In the second part of our series, Jonathan Parkyn reveals how to check if your installed programs and peripherals will continue to work in Windows 10
What will work?
When a new operating system (OS) is released, there’s no guarantee that programs or device drivers written for earlier versions will still work. Going by our experience with the Windows 10 Technical Preview, most software and peripherals that work in Windows 8/8.1 should work fine in the upcoming OS.
If you’re running Windows 7, you can get a rough idea of what will or won’t work by running the free Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant (www.snipca.com/16653). A similar tool exists for XP and Vista users (www.snipca.com/16654), and you can also try the Windows 8.1 Compatibility Center (www.snipca.com/16721).
As far as possible, install the latest driver and program updates before you upgrade Windows, because this will make the whole process smoother. Check the manufacturers’ websites to get the most recent updates or use free tools to scan your PC and download the latest updates for you. SlimDrivers Free (www.snipca.com/15419) will update drivers and SUMo (www.snipca.com/16804) will update many popular programs.
Run the compatibility troubleshooter
All the most recent versions of Windows – including Windows 10 – come with a very useful compatibility troubleshooter, as well as a series of compatibility modes that can simulate running a program under an older version of the OS.
If, when you upgrade, you discover that certain programs don’t work properly, then locate the program’s EXE file (usually found in C:\Program Files), right-click it and select Properties. Click the Compatibility tab, then click ‘Run compatibility troubleshooter’ and follow the on-screen instructions. You can also tick the box in the ‘Compatibility mode’ section and select a version of Windows to run the program under – Windows 7, for example.
Keep your old OS running
If you have an old program or device that won’t work with Windows 10, one solution is to continue running an older version of Windows in some shape or form. If you have two PCs, for example, consider upgrading one to Windows 10 first to establish which programs and devices are compatible. If you subsequently discover that some of your favourites don’t work, then you could use your second PC to run them.
Alternatively, you could run an older version of Windows within Windows 10 as a virtual ‘guest OS’, and then run your older software on that. You’ll need a virtualisation tool such as VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org), which is free. You’ll also need a copy of the OS you want to install, along with a valid product code.
SWITCH TO A FREE ALTERNATIVE
Instead of paying to replace incompatible programs, you could switch to free equivalents. If you’ve been using an old version of Photoshop, for example, try free photo editor Gimp (www.gimp.org) instead of paying £9 a month for Adobe’s new Window 10-compatible Photoshop subscription (www.snipca.com/16805). Similarly, Microsoft Office 2003 won’t work in Windows 10 – but instead of paying for Office 365, you could switch to LibreOffice (www.libreoffice.org) or OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org) for free. These programs don’t officially support Windows 10 yet, but we’ve tested them with the Technical Preview and they all install and run without problems. Official support is likely to follow closer to the launch of Windows 10 on 29 July.