Windows Vista Applications that will run on Vista?

Hi all,

I have Vista RC2 and am absolutely loving it. However, is it true that most apps that run fine on XP will not run on Vista? Admittedly, when I ran Beta 1, it was so bad that there was a Blue Screen almost every time I tried to do anything, so was that the culprit? Will Office 2003 run on it? I also have Office 2007, which I haven't tried yet, but I assume it will work fine on it.

What about anti-virus programs, such as McAfee or Norton? I currently have the one that was specifically written for Vista by CA. I'd also like to get a firewall and spyware protection besides what Vista comes with. Firefox is another one I'd love to run. I am just a bit weary about installing all of these and others, as I don't want to do anything to an otherwise perfectly running Vista RC2.

AOL 9.0, for example, is a good example. There is a special version of it (a beta version called AOL 9.0 VR), which was obviously designed just for Vista. I remember trying to install the regular AOL 9.0 back on Beta 1 was a disaster.

Do all applications from all the different vendors have to be rewritten or patched or whatever for them to correctly run on Vista?

Thanks for any answers, comments and/or suggestions!

 

Just my observation CrunchDude, but the whole point of "testing" the beta OS is to experiment! It's effectively your job to find out what will and won't run on pre-release versions of Vista, and then allow that to be reported back to MS.

It sounds more like you are trying to run a free copy of the latest operating system for sake of appearance and trend, rather than research and development.

Sorry for my negative outlook, but only running "safe" software kind of misses the point I think.

The first thing I did with Beta 1 was to load up McAfee 7.1 Enterprise, just to see what would happen! I already knew there were issues, but I needed to see for myself. Strange things can happen when there are limitless variables covering hardward and software combinations, and I just can't resist a fiddle - even though many times it necessitates a re-install!

Andy.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the list. That's very useful. Is it pretty updated? Are there any other apps not listed that will run or that I can try?

 

Oops, sorry for the double post. My response is the next one.

 

Andy, I agree with you on how beta versions of any kind are to be used. And I AM doing that. For example, I was able to install Firefox, along with some others with only a few issues. I just wanted to run apps that I run on XP to run on Vista as well. Do you or anyone else have any other suggestions?

For example, is the firewall that comes with Vista sufficient? What about spyware/malware software? What do you guys run on your Vista RC2's?

Thanks again!