Running old programs in Windows 7 and higher version

[Corzhens]

We had upgraded the operating system of our desktop from Windows XP to Windows 7. It is an old desktop and fortunately there was no issue in the installation process. However when we tested the old programs, most were not running properly. The tech in the office said we can tweak the program to adapt to the new operating system. But after tweaking the programs still do not run properly. Our only recourse was to revert back to Windows XP. Do you have an idea why that is happening? Our desktop’s processor is 32-bit only. 

[Jeane]

I am assuming that the programs installed could run on the old operating system well enough so an upgrade of the OS, if it was a 32-bit version of Windows 7 shouldn't have in any way affected how the programs worked because the OS is backwards compatible with most software.

Did you use Windows 7 compatibility mode? It is the quickest way to solve compatibility issues. Click on the software's shortcut on your desktop. Click properties and then compatibility mode. You'll see a box that you need to "check". On the drop down menu choose "run this program in compatibility mode with windows XP." That should help.

[Ronwald]

It can be very annoying to get an older program to run in Windows 7. These programs are often not compatible with your current installation of Windows, and yet they are essential for your daily usage. So what can you do about it? Luckily, there is this Program Compatibility Wizard in Windows 7 that can make things slightly easier, so you can try to use this tool and check if it can help solve your issues.

[dullian]

Why don't you try looking up if there are Windows 7 versions of those programs? You might have to browse through older versions catalogues which sometimes aren't do easy to find, though.