All these apps are on the XP machine (which, if I knew any more than ‘plug it in and insert CD*’ would still be in use.
Can I use a backup of C:/programs and port them across and get usable links to the executables?
I don’t want to spend my life double-clicking an exe in a search list.
My DSL required an ethernet port (or so I thought) I have a wireless router Did I really need to run the DSL setup on a hard-wired machine to get the router to work?
Yes. With the taskbar on modern Windows, you can just right click the running programs icon and say “pin to taskbar”… and then there it is doubling as a “start this program” icon permanently…
Also, back to OS’s such as 95, You can also right click the .exe and choose “Create shortcut” and then put the shortcut on the desktop, or in the start menu…
Before you try to install stuff, I suggest that you use the free upgrade to Windows 10. This will look more familiar. How good it is at running legacy software, I am not sure. I have Office 2007 and that runs fine.
No setup is required to pick up the internet via your Ethernet port – you just plug that cable in and that’s it (unless you have a specific IP configuration requirement for your network).
No, its that simple, sure there are a few programs that would work, but generally it’s a simple NO!
Some programs will work, while some just won’t. Office 2003 officially does not work in 8.1, but it sort of does – with some problems thou…. It does not work in Windows 10 (as far as I know)
Alternatively you can use free programs like OpenOffice, Gimp, etc… you can find them here
I just installed my (paid) AVG Tune Up and ran the ‘scan and fix’. Something on the order of 370 non-existent programs.
One of the ‘Recommendations’ was to disable the weekly upload of my activity to Microsquat.
I don’t remember seeing any mention of that trick - I wonder what other sneaky crap is built into these things.
I wanted to download the (so far still) ‘FREE!’ MS Hearts game. MS really, really wanted me to set up an account but I could bypass that. I could not bypass supplying an email.
I really don’t want to join the borg - I spent 30 years in computers and know better than to “Trust Us”.
If I can’t install from backups, can I do some sort of ‘export’ in XP Home SP3 and then ‘import’ to 8.1? I was amazed by the Firefox ease of porting all my 100 or so bookmarks. Would love to do the same with exe’s.
And it Office 2003 Pro, if that matters, purchased in 2005. I saw that it had somehow accumulated some kind of ‘compatibility patch’ for ‘Win 7’ - which the XP machine (Dell laptop, 2008) never saw.
Alternately, could I somehow rig a network either through the router or DSL modem to run the apps resident on the XP machine from the 8.1 machine?
Again - I really will be dragged kicking and screaming into the borg - I will avoid ‘signing up’ for anything.
I see the ‘free’, pre-installed McAfee now, after all of one day, is demanding I ‘register it’ to keep it.
…and I remember the panic about the intrusion of privacy, when the activation of WindowsXP came out.
If you’re worried, set up a free Microsoft account and only use it to turn on your PC and play MS Hearts – it’s really not that dangerous.
Win10 was installed on about 75 million PC’s - I’m sure, they’ll having a close eye on each and everyone.
The upload to Microsoft is easily disabled and you can find out more about it here - link
However, this is also a feature people requested - to safe their child from all evil, etc…bla bla bla - but then they are afraid of it…
You wouldn’t believe the amount of parents that are worried, what their little Prince/ss is up to on the net.
But NO- you won’t be able to run exe programs from another PC via the network - its not how they are designed to run (Office, Photoshop, etc… ) it might work for things like Minesweeper.
You can export files generated with these programs - like the bookmarks in Firefox - but not the program itself - just try to install it. Or look for a free alternative - The free Gimp program will do more than your outdated Photoshop from 95 - even MS Paint, does a lot more than it used to 20 years ago and might do the trick for you.
Also, uninstall that crappy useless McAfee … all it does is slow down your PC.
If you like office 2003 and can’t get it to install on a recent version of Windows (although I expect Outlook is probably the only bit that might misbehave), you might want to try Libre Office instead. It’s free, mostly intercompatible with office and quite similar to pre-2007 ms office.
I’m currently using Office 2003 (well, Word and Excel at least) on 8.1 and it works fine. It worked fine on Vista and Windows 7 as well. I briefly upgraded to Windows 10 and they seemed to work ok on it too (though I didn’t care for 10 itself and rolled back to 8.1).
I surrendered to the MS Word rule after a brief but valiant defense of WordPerfect.
It had an intelligent dictionary.
“I have fat around my waste” would fly by Word - WordPerfect would catch it.
IIRC, it even got the to/too/two bit correct.
Once I get past the mistake of selecting ‘update and restart’ and getting a
“Installing Update 1 of 91”
message and the first one ran much too long to think what it was doing.
Upshot:
NEW Q!
Is there a way to view ‘pending updates’ in 8.1?
I will dig out the Offfice (all I use is Word and still ‘save as .doc’ not .dox) CDs
