Does XP software work on Windows 7?

[signmeup]

I am looking at getting a computer with Windows 7 but mostly my software is for XP. I have Photoshop CS, Corel x4, Illy CS4 and Flexi starter 7 point something. Am I looking at a major software purchase or will Windows 7 run this stuff?

 

[wes70]

X4 will. Flexi 7 won't... I had to upgrade to 10, but I think 8.6 will. Not sure about PS and Illy.

 

[signmeup]

Corel x4 and Illy cs4 say for XP and Vista. Photoshop CS just says XP

 

[AUTO-FX]

Cant you run 7 in emulated xp or something ???

 

[bob]

I am looking at getting a computer with Windows 7 but mostly my software is for XP. I have Photoshop CS, Corel x4, Illy CS4 and Flexi starter 7 point something. Am I looking at a major software purchase or will Windows 7 run this stuff?

Just yesterday I and a bevy of nerds set up a brand new machine with Windows 7. I can report that Flexi 8.5, upgraded on the spot to 8.6V2, Corel X3, PhotoZoom, etc. work just fine. Along with virtually everything else that was running on my old machine. The only bit of deviousness was when I had to download a new Windows 7 driver for my desktop printer/scanner which, it would appear, is really an emulator of XP.

Note that on this machine Flexi is only used as a design station. I have another machine that remains on XP which has the hasp key plugged into it and to which plotters and printers are connected.

One interesting thing though... On my previous XP machine in order to run Flexi I had to run Production Manager on the machine with the hasp key. With Windows 7 it seems that the machine with the hasp key merely has to be turned on and Flexi will run on my new machine. It doesn't seem to matter if Production Manager is running or not on the hasp key machine.

As far as Windows 7, the jury is still out. As yet I'm somewhat less than impressed. It doesn't seem to be that much better, just different. Time will tell. Windows 7 has hung up and gone into the ozone for no apparent reason three times thus far. XP did that maybe a couple times a year.

 

[Tony McD]

I'm liking windows 7 ok, probably a little more than xp. Seems a lot faster, but this new computer has quite a bit more horsepower than my old one.

I have the Windows 7 Pro version, so I was able to download virtual pc and xp to run older programs.
Really only needed it for one program which is LXI Master 6.6 v1, and it runs fine in xp mode, dongle, usb/serial converter, and all.
Corel X3 isn't supported for Windows 7, but it works fine.
Had to get the 4.0 software cd from Roland for the versacamm,
to get the print driver to load.

We did get a new 7 compatible scanner.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I like Windows 7 over XP and Vista. It's not the resource hog that Vista was, but it's more then XP, but you also get more then XP(at least in my opinion).

I didn't have an issue with running Ai CS4 when I first got the machine, but I'm running the CS5 Master Suite now.

7 didn't have a problem with any of my older printer(s), plotter or anything along those lines.

I think a lot of people are still a little gunshy considering the issues that Vista had and still want to relive the glory days of XP.

 

[jtrainor56]

Running Corel X4, on Windows 7 64bit with no problem, Illustrator CS4 is also okay on 64 or 32bit. Microsoft has a Windows 7 Compatible site for checking software, hardware, etc..

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Default.aspx?type=Software

 

[round man]

I have run windows 7 since its free beta release a year or so ago long before it was released commercially. the 32 bit version that is,...as far as I can tell it will run most of the older programs in compatibility mode,which is to say when you instal the program you need to right click on the exe file(setup or install usually) and choose the troubleshoot compatibility option in 32 bit windows 7. I am yet to find a program I can't run in 32 bit 7 that ran on xp here, but I suppose there are some out there. with the sign shops I do support for, the issues with windows 7 that I have had problems with is the 64 bit versions. if you do decide to go to a 64 bit version of windows I would do my homework and check first to be sure there are drivers for your equipment and second to be sure your software is compatible with a 64 bit operating system. the 64 bit versions of windows have all been problems in the shops I do support for here.This is going to be a problem for those folks who want to utilize more than 4 gb of ram at one time as a windows 32 bit system won't utilize more than that for each program it is running. this is not to say it won't see the ram nor will it use more if the hardware is multiple core cpu as each core can run an application using 4 gb at a time. There is a list out there if you want to do a search for the windows 7 software compatibility list and see if your software is on the list.

edited to add if one does decide to try and run a 64 bit version of seven I suggest to get 7 professional as if you have that versionor higher you can download a version of virtual xp that will run as a virtual machine just like xp did. now there is going to be some jumping thru hoops for some of the older xp software programs that use a dongle but it is possible if you jump thru the right hoops,it is not a path for those who are not very tech savy.

 

[signmeup]

So far I have corel x4 and illy cs4 working normally. Flexi starter loaded up but it won't recognize the HASP key. I haven't tried any troubleshooting yet. I looked at the tash manager to see how much ram was being used. My XP machine was using 225 megs at idle. 7 is using 1 gig! otta look into that!

 

[signage]

You most likely need to go to aladin and down load the latest drive for the hasp!

 

[signmeup]

You most likely need to go to aladin and down load the latest drive for the hasp!

Could be. It all loaded up automaticaly on my XP machine.
Is the a button somewhere to make 7 look like XP?

 

[choucove]

Windows 7 is going to require quite a bit more RAM to run continually because there's a lot more to the operating system compared to Windows XP. A lot of that RAM usage is in the graphical user interface (GUI) of Windows 7 which is much more powerful and much more "fancy" than Windows XP. There's also more daemons, or services, that are running within Windows 7 which all and all just means you need more horsepower to run it.

One thing that Round Man mentioned above I think might confuse some people about memory access in a 32-bit operating system. First off, a 32-bit application (doesn't matter if you are even running in a 64-bit version of Windows, in this case it's limited by the software architecture itself) such as Flexi or 90% of your applications out there today, the software can only utilize a MAXIMUM of 2 GB of RAM. There is a script switch that can be set in boot.ini to enable up to 3 GB of RAM, but by default all 32-bit programs can only recognize a max of 2 GB of RAM. Now, a 32-bit system as you most likely know can only recognize a little less than 4 GB of RAM. This doesn't mean 4 GB of RAM per CPU or CPU core, it's a total of 4 GB even if you have a thousand CPU cores. It's a simple mathematical limitation (2^32 memory address allocations.) Your computer system in Windows XP may report slightly less than that amount (usually about 3 GB) but this is because the rest of that memory is being hidden from the other applications and being used solely for "housekeeping" tasks in Windows XP. Windows Vista and Windows 7 has changed this to display the total amount of RAM installed (even if it is more than 4 GB) and the total that is actually usable by the system.

Now, what can happen is Windows can utilize up to 2 GB of RAM per processes and in Windows 7 can even run multiple processes of the same application to take more advantage of larger amounts of RAM and CPU cores. An example of this multi-processes for a single program is explore.exe the program responsible for running the Windows GUI. In Windows 7 you can chose to have each window that you open (such as opening My Computer in 5 different windows) open a new process of explore.exe each time, meaning it can access up to 10 GB of RAM on up to 5 cores to handle those windows. Now, this option is not set by default, but it is a clever way for software designers now to get beyond the limitation of trying to remain in 32-bit software code and also break free of the 2 GB RAM limitation inherit with 32-bit software design.

 

[beckys]

I have Windows 7 32 bit, and I can not run my Gerber 4b.
Been on phone with both Gerber and Dell. No solution so far. So, if you have older equipment, I would not get Windows 7.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Windows 7 is going to require quite a bit more RAM to run continually because there's a lot more to the operating system compared to Windows XP. A lot of that RAM usage is in the graphical user interface (GUI) of Windows 7 which is much more powerful and much more "fancy" than Windows XP. There's also more daemons, or services, that are running within Windows 7 which all and all just means you need more horsepower to run it.

The nice thing is that it is nowhere near as demanding as Vista is/was. I think Vista required a full GB to run just the OS alone. If you were in a habit of getting Best Buy (or the like) pre-fab computers that came with just 2 GB of RAM that would eat up half your RAM just running the OS. I think Windows 7 is half that amount of RAM to run, still more then XP.

 

[signmeup]

Choucove, that sounds a bit complex! My XP machine is showing 2 gigs of ram with a 512 video card installed with two 512 sticks of ram and 1 stick of 1024 BTW.

 

[signmeup]

The nice thing is that it is nowhere near as demanding as Vista is/was. I think Vista required a full GB to run just the OS alone. If you were in a habit of getting Best Buy (or the like) pre-fab computers that came with just 2 GB of RAM that would eat up half your RAM just running the OS. I think Windows 7 is half that amount of RAM to run, still more then XP.

At idle with only the OS open my Windows 7 machine uses 800 megs and my XP machine uses 200. 7 seems like a bit of a pig.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

At idle with only the OS open my Windows 7 machine uses 800 megs and my XP machine uses 200. 7 seems like a bit of a pig.

I think you have pre-fab don't you on your Win 7? Also, how much stuff do you have running in the "background"? Down in your notification area, as well as, the gadgets if any? Stuff like that can raise your idle "rate".

 

[signmeup]

I think you have pre-fab don't you on your Win 7? Also, how much stuff do you have running in the "background"? Down in your notification area, as well as, the gadgets if any? Stuff like that can raise your idle "rate".

Pre-fab? No idea.

There is all sorts of stuff running in the background. I guess I have to figure out what's required and what's crap.

I'm still a bit lost in 7... gadgets?

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Pre-fab? No idea.

Was it a custom build computer or did you just buy it already made up at the store? Typically those store bought ones have a bunch of extra crap installed that you don't need, but eat up resources.

There is all sorts of stuff running in the background. I guess I have to figure out what's required and what's crap.

That's probably what's causing what you think is your true idle "rate" to be 800 megs. Also is that right after you booted up or is that after you've run a few programs and just closed them out? If it's been running awhile with programs etc been running, even with just your OS running there are still resources being used for your cache. Clearing out temp memory usage can help lower that idle rate as well if that's part of the case.

I'm still a bit lost in 7... gadgets?

Also known as widgets (at least that's the other term I've always used). Like mini programs that are on the desktop that you can get anything from weather to RSS feeds.