Compute like it's 1999

It was inevitable, predestined, written in the stars and on the cards - your old office machine has finally failed.

Your information-technology people went above and beyond, cobbling bits from a dwindling supply of legacy hardware in an effort to keep yours going.

Today, however, was the day of days. You have diligently upgraded all your other machines. All are running the latest hardware and version of Windows.

The sole reason for keeping the old machine alive was MyProfit95, an inventory-accounting system you paid $20,000 for in 1997.

The company that made MP95 killed support for your green-screen version some time ago, opting instead to pressure you to upgrade to the latest version.

Apart from the cost, a very modern $40,000, you strive to find one good reason to upgrade. The old version never breaks down and the new version lacks many of the features you can't do without.

Besides, you have zillions of products stored in your old database and with no import-export feature compatible with your version, manually transferring your inventory would be a major mission.

You phone your computer person, knowing already the answer will be bad. You both already know, through trial and many errors, that MP95 doesn't run on modern versions of Windows and none of the older versions of Windows will cope with the modern hardware you are replacing the dead machine with.

You suppose you could bite the bullet and buy the new version of MyProfit, but you are retiring in a few years and is it really worth spending that kind of money now?

If you could only keep the software going a little bit longer.

The above scenario may sound contrived, but it has probably happened. You may even be in this predicament today. However, with a little jiggery-pokery and computing magic, we can run MP95, or any other old application, on the latest versions of Windows.

The secret is a freeware application from Microsoft called Virtual PC. Microsoft used to charge a lot of money for this software, which is why there are so many third-party programs that do the same thing, but since Vista caused much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands by dropping support for old 16-bit applications, it probably made VPC freeware as a kind of compensation.

A virtual machine (PC) is an operating system running within another host operating system. Imagine an icon on your desktop which, when clicked, opens a window with Windows 95, 98 or even Linux running in it. You have your usual desktop and icons and drive letters, just like a "real" machine.

The beauty of this is that all your modern printers and peripherals will now run on the old Windows/virtual machine, because it is using the host operation system's hardware management layer to handle everything. Too cool.

It is also relatively easy to set up and install. Simply download the VPC application from Microsoft and install it with the options you intend to use. You will need a few gigabytes of hard-drive space and a licensed copy of your older operating system, and you will have to install it on the virtual machine. It sounds complicated, but it requires no magical powers.

Just wade through the instructions on Microsoft's website before you start. To run your VPC, double-click on the desktop icon. The older operating system opens in the resulting window and you can open MyProfit95 and party like it was 1999.

Link: microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

- © Fairfax NZ News