BleepingComputer.com: Are all installations packages compatible with windows 7

I am deciding to switch to windows 7 from windows xp

but before switching i would like to know these things
Now i have saved so many installation packages in my hard disks like avg, yahoo messenger, freeware games and many more and the total size of these installers comes upto around 350 MB or even more, now if i am going to install windows 7 will i have to download all these installation packages again or i can make use of the same installation packages which i had used for XP, i mean can they be compatible with windows 7 especially the installers for freeware & lesser known games, because i also have some very old games which no one uses

someone plz help me
thanks in advance

They should work fine. At the worst, you may have to run them in compatibility mode.

wow i cant believe they will work, because i didnt even knew whats compatibility mode later i came to know after doing a google search

i hope each and every program will get installed successfully without even one missing

Well, sachin naik -

I think a better answer would be that some may work and some may not.

First, the program must be a version what will run in Win 7. I don't simply mean the "install" routine (although a real old one may have a problem), I mean the actual program itself. You may have many older programs that simply will not run in Win 7.

While Windows 7's XP Mode may be a solution, it is not available in the Win 7 Home Premium edition. You will need either W7 Pro, Enterprise, or Ultimate. It also is primarily designed for "business use". While not specifically stated, this may mean that the XP Mode will not be optimized for gaming and you may discover that some of those older games will not run properly in XP Mode.

Even if some of the programs can run in Win 7, you may want to download a more current version.

If those older programs/games are important to you, I would suggest you go the "dual-boot" method and keep your XP version running on your PC while you have a second boot capability where you'll be running Win 7. This will allow you to test any of those older programs in Win 7 while not losing the ability to run them in the XP OS.

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Right, however compatibility mode, which is not the same thing as XP Mode, can be used to run software that is quite old. The attached screen shot shows that, for this particular application, it can be run as though it was on Windows 95.



It would also be remiss to not mention that even XP V Mode will work on a system that does not have AMD-V or Intel VT support. Compatibility mode is available all versions of Windows 7. Here is a page in which you can search for compatibility with Windows 7.

But as JohnWho pointed out, there still is no guarantee that they will run. Let us know if they do not. Here is a nice video that shows how to use the compatibility trouble shooter.

nopes i cannot have dual boot due to some reason

do think this game is going to work in windows 7 http://www.caiman.us/scripts/fw/f155.html its santa claus in trouble game a 3d game(in case if you know about the game)

well i have gone to the webpages thanks a lot