Well, we're happy to report Compatibility Mode works much better on Windows Vista. We had several programs that worked "OK" on Vista but not as well as they should (which means not as well as they ran on Windows XP). By locating the program file (the exe), right-clicking it, selecting the "Compatibility" tab (at the top of the dialog) and adjusting the compatibility mode to Windows XP SP2 we were able to get to programs to run much better and much more like they ran in Windows XP.

Here's a picture to guide you:

Now, if you're thinking this is the end-all solution for programs which simply won't run on Windows Vista, it is not. If a program is completely incompatible with Windows Vista, compatibility mode is not going to make the program run on Vista. If a program is not compatible and produces endless error messages or simply won't run under Vista, compatibility mode won't solve your problem. The only solution for those programs which will not run in Windows Vista is to wait until the developer comes up with a Windows Vista compatible program. But compatibility mode can really help when a program runs under Vista but you notice minor problems with it; such as some features don't work well or seem slow or some features don't seem to work at all. In cases like these then compatibility adjustments using Compatibility Mode are certainly worth a try. It has helped us get a couple of marginally compatible programs to work well under Windows Vista. We're betting it can help you too!