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>> Ed: I'm Ed Bock from ZD Net. And in this video I'll show you an interesting new way to force old, incompatible devices and programs to run in Windows 7. This feature is called Windows XP mode. And it's only available as part of the Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7. It includes a complete copy of Windows XP fully licensed and ready to run. This virtual machine has its own virtual memory, virtual hard disk, virtual DVD and a virtual network connection. You can run Windows XP mode in its own window, where you can install software just as you would on a physical PC. In this virtual machine, I've installed Office 2003. The most interesting part of Windows XP mode is the ability to run programs from the virtual machine right on your Windows 7 desktop. You can tell from the bright blue Window borders that this copy of Excel is different from other Windows 7 programs. In fact, this is the only way you can run two different versions of Office side by side on a single PC. You can connect USB devices to your virtual machine as well. If you have an old device like a scanner that isn't supported by Windows 7, this option lets you keep using it. After you attach the scanner to your virtual Windows XP machine, you can use the capture software and save the file to your Windows 7 data folders. Windows XP mode isn't aimed at novices. When you install a program and try to run it in Windows XP mode, you might see an error message if you forget to shut down the virtual machine first. Likewise, you'll see an error message if you try to start the virtual machine without shutting down your Windows XP mode programs first. So what's the point of Windows XP mode? You shouldn't expect to use it as a replacement for Windows 7. It's a temporary measure to let you use a program or a device that would otherwise not run at all. For more on Windows 7, go to my blog at blogs.zdnet.com/bock. For ZD Net, I'm Ed Bock.
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