Chapter 2
Nothing is more frustrating than attempting to run software and finding that it isn’t compatible with your computer. Using a new computer operating system always involves determining whether your existing hardware and application software work with the new operating system. Microsoft has done exhaustive testing and made countless adjustments to Microsoft Windows XP and has achieved impressive compatibility, but you might still run across legacy software or a custom application that doesn’t seem to work well—or work at all—when running on Windows XP.
This chapter provides a number of tools that can help you determine whether your existing hardware and application software are compatible with Windows XP, and explains what to do in case they’re not. It covers the following:
