Getting the most from Windows Search — Part 2

Getting the most from Windows Search — Part 2

By Woody Leonhard

In my Sept. 22 Woody’s Windows column, I stepped you through the basics of searching in Windows 7 — in particular, Win7’s two undocumented search idiosyncrasies that can cause no end of confusion.

In Part 2, I give you the advanced course, including how to search in Win7 the way you used to in Windows XP, Windows 95, or (gulp!) even DOS.

Search for filenames, the new old-fashioned way

Here’s how most experienced Windows users get turned off by Windows 7’s search: they click the Win7 Start orb, type something into the Search box, and wait while Windows comes back with results — first in bushels, then in barrels, and finally an avalanche. “Whooooa!” (or something slightly less printable) they say, “I only wanted to find files with this text in the filename …. Windows 7 is useless; they’ve even included spam messages in here.”

Yes, I still hear from old-timers who cluck-cluck-cluck that even DOS did it better.

Typing text into the Windows 7 search box is a bit like sticking a straw into an open fire hydrant. As I recommended in Part 1, if you have any idea where the text you seek may be located, you’re far better off going to that location (with Windows Explorer, say, or Outlook, or Live Mail) and starting the search from that folder or one above it. Yes, Windows indexes spam messages — which is to say, mail in your Junk Mail folder — and it’ll bring up the junk if you give it enough time. Nothing you can do about it.

What if you’re just looking for a filename? Not so long ago, that’s all you could look for. Though the rules and syntax are a bit strange, it’s possible — even relatively easy — in Windows 7.

Let’s say you want to find file names that contain the text string “secret.” You use the symbols ~= like this:

system.filename:~=”secret”

That will match files with names such as Windows Secrets.doc and MySecret.html.

To look for files with names that begin with a specific piece of text, use the ~ symbols. For example:

system.filename:~<"secret"

That will match Secrets.com but not SomeSecret.xls.

If you need an exact match, use the = sign this way:

system.filename:=”windowssecrets.txt”

That returns only files named WindowsSecrets.txt or windowssecrets.txt.

(In all three examples above, the searches are case-insensitive.)

You can use the colon without a qualifier, but you get the weird rules for matching filenames that I described in my last column. In other words, Windows matches text at the beginning of a file name, after a space, or after the period — and that’s it. So,

system.filename:”sec”

matches Secrets.ppt, My Secretary.jpg, and win.sec — but it doesn’t match, for example, MySecrets.gif.

It’s important to realize that the system.filename: trick works all over the place — inside Windows Explorer, of course, but also in the File/Open dialog boxes in various Windows and Office applications. I have a yellow sticky note on my monitor that says system.filename:~=”{search string}”.

Using wildcards in ways that make sense

If you’ve used DOS, or the Windows command line, or written a .bat file, or gone searching for text using Word or Excel, you’re probably very familiar with wildcards: characters that serve as generic placeholders. For example, in DOS, searching for a string such as Invoice*.xls will turn up all the .xls files that start out with Invoice. On the Windows command line or in .bat files, searching for win32.* gives you all the files named win32 with any filename extension. The asterisk (*) is a wildcard, and in the Land of DOS it matches anything.

If you think you can use that time-honored technique in Windows 7 Search, think again — it doesn’t work that way.

When you type an asterisk into a Windows 7 search box, Windows takes the characters following the asterisk and uses them to match any part of a file name. It’s another idiosyncrasy that leads some old-timers to drink — or at least, to cluck.

Say you’re in Windows Explorer or you click File/Open in Word, and you then type *doc into the Search box. Here’s what happens:

• As soon as Win7 sees the *, it doesn’t bother looking inside files. You could have the text *doc inside a Word document, and Windows won’t find it.
• Instead, Windows starts scanning filenames, matching any names containing the characters doc. So as you’d expect, you’ll receive hits for every file with a .doc extension (such as WindowsSecrets.doc) — plus you’ll get the odd file with the text “doc” inside the name (such as DryDock.jpg).

Again, you won’t get any hits based on what’s inside the file.

Making Windows 7 index where you search

In my previous column, I talked about why it’s important to have Windows 7 index the locations you commonly use. For file searching, it’s a speed thing.

By default, Windows 7 indexes files in all user libraries. (See Fred Langa’s March 10 Top Story for details about Win7 Libraries.) If you have a PDF viewer, such as Adobe Reader or Foxit, the PDF files inside those libraries get indexed. If you use Outlook or Windows Live Mail, your mail gets indexed, too. (Win 7 might index mail in other e-mail clients.)

So, what if you frequently search for files in folders that aren’t indexed by default? Unless you can add those folders to your libraries (a good idea, in general), you need to tell Windows where to build its indices. Note, however, you can add a folder to your PC’s index only if it’s located on the PC — you can’t add a networked folder or the contents of an external USB drive.

Here’s how to add a folder to your index:

• Pick a time when you’re not going to need the PC for a few hours (such as overnight). You run indexing just once, but it can take what seems like eons to complete.
• Click Start, type index into the search box, and press Enter. You’ll see the Indexing Options dialog.
• Click Modify. An Indexed Locations dialog box will appear, like the one shown in Figure 1.

  
  Figure 1. You can tell Windows exactly which folders you want to include in your search index.

• In the upper panel, navigate to subfolders by clicking the small arrows next to the drive or application (highlighted in yellow in Figure 1). Check the boxes next to the folders you want to add. When you’re done, click OK.

Reindexing might take a while, but when Windows is done, searching all those new locations will go faster than ever.

Refining searches with advanced operators

I’ve never been one to use the so-called advanced features in Windows 7 Search — I usually go back and reformulate a search rather than try to fiddle with Boolean operators or restrict dates or file sizes. The only enhanced search commands I commonly use are system.filename and the * wildcard discussed above.

If you like spelunking, though, feel free to try the advanced options nicely described in Microsoft’s Help & How-to article, “Advanced tips for searching in Windows.” You can search in other locations, search on the Internet (sorry, Bing, I still prefer Google), or use the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT. (Just keep in mind that Microsoft requires you to capitalize them.)

Although many of you have written with recommendations for competing products — for example, FileSearchEX and Copernic Desktop Search (see the related forum on the Lounge) — I’m reasonably happy with the way Win7 Search works, and I really appreciate that it doesn’t get in my way.

Hopefully you now have some good clues about why your searches don’t turn out as expected — and you have a couple of mostly undocumented tips on how to make Windows 7 searches work better.

Some questions are easier to ask than answer

By Kathleen Atkins

You might think it a stretch to classify a question about an icon as bordering on philosophical.

But some discussions seem to go that way. When Lounge member NealNYC posted a photo of a screen icon he couldn’t identify, he probably hoped for swift enlightenment.

Instead, he learned that people can download free icons and assign to them any meanings they want — and that this particular icon was a mystery not easily solved. Find out what other forum members suggest to solve NealNYC’s icon riddle. More»

The following links are this week’s most interesting Lounge threads, including several new questions to which you might be able to provide responses:

☼ starred posts — particularly useful

If you’re not already a Lounge member, use the quick registration form to sign up for free. The ability to post comments and take advantage of other Lounge features is available only to registered members.

If you’re already registered, you can jump right into today’s discussions in the Lounge.

The Lounge Life column is a digest of the best of the WS Lounge discussion board. Kathleen Atkins is associate editor of Windows Secrets.

Hazel has had a long, long day at the dog show

By Kathleen Atkins Hazel brings to mind the sociable young child who can’t bear to go to bed after a long, busy day — no matter how sleepy she is. And why should Hazel go? A doting relative is happy to share her warm lap, letting Hazel totter and nod and lean into sleep, right there. Hazel, however, is 11 — a canine senior citizen — and should know better. Play the video

Should you wipe old routers before disposal?

By Fred Langa Disposing of outdated computing hardware often brings up the question of potential security risks. In the case of old network gear, it’s easy to make sure that absolutely no trace of your network setup remains on old, donated gear.

Making old routers safe for new users

Reader Larry Stangby’s doing the right thing: instead of trashing old — but still-working — computing hardware, he’s passing it on to others who can get some use out of it.

But that raised a question:

• “I am donating some old electronics to Goodwill. Is it necessary to erase data from a wireless router? If so, how?”

Interesting question, Larry! That’s a potential security issue I bet most people never consider.

The biggest risk might be in leaving your wireless-network passphrase or key on the router. There’s not much a hacker can do with a passphrase or key by itself; he has to know where the network is located and must have close, physical access to it. So that’s not a top-tier worry. That said, it’s trivial to completely eliminate any potential risk. Here’s how:

• Step 1. This step is probably obvious — re-initialize the router to restore its factory settings. Most routers give you two ways to do this: through the router’s software interface and via a small hardware button or switch somewhere on the router’s shell. Both ways should zero out all the customizations you entered when you set up the router.
• Step 2. When you install your new router, change your network’s SSID and password key; don’t recycle or re-use the same names, keys, and settings you used with the old router. (It’s a good idea to change keys and SSIDs from time to time anyway, just on general principle. A moving target is harder for hackers to hit than one that sits there, unchanging.)

Those two steps should be enough, Larry, but there’s one additional step you can take:

• Step 3. After Step 1, fill the router with bogus information — a made-up SSID, a random password key, and so on. Then, re-initialize the router again. If anything gets left over, it’ll be the fake data you just entered.

With those steps, I can’t imagine any way that donating your old router can possibly create any security issue for you.

Unwanted extra software download ‘outrageous’

Richard Sherratt is pretty steamed about the unwanted software that’s sometimes foisted on you during a download. You want Software X, but Software Y comes along for the ride.

• “I was offered an update to some software today. I clicked OK and went through the normal procedure. The update then began to install a totally unrelated piece of software. It gave me no option to decline. I tried to stop the installation, but nothing I tried worked. It’s outrageous.”

Reputable software publishers always give you a way to decline offers for extra software. Usually, there’s a box you can uncheck if you don’t want the additional download. Figure 1 shows how this can be done openly and obviously.

Figure 1. Better software publishers (such as IrfanView, shown here) make the offer of extra software obvious and easy to decline (highlighted in red).

Alas, not all publishers make the opt-out choice that visible or accessible. It may be buried in fine print or on another page altogether.

The only prevention is to carefully read the text in download-related dialog boxes to make sure you’re not unintentionally agreeing to accept unwanted offers.

And keep in mind, when any software runs out of control, you usually can kill it via Task Manager.

(For those who need a refresher: Open Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC or by right-clicking the taskbar and selecting Task Manager from there. Click the Applications tab, then click-select the program that’s not responding, and then click End Task.)

If you want more info on Task Manager, Microsoft Support article 323527 is a good place to start.

Seeking more control over e-mail privacy

Philip Dossick is finding public e-mail services too intrusive and invasive.

• “Question: is there an e-mail service you can recommend for its quality and integrity with regard to privacy? We are appalled at the increasing invasion of our privacy by Google and others. Our clients are, as well.”

The simplest way to achieve total end-to-end e-mail security is with a good mail-encryption tool. Any third parties trying to snoop will see only gibberish.

There are many tools and techniques for adding e-mail encryption — Outlook 2007 and 2010 even have the ability built in (MS info). To find information on encryption for other mail clients and services, search the Web using the phrase: encrypt email.

If you’re looking for more e-mail control at the server level, your best bet is to get your own domain and website. There are hundreds of web-hosting companies that offer turnkey services for under $10 a month. You can get a complete site with a .com (or .net, .org, etc.) domain name. The hosting company handles the entire infrastructure. You (or whoever is the site admin) manage the site and its contents via the web browser on your personal PC.

These Web-based services typically include complete —and completely private — POP, SMTP, and IMAP e-mail setups; personal FTP; and many similar services. You can set them up any way you want.

If that sounds like what you’re looking for, these sites (and many others like them) can help you get started:

• Web Hosting Choice
• Web Hosting Geeks
• Web Hosting Search

Upgrade glitch if user data location moved

Many long-time Windows users like to keep their user data files separate from their operating system files. I used to do this, too; Windows system files previously needed reinstallation on an all-too-regular basis. So keeping your data files on another drive or partition was convenient — you could wipe out and restore the OS without touching your data.

I no longer do this because newer Windows versions — especially Win7 — hardly ever need a full-on reinstall, especially if you use the many restore/recovery features built into the OS. (See the May 12 Top Story, “Build a complete Windows 7 safety net.”)

But if you’re still separating your user data from your system files, reader Alan Greaves found an important gotcha in a Microsoft TechNet article, “Windows 7 upgrade and migration guide” — something to remember when you’re trying to upgrade to or within Windows 7.

• “Upgrades won’t normally work when one’s data and user profiles are located on another drive.

  “‘To upgrade Windows, your User, Program Files, and Windows directories need to be on the same partition. Upgrading when these directories are not on the same partition is not supported, and moving these directories so that they are on the same partition is also not supported.

  “You can choose to install a new copy of Windows 7, but this is different from an upgrade and does not keep your files, settings, and programs. You’ll need to reinstall any programs by using the original installation discs or files.

  “To save your files before installing Windows, back them up to an external location such as a CD, DVD, or external hard drive. To install a new copy of Windows 7, click the Back button in the upper left-hand corner, and select ‘Custom (advanced).'”

Thanks, Alan. TechNet is an excellent reference.

I think this information is another indication that the old-school advice to separate your user data from the operating system files is obsolete. Nowadays, it causes more problems than it cures.

Three exceptional apps for every Windows version

By Michael Lasky Windows has always seemed a bit like that closet you’re afraid to open — over time, it mysteriously gets cluttered with obsolete data, orphaned programs, and miscellaneous fritterware. Here’s a fresh look at an exceptional software package that cleans your PC — and two valuable apps that can reduce printing costs and produce professional-quality portable documents.

A diagnostic suite for all Windows systems

There’s a slew of PC tune-up packages out there — most of them relatively useless, some outright dangerous … and a few that actually work. My favorite is System Mechanic (SM), recently updated to Version 10.5 (info page). This isn’t some small, free, one-trick utility. Think of System Mechanic as a complete PC-maintenance toolkit: full-featured, intelligently engineered, and easy to use. Like many diagnostic apps, SM works in the background; but in my experience, it’s one of the few that do so without any perceptible drag on system performance.

SM gives you a cornucopia of more than 50 diagnostic, repair, and optimization utilities. It safely seeks out and quashes the root system problems that can drag down PC speed and stability. It will, for example, gingerly clean and repair the Windows Registry of broken links, orphaned settings, and other problems that can beset Windows over time.

System Mechanic costs U.S. $40 (list) for a one-year, three-user license package. But currently you can find it for as little as $26 at Amazon. Updates are free for one year.

Before I get into the details of using SM 10.5, let me make one thing clear: I’ve used earlier versions of SM on my XP systems and seen noticeable improvements in overall PC performance. However, running SM on my new Dell Window 7 notebook produced no measurable boost in speed. At this point, I can’t say whether it will help a system that’s been running Win7 for some time. But it most likely won’t hurt. (You can never say never with Windows systems.)

The first time you launch SM, it asks which type of analysis to run: quick or deep. (See Figure 1.) I chose a deep analysis on my barely used Dell notebook and was shocked by the results: SM reported 108 Registry issues, a ton of system clutter, and a hard drive with more than 60,000 misaligned files. Since I had used only eight percent of available hard-disk space, that last number seemed like overzealous error-reporting. However, I accepted SM’s fix; the next time I ran the analysis, SM reported no misaligned files.

Figure 1. System Mechanic’s home screen starts you off with either a quick or deep system analysis.

Fortunately, SM gave me the convenient option to fix all the problems at once or to attend to them à la carte, as shown in Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 2. System Mechanic’s scan results for a new Dell Windows 7 notebook were a bit shocking. But you can easily pick which items to fix.

Figure 3. System Mechanic provides various problem-repair options.

System Mechanic’s subscription service includes weekly Tune-up Definitions that automatically tweak its diagnostics and optimization tools, keeping them current with emerging PC performance threats.

SM’s ActiveCare is a system-monitoring service that’s active only when your system is otherwise idle, which helps limit its impact on system performance. For example, when I returned to my PC after a 10-minute break, a popup window near the Windows notification area displayed the status of SM’s hard-drive check. As soon as I started typing, the popup vanished, as ActiveCare waited for the next time the system was idle.

SM’s Memory Mechanic is designed to instantly fix memory leaks and defrag system RAM, on the rare occasions it’s necessary. There’s also Designated Drivers, a driver-update monitor that looks for — and helps you install — new drivers. Its CRUDD Remover finds and helps you uninstall duplicate or extraneous programs that might be clogging your PC.

Want to completely wipe the contents of the Recycle Bin? System Mechanic integrates its Incinerator tool into the Windows recycle bin for file removal that meets U.S. Department of Defense file-wiping standards. SM’s Startup Optimizer works much like the Soluto utility (info page) we’ve discussed in previous Windows Secrets articles, potentially improving boot times by highlighting performance hogs and suspicious startup apps. (For more on Soluto, see the item, “The Soluto solution for long boot times,” in Lincoln Spector’s Jan. 6 Top Story.)

With its simple interface and feedback about every step it takes, System Mechanic 10.5 is a worthy package for every Windows user. Even Windows 7 is not immune to system-file corruption. No, it’s not free — but when it comes to PC productivity, what’s your time worth?

GreenPrint tames printer-paper and ink bills

Windows’ printing controls are at best limited. Depending on the application, you can select specific pages or parts of pages you want to print. But you can’t select parts of pages not to print — nor just the text on a page containing images. How many times have you printed what you thought was a single webpage, only to have the printer spit out two pages, one with a single URL line at the top? It’s a waste of paper and overpriced ink.

GreenPrint’s $19 (or free with ads) utility (info page) solves that problem, making it a must-have app for anyone who does a lot of printing. GreenPrint is a virtual printer linked to your physical printer. It cleverly previews and analyzes each page of a document, eliminating extraneous pages such as single-line URLs or unwanted headers and footers.

Ultimately, you have full control over what actually goes to the printer. GreenPrint’s preview screen displays thumbnails of all the pages in a document, including the ones GreenPrint has tagged as unneeded. (See Figure 4.)

Figure 4. GreenPrint’s preview lets you review and control what’s going to the printer.

When you hover the mouse over a page’s thumbnail and left-click, a popup menu (shown in Figure 5) gives you the option to remove pages or images, or to print in grayscale. Right-click to print just the selected page or to choose other options. (With the PDF menu button, you can avoid the printer altogether and create a PDF file for future viewing — particularly handy for capturing webpages.)

Figure 5. Right- and left-clicks pop up various printing options.

Sometimes I want to print a webpage but leave out the ad blocks. GreenPrint makes that easy. Holding down the ALT key, select a section to cut (see Figure 6). When the page is printed, the selected area is still there, but it’s blank.

Figure 6. Use GreenPrint to remove selected text before printing.

GreenPrint’s laudable mission is to reduce the overall use of paper and ink. If you tend to keep your printer busy, it just might save you money, too.

A less-expensive alternative for creating PDFs

There are some 2,000 vendors offering products and application add-ons that create and/or read Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. Yet almost every PC and Mac seems to end up with Adobe Acrobat and/or Reader installed.

While Adobe Reader is free, the standard Acrobat package costs around $200 ($99 for students and teachers; $128 for the Acrobat upgrade edition). Both products have taken heat for the amount of hard-drive real estate they occupy.

Enter Nitro PDF Professional 6 (info page), a versatile $99 package that should give you all the PDF-creation tools you need. Using little over 200MB of disk space, Nitro takes up about half the space of Acrobat.

Nitro converts almost any printable file into a PDF, using its library of over 300 file types. The standalone application has a toolbar that mimics Office 2010’s Ribbon interface (see Figure 7). There’s also an Office Ribbon add-on that quickly converts one or more Office documents.

Figure 7. Nitro’s ribbon-style control panel

I needed to turn previous paper docs into PDFs, and Nitro handled this with aplomb, easily converting scanned-page files. Merging several documents into one PDF was equally quick and simple.

Nitro’s bag of tricks also lets you reverse the PDF-creation process; you can convert existing and supposedly locked PDFs into precisely formatted Word, Excel, and rich-text (RTF) documents. What really sold me on Nitro PDF Pro is its ability to detect tables and tabular content in a PDF file and accurately reproduce them in an Office document.

As a professional writer, I often get PDF contracts e-mailed to me for my signature. In the past, I had to go through the laborious process of printing out the pages, adding my handwritten signature, and then faxing the documents back. A time-consuming, pain in the …. Nitro PDF Pro Version 7, due out in late October, adds the QuickSign button (shown in Figure 8), which eliminates that time-consuming process by letting me instantly insert my digitized signature (which I had scanned and saved as a JPEG). Nitro stores the signature for future use.

Figure 8. The soon-to-be-released Nitro PDF Pro Version 7’s new QuickSign button (circled in black) adds scanned signatures.

That one feature alone suffices to land Nitro PDF Professional on my list of essential Windows software for anyone who works with portable documents.

Exploring legacy tools in Windows 8

By Katherine Murray Microsoft’s colorful, work-in-progress Windows 8 made a big splash at the Microsoft BUILD conference. But if you’re concerned about where Windows 8’s flashy new approach leaves users of legacy systems, the news isn’t bad.

Windows users are of more than one mind

As I watched Steve Sinofsky’s keynote presentation from the Microsoft BUILD conference in Anaheim last month, I was — like many people — wowed by what I saw. The bright colors and the easy movement on the screen looked more like Windows Phone 7 than any version of Microsoft Windows I’d ever seen before.

There’s no doubt about it: Windows 8 is designed to appeal to the mobile, always-on audience. These are the folks who want their computing power available all the time, no matter what they’re doing or where they happen to be — on the way to work, in the office, sitting at the coffee shop, or while waiting in line for a table at that new local bistro.

And that’s great if you’re a chronic early adopter. Maybe you already have a tablet or you’re enamored of your smartphone and touch technology. But what if you prefer the solid processing power (and businesslike demeanor) of Windows XP and Win7?

I have a foot in each camp — I enjoy new features, faster processing, and flexible interfaces. But I want the software I use to be smart and functional and not waste my time with bells and whistles (or needlessly complex procedures) I’ll rarely use. So after my initial excitement about Windows 8’s flashy visual appeal waned somewhat, I started wondering about the functional aspects of the new operating system.

At the conference, Sinofsky claimed that on an x86 machine, Windows 8 will run anything that can currently run on Windows 7. But what does that mean, exactly? Will our favorite XP programs run smoothly, or will there be hiccups and processing lags (or worse, error messages) along the way? Will we be able to run Windows XP Mode on Windows 8? And what about Compatibility Mode? I decided to explore the Windows 8 possibilities.

Installing and running a legacy program

Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows XP (download site) is an easy-to-use slideshow generator that enables you to collect, arrange, edit, and crop photos; add voice-over narration and soundtracks; insert titles and text; and save the slideshow in widely used formats compatible with PCs, TVs, and mobile devices. These media capabilities make Photo Story 3 a good test subject for running legacy apps on Windows 8. I wanted to see what potholes — if any — I’d encounter along the way.

(I downloaded and installed the 32-bit version of Windows 8 Developer Preview [site] on my Dell Inspiron Duo, a tablet convertible that has both a touchscreen and keyboard.)

I ran the Photo Story installer directly from its download site. When prompted, I clicked Yes for the User Account Control check, then tapped Install Now to complete the installation. The entire process went off without a hitch.

Windows 8 positioned the Photo Story 3 tile on the far-right side of the Start screen (see Figure 1). I tapped the tile, and Photo Story 3 opened smoothly. What’s more, the program worked with the touch interface, which means I could operate Photo Story 3 by tapping options, selecting files, and arranging images in the order I wanted them to appear (see Figure 2).

Figure 1. Windows 8 adds the newly installed program to the list of apps on the far-right side of the Start screen.

Figure 2. Photo Story 3 Windows XP proved compatible with Windows 8’s touch-screen interface.

In minutes, I was able to create a brief slideshow of Windows 8 screen captures, which you can view (.wmv video file) on my site. The whole process was fast, functional, and touch-friendly. Nice!

Tools for solving compatibility problems

You can’t expect all installations of legacy programs to go smoothly, even when a new operating system is complete and released. When you have trouble installing a legacy program in Windows 7, you can use the Program Compatibility troubleshooter (more info) to help sleuth out and correct the problem, or use Windows’ Compatibility Mode (detailed on a SevenForums page). Both these tools are also available in Windows 8.

These steps launch the troubleshooter in Windows 8:

• 1. Find the folder containing the program file you want to install and select it.
• 2. In the Application Tools tab, click Troubleshoot Compatibility in the Run group. (See Figure 3.)

  
  Figure 3. Windows 8 has new tools for troubleshooting application compatibility.

• 3. Follow the troubleshooting prompts to fix the installation problem, and then launch the installation.

You can also run legacy programs in Windows 8’s Compatibility Mode by following these steps:

• 1. Start Windows Explorer and open the folder containing the program you want to install.
• 2. Right-click the program file and click Properties.
• 3. In the Properties dialog box, click the Compatibility tab.
• 4. In the Compatibility Mode area, click the Run this program in compatibility mode check box, as shown in Figure 4. The list box that contains the option Previous version of Windows becomes available.

  
  Figure 4. Tell Windows 8 to run a program in Compatibility Mode by changing the Compatibility properties.

I was hoping to run Windows XP Mode

I wanted to know whether Windows 8 will run Windows XP Mode, which enables you to run Windows XP SP3 within the Windows Virtual PC. I downloaded the Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool (available on the Windows Virtual PC site) to see what the tool thinks of my Windows 8 machine.

But after I clicked Download and then Run, I got the error message “This tool does not run on this operating system. You can run this tool on specific versions of Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.”

I found confirmation on the Building Windows 8 blog, where members of the App Compat, Device Compat (Application Compatibility, Device Compatibility) team explain that Windows 7 XP Mode is not supported in Windows 8 because XP Mode is “very close to the metal” — meaning it needs deep hooks into the operating system.

It’s still very early in the development process for Windows 8, and we’re sure to see many changes as the operating system gets closer to a public beta. I was encouraged that the Windows XP program I selected (Microsoft Photo Story 3) installed easily and ran without any problem. That’s a hopeful sign of functionality to come. In addition, the Compatibility Troubleshooter and Compatibility Mode in Windows 8 offer legacy users some measure of control in installing and running their favorite older programs.

Although Windows XP Mode in Windows 8 is a no-go now, another virtualization feature might come along to offer a similar functionality — if not directly from Microsoft, then from the thousands of talented developers already hard at work designing apps for Windows 8.