Windows 7 XP mode USELESS

[micsim]

Hello all,

I have installed Windows 7 and Virtual Machine / XP Mode.

The XP mode is "virtually" useless because;-

a. It can't access the graphics card, so it "sees" only a generic 16bit 2D card - so few/no games!

b. It can't share peripherals such as printers!

c. It does share CPU & RAM so things s l o w u p.

If you really need both OS's, you may need a dual boot!

 

[JSG10]

This is fairly common knowledge

What is it you're trying to do in XP mode that can't be done in Windows 7? Most programs/games can be run in compatibility mode anyway.

 

[Sleinous]

Ye this is common knowledge Its useful for loading up a doc or something or a file that only opens in a particular program that IT only installs on XP.

 

[Tom DWC]

Most programs/games can be run in compatibility mode anyway.

I agree, at least in the home environment a virtual machine serves little purpose. It was a bit of a marketing ploy by Microsoft to persuade XP die-hards to leave the OS behind and upgrade if you ask me.

You could always check out VirtualBox (freeware) or VMWare (shareware) as they're better programs than Microsoft's offering and can run pretty much any OS, including the free Linux distros.

Outside of business use they really are best used to preview free operating systems or keep old ones for nostalgic purposes.

You can use them to test for viruses etc as well because even if the VM becomes infected it's isolated from your main OS. If I'm skeptical about the safety of a downloaded program/file and don't want to rely on AV software then I sometimes run it in a VM first.