo, p7n, p35, x48, x38, etc.

• Press Del while the Press DEL to enter SETUP message displays on screen after powering on the computer.

PCChips – m810lr, m811, m848a, p23g, p29g, p33g, etc.

• Press Del or F1.

SAPPHIRE – PURE CrossFire 3200, a9rd580Adv, a9rs480, CrossFireX 770 & 790FX, PURE Element 690V, etc.

• Press Del after powering on.

Shuttle – "bare bones" and motherboards including ak31, ak32, an35n, sn25p, ai61, sd37p2, sd39p2, etc.

• Press Del or Ctrl+Alt+Esc at the Press DEL to enter SETUP message that appears right after turning on the computer.

Super Micro – c2sbx, c2sbm, pdsba, pdsm4, pdsmi, p8sc8, p4sbe, etc.

• Press the Del key at any time during the boot process.

TYAN – Tomcat, Trinity, Thunder, Tiger, Tempest, Tahoe, Tachyon, Transport and Bigby motherboards including K8WE, S1854, S2895, MP S2460, MPX S2466, K8W S2885, S2895, S2507, etc.

• Press the Del or F4 key.

XFX - nForce 500 Series, 600 Series, 700 Series, etc.

• Press Del during the boot process, immediately after the computer is turned on.

List of BIOS access keys for major BIOS manufacturers

AMI (American Megatrends) – AMIBIOS, AMI BIOS

• Press Del when after powering on the computer.
• Some older motherboards that use AMIBIOS may prompt for the F1 or F2 key instead.

Award Software (now part of Phoenix Technologies) – AwardBIOS, Award BIOS

• Press the Del key to enter the BIOS Setup Utility on nearly all AwardBIOS powered motherboards.
• Some older systems using Award's BIOS software asked for Ctrl+Alt+Esc to enter BIOS.

DTK (Datatech Enterprises) – DTK BIOS

• Press the Esc key to enter BIOS, right after powering on the PC.

Microid Research – MR BIOS

• Press F1.

Phoenix Technologies – Phoenix BIOS, Phoenix-Award BIOS

• Press Del during the POST (Power On Self Test), immediately after the computer starts.
• Many older Phoenix BIOS systems required Ctrl+Alt+Esc, Ctrl+Alt+Ins, or Ctrl+Alt+S.

If none of the above suggestions work and you still cannot enter BIOS setup, please post your problem in the comments box for further assistance.

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How to access files or folders on an external HDD and deal with Ownership issues

In this tutorial we will look at how to access files or folders when connecting an external hard drive from another computer or a stand alone hard drive, and deal with any Ownership/Permissions errors. This could be a USB memory stick, memory card from your camera or an entire hard drive where you wish to access the data held within it but are getting a permissions error or no files are showing, yet you know they are there.

Note: If you are connecting a secondary hard drive to a working computer in order to access files and folders (pictures, music etc), then this tutorial assumes that the hard drive on the working computer is formatted as NTFS. Please note that an NTFS formatted drive can read FAT32 formatted drives, but a FAT32 drive cannot read a NTFS formatted drive (unless they are networked, in which case the system format isn't important)

Firstly, if you are wishing to connect a hard drive from another computer to yours, then there is couple of ways to do this. If this is a stand alone external hard disk with USB input, then simply plug it in to the back USB ports of your desktop and the device will show itself in My Computer. The reason for using the USB ports at the back is that they are connected directly to the motherboard and not via a separate USB card inside the desktop. If you are connecting it to your laptop, then any of the USB ports will do.

If the device you are attaching is a standard hard drive (IDE or SATA) then you can either connect it directly to your computer by opening up the side of your computer and should you have a spare SATA data cable and power adapter cable then just plug it in and reboot. If it is a IDE, then again make sure you have the IDE power cable and IDE data cable and set it to Slave. You will see how to set it to Slave on the back of the hard drive itself or consult the manufactures website/ manual. Please note that in the pictures of the IDE data cable, the motherboard connector is red. Most are actually blue in colour. The IDE power connector end should already be present in your desktop as it should be attached to the PSU (spare one)

A much simpler way to do this though, is to purchase a hard drive enclosure or a USB to SATA/IDE Adapter with a Power adapter which is what I use as it can connect 2.5″/ 3.5″ HDDs be they IDE or SATA. It only cost £17.99 ($29.00) and is an invaluable piece of kit. Here are some links should you wish to purchase any, but note that the links may change over time, but a simple look on Amazon or Newegg will find it for you:

• USB 2.0 To SATA/IDE Adapter with Power Lead (Good for all sizes and types)
• 2.5″ Hard drive enclosure (laptop size IDE hard drives)
• 2.5″ Hard drive enclosure (laptop size SATA hard drives)
• 3.5″ Hard Drive enclosure (Standard size internal hard drives)

Once you have connected your device, you will next need to Take Ownership of it. Please note that sometimes you may not have to do this and can access all the files and folder within. If you are unable to access certain files, you will get a permissions error or the files that you know are there seem to be hidden. There are two ways to get around this. Firstly , if you try to access a certain folder/file you might get the error message below:-

You can click Continue and let Windows grant access to that particular folder which will give you access, but it might not grant access to all files and folders as well on the hard drive. To do this you must change the ownership of the drive to yourself. Plug in or connect your drive and then locate it via My Computer. Right click on the drive and select Properties which will show the following window:

Now click on the Security tab and then on the Advanced button at the bottom:

The Advanced Security Settings window for the drive in question will now show:

Now click on the Owner tab and click on Edit as shown in the image below:

Depending on how many user accounts you have on your computer, you will now want to select the user that will be the new owner of the device. Check the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects box and hit Apply. A Windows Security window will pop up, just click Yes.

Windows will now start the process of changing ownership of the files and folders on the drive:

Once the process has finished you will see the following message:

That's it. You should now be able to see and access all of the files on the drive that you wish to save or use. In the example shown, the drive belonged to a friend, whose motherboard had died, and needed to save personal files like family photos.

Note: This was done using Windows 7 Ultimate, but the procedure is very much the same in XP and Vista. If you have any questions, please ask me "+91 99628 79268" or srajasimman@gmail.com

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