Use the application compatibility Toolkit (ACT)

Software developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) working in an enterprise environment using the application compatibility Toolkit (ACT) and IT professionals can determine whether these applications are compatible with new versions of Windows operating systems before they are released in the Organization. Using ACT, these individuals can also determine how new updates affect their applications.

You can use the ACT function to perform the following operations:

• Verify the compatibility of applications, devices, and computers with the new version of Windows, including identifying risk assessments.
• Verify Windows Update compatibility, including risk assessment.
• Participate in the ACT community, including sharing application evaluations with other ACT users.
• Use the standard user analyzer (SUA) tool to test User Account Control (UAC) Issues of the application.
• Use the Internet Explorer compatibility testing tool to test Web applications and websites.®Compatibility between the new version and Security Update.

Common compatibility problems

Windows-related innovations may sometimes cause compatibility issues. These compatibility problems often occur in the following technologies:

• User Account Control (UAC ):By limiting the Administrator-level access to computers, most users are restricted to running as standard users to improve Windows security. UAC also limits the context of process execution to minimize the ability of users to inadvertently infect their computers with viruses or other malware. This change affects any application setup or updates that require administrator privileges to run. This change also performs unnecessary administrator checks or operations, or attempts to write data to non-virtualized registry locations.
• Windows resource protection (WRP ):Enables the application to run properly, even if the application attempts to write a protected system file or registry location. WRP allows you to create a temporary work area for an application session and redirect write operations. This change affects installation of any application that attempts to replace, modify, or delete a protected operating system file or registry key. These operations usually fail due to access rejection errors.
• Internet Explorer protection mode:By limiting the resources of any local computer area other than the Temporary Internet file, the system can defend against permission escalation attacks. This change affects websites or Web applications that attempt to modify user files or registry keys, or attempt to open new windows in another domain.

◇ Reject, GINA, and session 0: the latest version of Windows OS also introduces Windows XP and Windows Vista®The new credential provider framework and Service Isolation.

1. Reject: the Windows operating system has rejected many objects in previous versions .. Dll files, executable (.exe) files, COM objects, registry items, application programming interfaces (APIS), and other files have been rejected. This change affects any application that uses the rejected API or DLL, resulting in loss of application functions or startup failure.

2. Graphical Identification and identity authentication (GINA) DLL: Before the Windows Vista operating system is released, the independent software supplier (ISV) can modify the identity authentication by installing gina dll. Gina dll then performs all the identity and identity authentication for user interaction. Windows Vista provides a new authentication mode, removing the need for this DLL and ignoring all previous gina dll. This change affects attempts to use a custom login application, including biometric device fingerprint reader ), custom User Interface and all applications or hardware components with custom logon user interface and virtual private network (VPN) solution login for remote users.

3. Session 0: Before the Windows Vista operating system is released, the first user logged on to the computer runs in session 0, and all system services are executed in this session. Windows Vista requires all users to run in sessions 1 and later so that no user can run in the same session as the system service. Because of this change, the startup may fail if the application depends on the interactive service. Interactive services include all services that attempt to send window messages, all services or other services that attempt to find the window, and try to run. You can open the same named object unless it is a global named object) all services of any user process.

◇ Windows Screening Platform (WFP): WFP is an application programming interface (API ), developers can use this interface to create code and interact with multi-layer network stacks and filtering in the operating system. If you are using a previous version of this API in the environment, you may encounter a fault when running network scans, anti-virus programs, or firewall applications.

◇ OS version change: the OS version number varies with the version of each operating system. Windows Vista has 6 versions, while Windows 7 has 6.1 versions. The GetVersion function returns this value when the application queries. This change affects any application or application installer that specifically checks the operating system version, and may also prevent the installation or running of this application.

◇ Windows Vista 64-bit: Windows Vista 64-bit is used on Windows 64 (WOW64) simulator. With this simulator, Windows Vista can run 32-bit applications. Using this simulator may cause applications or components that use 16-bit executable files or installers, or 32-bit core drivers to fail to start or run properly.

To solve these known problems, you can use ACT to find the affected applications, determine their actual impact on the Organization, and then create a solution to minimize or fix the problem.

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