Do you find the Support WebCast transcripts helpful?
Let us know!

Note This document is based on the original spoken WebCast transcript. It has been edited for clarity.

William Keener: My name is William Keener and I'm a technical writer for Microsoft® Windows® XP in Microsoft's Global Services Automation group. In this presentation we will discuss application compatibility issues in Windows XP, the technologies that are integrated into Windows XP to address these issues, and some tools and strategies for troubleshooting.

There are a number of changes in Windows XP that may affect application compatibility (slide 2). Because Windows XP is based on the Windows NT® codebase, these changes may be more problematic for applications that were designed for Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition. Windows NT and Windows 2000 applications are less likely to have serious compatibility issues, but they may also be affected by some of these changes.

For example, both Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 provided support for OS/2 or POSIX applications. This support is not included natively in Windows XP, but an add-on is available.

Similarly, the NetBIOS protocol and the Microsoft virtual machine for Java are not included natively with Windows XP. So this can cause problems for applications that rely on these components.

Many applications are also optimized for a specific operating system or operating system version. Something as simple as a new version number can cause problems for a program that checks the operating system version and refuses to run if a certain value is not returned to it. In many cases these applications will run just fine on Windows XP after you get around this version check.

Windows XP is also a multiuser environment. The Fast User Switching feature, for example, allows multiple users to be logged into Windows at the same time. This can cause problems for programs that were not designed to be used by multiple users.

Another potential issue is path changes. The location of your user folders, for example, your Start menu and the My Documents folder has changed from where it was located in Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, and Windows NT 4.0. This can cause problems for applications that expect your user folders to be in a certain location.

Some Windows 98 applications also rely on virtual device drivers or VxDs, which are not supported by the Windows NT codebase that Windows 2000 and Windows XP are based on.

Just like in Windows Millennium Edition and Windows 2000, applications that attempt to replace core Windows system files are now prevented from doing so by the Windows File Protection feature. This feature enhances system stability, but could obviously affect some applications.

Some applications also use older versions of the Microsoft Win32® API functions and can have problems as a result. For example, the older API functions to determine free disk space can return unexpected values on computers with large amounts of free space. As a result, an application may not be able to save files, for example, because it thinks you don't have enough free disk space, when in fact you have several gigabytes or more of free space.

Finally, Windows 98 applications may also try to directly access hardware, which is not allowed on a Windows NT – based computer.

The specific symptoms (slide 3) of a compatibility problem will depend on the particular application that you're running and the issue that it is experiencing. For example, the program may just not install or run. It may stop responding or display some error message, or it may not be displayed properly or may have its functionality impaired in some way. For example, the case I cited previously was not being able to save files.

There are a number of compatibility features included with Windows XP, and some advanced tools are available to assist IT professionals and application developers in resolving these issues (slide 4).

First, migration compatibility technologies help migrate applications when you upgrade from a previous version of Windows. Several database files are used by Windows XP Setup to identify known application compatibility problems. This compatibility check warns you of any serious compatibility problems before you install Windows XP by displaying an upgrade report during set up.

You can also run this upgrade report by itself without actually installing Windows XP. To do this, use the /checkupgradeonly switch with the Winnt32 setup command if you have a Windows XP CD. If you have not yet purchased Windows XP, you can also download the Upgrade Advisor, as described in Microsoft Knowledge Base article number 307726.

After setup, Windows XP also uses database files to identify applications that have known compatibility issues. These applications are identified based on matching information (which is application-specific information like the file name, its size, perhaps a checksum of its contents, or its version number). After this is identified, Windows will apply individual compatibility fixes on the fly when you run the application. These compatibility fixes, also called AppFixes or "shims," were first introduced with Windows 2000. Windows XP ships with roughly 200 compatibility fixes.

As an example, consider the case I mentioned previously of an application that checks the Windows version and refuses to run if the version number is not what the application expects — say it's Windows 98. In this case a compatibility fix can be applied to the application so that Windows XP returns the Windows 98 version number when you run that application.

Compatibility modes (292533), which are also called layers, can also be applied to an application. A compatibility mode is simply a collection of individual fixes that allow Windows XP to emulate a specific operating system environment for that application.

For example, the Windows 95 Compatibility Mode contains about 50 of the most common fixes for older Windows 95 applications. This includes returning the Windows 95 version number, redirecting file paths to your user folders and their new locations in Windows XP, and emulating the Windows 95 registry data.

Note that for applications that are not in the Windows XP database, users can apply one of five standard compatibility modes based on the previous version of Windows that the application was designed for. There are also tools available for IT professionals to create custom compatibility modes.

For the more serious known compatibility issues, a compatibility fix or layer may not be a viable solution. In these cases Windows XP can display a help message explaining the problem. In the most severe cases Windows may actually block the application from installing or running. In other cases you may be able to run the application, but the help message is displayed to provide you with some details on the compatibility issue with that application, perhaps even linking to an update for the application.

There are two automated services for supplementing the information contained in the application compatibility database files. One is the Dynamic Update feature in Windows XP Setup. When you upgrade to Windows XP, there is an option to get the updated setup files in the setup wizard. This feature uses your Internet connection to update the Windows XP setup program, and this can include new compatibility information that might be needed during setup.

Another automated service that you may be more aware of is the Windows Update site. The application compatibility database files can also be updated by installing an update from the Windows Update site.

Finally I'd like to mention the Windows Catalog, which is an informational resource that you can use to determine if a specific program is compatible with Windows XP. For a link to the Windows Catalog, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 295322.

Before you begin troubleshooting an application compatibility issue, there are a few things to consider (slide 5). If you contact a support professional about the problem, you will want to provide them with this information, as well as the name, manufacturer, and version number of the program that you're having problems with.

First, did you install the program in Windows XP, or was it already installed when you upgraded to Windows XP? Is the version of your program Windows XP compatible? Manufacturers often release updates to their programs, and although the major version of your program might be compatible with Windows XP, it may require a minor update to make it completely compatible. You should ask the program's manufacturer about this. There is no sense in trying to troubleshoot a problem with an application that has known issues if an update is available to resolve the problem.

You will also want to consider if the program is a Win32 application. That is, it was designed for Windows 95 or a later Windows version. If the program is a 16-bit Windows program (designed for Windows 3.1), or it's an MS-DOS® or POSIX application, then your troubleshooting approach will be a bit different from the one that we're discussing here. Slide 5 lists the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles (314495, 314106, 308259) for troubleshooting problems with non-Win32 applications.

Finally, are you a computer administrator or a member of the local administrators' group on your machine? If your computer is part of an organization's network, are you a member of a network domain? These considerations can be useful in determining how to best troubleshoot a specific compatibility issue.

Troubleshooting application compatibility issues generally involves the steps described here on slide 6, which is taken from Microsoft Knowledge Base article 285909. First you'll want to check all available resources for compatibility information or updates and workarounds. You may also want to uninstall and reinstall the program as a computer administrator and try running it as an administrator. If you're using the Fast User Switching feature in Windows XP, you may want to log off any other users. You can also use the Program Compatibility Wizard and install Service Pack 1 (SP1). Service Pack 1 not only includes the latest security and reliability fixes for Windows XP, but a number of application compatibility fixes are also included.

Now let's discuss each of these steps in more detail (slide 7). As I mentioned, the first step in troubleshooting an application compatibility issue should be to check if there are any known issues or updates for the program. You can save yourself a lot of time and trouble by simply checking your available resources before you start any in depth troubleshooting.

As I mentioned, the Windows Catalog is available, using the Knowledge Base article I provided previously (295322), or from the Help and Support Center in Windows XP. You can check the catalog to see if a particular application is certified by Microsoft as being Designed for Windows XP, or if its compatibility has been rated by Microsoft or by the manufacturer.

We should note that this site does not necessarily contain a complete list of products that are compatible with Windows XP, so you should also check with the program manufacturer by visiting their Web site to see if they have any information on Windows XP compatibility.

If you originally installed the program on a previous version of Windows and then upgraded to Windows XP, you may want to try uninstalling the program and then reinstalling it in Windows XP (slide 8). You should also again check the Windows Update site for any application compatibility updates that may be available. Three such updates have been released since Windows XP, and these are included in Service Pack 1.

You may also want to search the Microsoft Knowledge Base, which is updated regularly with known issues and resolutions or possible workarounds. And once again, you should always check with the manufacturer of the application. Manufacturers regularly release updates for their programs, so there may be a patch or workaround available on their Web site.

Some applications must also be installed or run by a computer administrator (slide 9), particularly programs that modify system files or restricted registry settings. In Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition, all users of your computer are essentially administrators. However, Windows NT – based systems, such as Windows XP, introduced limited user accounts, which do not have access to all parts of the system. If you are using a limited user account, you may have problems installing or running some programs that were not designed to be run by limited users.

Microsoft's Knowledge Base article number 307091, for example, lists a number of applications that do not work properly if you run them from a limited user account.

You have several options here. First, you can log on to Windows as an administrator to install or run the program. Or you can use the Run As command to specify administrative credentials for running the program. This is discussed in Knowledge Base article number 308116. Another option is to contact the manufacturer of the program for possible updates.

As I mentioned previously, the Fast User Switching feature (slide 10) allows multiple users to log on to the same Windows XP computer simultaneously. This feature is available for Windows XP Home Edition computers and Windows XP Professional computers that are not joined to a network domain. Programs that were not designed to run in a multiuser environment might experience different issues if you are using the Fast User Switching feature.

For example, the program may not run, or it may display an error message indicating that it is already running when the second user attempts to open it. This is discussed in Knowledge Base article 300820. The program may not display properly when you switch between users or with some games; or the sound for one user may be transferred to the other user when they're running the program. The workaround in these cases is simply to restart the program or close it before you use the Fast User Switching feature (290249 and 298336).

But even without Fast User Switching, some programs may simply not create shortcuts or other user-specific settings for all users. For example, only the user who installs the program will have shortcuts on their Start menu to run the program. This can usually be fixed by just manually creating the shortcuts for the other users, as discussed in Knowledge Base article 301494.

The Program Compatibility Wizard (slide 11) is part of the Windows XP Help and Support Center. This is a simple tool for adjusting application compatibility settings for a particular program. It allows you to apply the compatibility mode we discussed previously and to switch the display to 256 colors, or the screen resolution to 640 × 480.

With the wizard you simply choose the application to modify and then select the operating system that runs the application correctly. The next step in the wizard allows you to adjust the display settings, including an option to disable the new Windows XP visual themes, which may be necessary for some games or educational programs.

You can also run the Program Compatibility Wizard on the setup file for a program if you're having trouble installing it. However, you should be careful when doing this. Some programs are intentionally blocked on later versions of an operating system because they could, for example, cause system instability or even data loss in some cases. This applies primarily to system tools such as antivirus, firewall, CD burning, disk management or backup software. These types of programs generally run at a very low level and have the potential to cause serious problems if installed in a compatibility mode.

After you run a program using compatibility mode, the wizard will ask you if the program worked correctly and whether you want to always use the settings that you chose if you want to pick new settings. You're also given an option to send your settings and results to Microsoft so that we can improve program compatibility for other users.

You can also manually select the same compatibility mode settings that are available in the wizard using the Compatibility tab on the program's shortcut properties. To do this, simply right-click the program's shortcut and then click Properties. On the Compatibility tab, you can select one of the standard compatibility modes to apply to the application and adjust the display settings. The Compatibility tab is displayed on slide 12.

Here is the Program Compatibility Wizard we talked about (slide 13). You can start the compatibility wizard from the Start menu under All Programs. Just click the Program Compatibility Wizard in the Accessories menu and follow the instructions to select your application and compatibility settings. Then run the application and see if your settings work.

If you haven't already done so, I strongly encourage you to install Service Pack 1 for Windows XP (slide 14). Service Pack 1 includes all three of the application compatibility updates that have been posted to Windows Update since Windows XP was released, in addition to a number of other updates to enhance the security and reliability of Windows XP.

Another reason you may want to install Service Pack 1 is to obtain the Microsoft virtual machine (VM) for Java. As I noted previously, Microsoft VM was not included with the original release of Windows XP, but it is included in Service Pack 1. You may have problems installing or running applications that rely on the Microsoft VM, such as Microsoft J++®, if you don't have a VM installed.

Troubleshooting games. In general you should use the same troubleshooting approach for games that you use for other applications, but some specific issues related to game software are listed on slide 15. For example, OpenGL issues could result in display problems in the game and may require that you update your display adapter. Knowledge Base article 285912 discusses this issue.

Another thing you may want to do is install the whole game to the hard disk. Many games will allow you to run them from a CD, but they also have the option to install to the hard disk if you're having some problems running the game. You may want to try installing the entire game on your hard disk to see if that resolves the problem. Note that a troubleshooter specific to games (310697) and multimedia applications is included in the Help and Support Center with Windows XP.

As I discussed previously, there is a toolkit available for IT professionals and software developers to help diagnose and resolve application compatibility issues (slide 16). This toolkit contains a white paper on common compatibility issues, several documents on best testing practices, and some tools to help fix compatibility issues, such as the Compatibility Administration tool (CompatAdmin) and AppVerifier.

The Compatibility Administration tool (slide 17) lets you test applications with the various compatibility modes or with individual compatibility fixes. You can also create custom compatibility modes and custom compatibility databases that can be deployed to other Windows XP computers, as well as custom AppHelp messages to display when running an application that has a compatibility issue that cannot be addressed with the compatibility fix.

You can also use the CompatAdmin tool to search for programs that have fixes applied to them, and you can search for fixes in any of the installed compatibility databases on the local machine.

The AppVerifier tool (slide 18) can be used to test applications for common compatibility issues with Windows XP. AppVerifier attaches to a program and performs its test while you run the program, and then it generates a report of potential issues.

This tool is designed primarily to help software developers avoid common mistakes made by applications. For example, it monitors an application for incorrect version checking, bad registry usage, or hard-coded file paths.

These tests can help an IT professional determine which compatibility fixes to apply to a particular application, and they're also designed to assist developers in testing applications in preparation for the Designed for Windows Logo program.

The Application Compatibility Analyzer (slide 19) is a new tool that's being developed by Microsoft to provide IT professionals with detailed application information, including compatibility status and related issues. This tool can be helpful in deploying Windows XP in your organization. The tool can be used to create an inventory of the applications used in your corporation, to verify the compatibility status against an online database, and you can also export reports to a SQL Server™ database and print reports.

Finally, here are some additional resources for you to use in troubleshooting application compatibility issues (slide 20). With that, I'll hand it over to Otto for the Q&A.

Otto Cate: Before we jump into the Q&A today, I'd like to share a couple of program notes with our audience.

The Q&A portion of the Support WebCast is intended to encourage further discussion of the topic today, on application compatibility. One-on-one product support issues are outside the scope of what we're able to address. So if you do require some more complex technical assistance, your best bet is to submit an incident on the Web or contact Product Support Services directly by phone.

I'd like to take a moment to introduce a couple of people who are joining us for the Q&A. We have Chuck Archer, he's a test manager on the Application Quality and Deployment team, and Joyce Nessif, who is a test lead on the same Application Quality and Deployment team.

It looks like we have a few questions here. Regarding the application compatibility mode registry key, Appcompatibilitymode, is there a reason that it resides in HKEY_CURRENT_USER versus HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE?

Joyce Nessif: Generally because of permission restraints it needs to be in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Not all users will be able to run each program, necessarily.

Chuck Archer: It's typical of the NT security model, and that's why it's run in that manner. That's correct.

Otto: Okay. Next question: Concerning the Program Compatibility Wizard, it actually won't let me run it for an application that's located on a server. I'm unable to copy the application to the local hard drives in my case. I'm wondering how I can actually get the Program Compatibility Wizard to run a program that's loaded in a remote location.

Chuck: There are sometimes issues with that, like at a school running educational programs designed for specific platforms, let say Windows 95. They run off a server, and there are some issues there. We have resolved some of these by running the tools on the server, but there have been some problems, and we're working to address that. I can't give you a completely clear answer on that today, for what we're going to be doing in the future. It's a good question.

Otto: Is there any possibility to customize the rights for limited users as far as application compatibility is concerned?

Chuck: The limited user is meant to be just that, limited user. We do have some AppCompat modes where you can allow programs running under limited user to work properly, but as far as customizing the rights, in other words, giving that person elevated privileges, at this time the answer would be no.

Otto: Are there any compatibility tools to help with issues with running applications as a limited user?

Chuck: Yes. You'll find that in CompatAdmin, which is part of the Application Compatibility Toolkit, and you can apply these layers and allow programs. For instance, if it wants to write somewhere that's protected now, it will redirect it to a proper place and seamlessly allow the application to work. We're having some pretty good success there.

Most applications written for the Windows 95/Windows 98/Windows Me platform don't work properly in the Windows NT environment under a limited user. But in the latest versions of the toolkit we've included the ability to work around many of these issues. We can't get all of them at this time, but we do provide the means for a lot of success in that area.

Otto: I'm repackaging older applications for Windows Installer on XP. Can you programmatically set an application to run in a compatibility mode?

Joyce: I've located the KB article. It specifically addresses setting compatibility layers. It's Q286705. I will also investigate that further, programmatically setting for specific applications, and I'll get back to the questioner.

{Follow-up answer: No, but the installer package can be made to install a custom .sdb.}

Otto: Okay. Can you describe how to use QFixApp and where it might be available?

Chuck: QFixApp is being phased out, and all of the features in QFixApp can now be run through CompatAdmin. So you want to just move on to CompatAdmin in the latest version of the toolkit, which is 2.6, and phase out QFixApp.

Otto: Regarding application compatibility for running MS-DOS – based applications, can you possibly shed light on some problems or fixes in this area, running those types of applications on Windows XP?

Chuck: I would have to know what the specific nature of the problem is.

Otto: It's definitely a general question. Perhaps that user can send a follow-up question regarding what specific issues you're looking for.

Chuck: We really work hard in Windows XP to provide the backward-compatible support. So we'd be interested in hearing what specific issues this person is finding.

William: Otto, I'm going to try to flip back to the slide on things to consider before you start troubleshooting. There is a Knowledge Base article, 314106, that discusses MS-DOS applications specifically.

Otto: Excellent. Thank you. Next question: Is the hardware compatibility mode feature simply a troubleshooting tool overall, or was it essentially designed to run noncompatible applications that weren't necessarily designed for Windows XP?

Chuck: An application that's not supported under the OS, as William mentioned earlier, especially antivirus applications that touch the disk, no, you would not want to use compatibility mode to allow that. When you mean noncompatible, there are some basic things we can get around by using some of the layers, like diversion issues or things along those lines, where they're just doing things that don't work properly in Windows NT. But for applications, for lack of a better way to say it, that might do bad things to your system, you wouldn't really want to use the compatibility tools to mask that.

I'd have to know the specific case that you're talking about. I guess you could say in general, yes, it's designed to run programs that were compatible with previous Windows versions, but that's a tough, general question.

William: Yes, and it's kind of a philosophical question, too. Is it a troubleshooting tool or is it a way to run noncompatible programs? It's a bit of a philosophical issue where you come down on that. I list it here as a troubleshooting tool because you can use it to troubleshoot why a particular application is not running properly.

Obviously, as Chuck and I mentioned previously, you don't want to do that for applications that might do bad things, such as low-level applications like disk utilities. But if a program runs correctly on Windows 98, and it's not one of these low-level disk utilities, then you could try the Windows 98 Compatibility Mode as a troubleshooting step to see if the application will run that way. Whether you continue to run it that way is really going to depend on how badly you need to run that application and whether there are updates available from the manufacturer. So that's why I say it's a bit of a philosophical question.

Chuck: Yes. The best case would be to get the compatible version or an update from the ISV to allow you to run the application as compatible. Now if it's a dead program, and there is no update, and applying the Windows 98 compatibility layer allows it to run just fine, then I'd be pretty comfortable in staying with that.

Otto: Is there any public information on a release date for the Application Compatibility Analyzer? And overall, what will it do that the Application Compatibility toolkit does not do?

Chuck: There is no public release date. I know there is a beta coming very soon. What it will do for you beyond what the toolkit does — there are two parts to the analyzer. There is the collector and then the analyzer. The collector is the tool that runs on the client machines. Basically it will perform an inventory of your whole system. Then if you select, you can compare it to an online database at Microsoft, which will be a living database that will be continually updated, and you'll be able to compare exactly what you're running against exactly what we have. It will tell you if there is passive internal testing if it's in the internal test list.

If the ISV or the vendor says "That's not supported, but this version is," or "Get this patch to update your application," it's going to be a tremendous help when deploying applications in the enterprise. You'll be able to prioritize your applications based on mission-critical status, business-critical status, and the number of users using it. You'll be able to sort by machine or sort by application. You'll see 500 users are running this particular application and 500 are using the same application but a different version; it will show you all that. You'll be able to make informed decisions regarding applications. It's going to be a super tool when all is said and done. So that's going to augment the AppCompat toolkit. It will become part of the AppCompat toolkit, but it's not meant to replace it. It's just meant to be another tool in your arsenal.

Otto: Is there any significant difference in running the compatibility wizard or just simply using the right-click on the shortcut functionality?

Joyce: Running the compatibility wizard provides you with more options and compatibility fixes than simply right-clicking the executable. The right-click on the executable only provides you with the compatibility layers themselves, and the wizard will give you the opportunity to select specific compatibility fixes.

Chuck: It wasn't mentioned in William's slides, but we're working on an application deployment roadmap, it's going to be a Web interface. It's also going to be part of the Windows .NET Server 2003 Deployment Kit, which will be in book form in Spring 2003. The deployment roadmap will take you through tons of issues that we've found in the field and that we've been able to resolve. It will have numerous examples of specific symptoms. "I run this app, this happens"; "Go here and use this particular application fix using our tools." It's going to be a tremendous asset to every IT professional out there. That's coming out in the Spring, so you can keep a lookout for that.

Otto: It definitely sounds like it's going to provide some good best practices. Regarding the Application Compatibility Analyzer, is this only going to affect Microsoft software, or can I use it for other software, a third-party application, for example?

Chuck: It's for all applications, including your line-of-business applications. Your line-of-business applications that you've written in-house, they'll come up as unknown but you'll have the ability on your end to add that necessary data. You won't actually be able to compare them to the online database, but you'll have the entire list of third-party applications, Microsoft applications, and line-of-business applications all in your list, and you'll be able to prioritize against those. So it will be a very useful tool for you.

Otto: Okay. Do we happen to know at this point how it's going to be released, if it's going to be free download?

Chuck: Yes. It's a free tool.

Otto: You'll be able to get all of the up-to-date information from that Web site. Excellent.

It looks like we have a couple of hardware compatibility questions that have come through. While we'll certainly attempt to address these if we have time today, just as a reminder, the focus of our topic today is really application compatibility.

Chuck: Yes. There have been a few questions like "Can I use this to work around driver incompatibility issues?" And we would say, talk to the driver manufacturer for updates. That would be your best bet.

Otto: Excellent. Can the Application Compatibility Verifier tool be used to verify incorrect data classification? It looks like they're referring to section 3.2 on the Windows XP Logo specifications.

Joyce: Yes, it can. The AppVerifier, I believe in numerous cases, uses the logo specs to specify the test to be run.

Chuck: Some very interesting data, just as an FYI: We've done some studies on all of the crashes with applications, and we've found that if the developer would have run AppVerifier on their application before releasing their application, 67.5 percent of those crashes wouldn't happen. We're going to be adding more to Application Verifier to eliminate even more than that, down the road. So to lower support costs on your in-house applications, run them through AppVerifier. We find that 35 percent of errors are heap problems that can be eliminated by running your applications through AppVerifier before putting your applications into production. So it's a very useful tool for developers.

Otto: That's excellent. Thank you. Moving on to the next question: Is there a reason why the compatibility database fixes may not be fully integrated into Windows XP? Is it too much overhead? The question continues: The IT staff can determine the correct fixes and deploy with the Stbinst.exe tool, but wouldn't Windows Update be a better way to update the compatibility functionality?

Joyce: The majority of the compatibility fixes that we were able to identify prior to shipping Windows XP are integrated, and they live in the Sysmain.mdb in the AppPatch directory. The toolkit is useful to customers with applications that perhaps are unique to their environment and unknown to us in our testing, but they've identified similar problems that we've experienced. That's the biggest benefit to the toolkit. Also, with Windows Update, when we are apprised of fixes for common applications, we update Sysmain.mdb through Windows Update. So it's a combination of enlarging the database of fixes.

Chuck: We do use Windows Update. Occasionally fixes are distributed that way.

Otto: The next question that we have is basically a clarification of slide 15. We were talking about troubleshooting games, and you mentioned OpenGL issues. The question is: Should I update the display adapter for OpenGL issues, or just the driver? I'm assuming that's what was meant by the slide, was to update the driver, and not the physical card. Is that correct, William?

William: Yes. In fact, that article (285912) specifies the display driver and not the card.

Otto: Okay. Thanks for the clarification there.

William: Although you could have cases with some older video cards, where you might have to update the video card itself.

Otto: Yes, that's definitely possible. Can the Application Compatibility Wizard settings be used in conjunction with some kind of software distribution tool, like SMS?

Chuck: You're talking about deploying your own custom? Yes.

Otto: Okay.

Chuck: I can't point them to specific data, but it's going to be covered in the application deployment roadmap that's coming out. For line-of-business applications, the best way to do that would be to just fix the code and redeploy, versus the baggage of having to deploy the custom .sdb database forever. For shrink-wrapped, third-party applications, you would want to get the latest update for those. If that's not possible, or you deem it to be okay in your business, then you could deploy your custom .sdb.

William: Would the Application Compatibility Toolkit have details on this, Chuck? I think I recall seeing something about it there.

Chuck: Yes.

William: At least with respect to the compatibility administration tools, with building your own custom compatibility database. And I think there is some deployment information in there as well.

Chuck: Yes. Thank you William.

Otto: The question is possibly a little general, but I'm going to ask it, just in case: Will these tools help me in a situation in which I install a very large number of programs and start to experience long shutdown times on the system, where the hard disk just thrashes constantly? Are there any recommendations as far as this toolset is concerned?

Chuck: That seems like a completely unrelated issue.

William: I would refer back to a previous WebCast presentation that I did on troubleshooting startup and shutdown issues in Windows XP (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/servicedesks/webcasts/wc082902/wcblurb082902.asp). That might be more helpful. The transcript to that presentation is on the Web.

Otto: Excellent. Good pointer, thank you. Another question, and I'm not sure if it's within the scope, but the question is: Can you run programs with elevated privilege levels from a command prompt or a command line?

Joyce: From a command prompt you can use the Run As command with a user ID that has administrative privileges, certainly.

Otto: Okay. It appears that with that we have answered all the questions. We hope that everyone has the opportunity to tune in again soon. Thank you, and have a great day.