Getting Troublesome 16 Bit Applications To Run

Occasionally an old Windows 3.1 application will not run properly under Windows 95. Although this does not happen often with commercially available software, some homegrown applications, and many shareware programs have difficulty running under the new system.

There is an undocumented feature available in Windows 95 that is automatically installed into the Windows\System directory called MKCOMPAT.EXE (Make Compatible). The utility will allow you to select the application program's .EXE file, and set certain parameters so you can get the program running properly. For example, some programs actually check to see that you are running version 3.1 of Windows before they will execute. One of the options you can check is "Lie about Window's version number" which will fool the problem application into thinking you are running Windows 3.1. When you go to exit MKCOMPAT, the system will ask you if you want to save these settings with the executable program. If you respond yes, Windows 95 will apply the changes you made each time that program is launched. It takes some playing around, buy this handy dandy application can really help for most problem applications.

There are also advanced options that can be set, but these are only recommended for experienced Windows 3.1 users.