Do You Miss Your Windows XP Machine?

So here I am trying to get ready for my Microsoft Server certification and it turns out I needed an extra PC to be able to follow along in the exercises. If you’ve done any certification of any kind you would agree with me that these exercises are the differences between a successful outing and a not so successful one.

Then I started snooping around on the net like I always do to find a solution to this new problem (by the way, solving problems have proven to be an excellent way to add to my repertoire of techie knowledge! 😉 and what did I find? Virtual PC, Windows XP Mode and all that jargon. I remembered hearing that you could run an XP OS on a Windows 7 machine (which I’m currently using) but I never counted it as something I would need until, well, I really needed it.

XP Mode on Windows7. XP window can be maximized to fit screen.

Here’s the gist:
If you are currently running Windows 7 (Professional and Ultimate), you can actually (virtually, that is) have XP as a secondary OS on your machine. The fun part is that navigating between the two operating systems is accomplished with the click of a mouse – once or twice. It’s really that simple. Several websites later, I found out that Oracle even have their own virtual OS aptly called VirtualBox.

How do you go about this: First you need to be running a genuine version (sorry!) of windows 7 professional or ultimate edition on your machine. Then go to the Microsoft website, locate and download the required files then install on your pc. That’s it! Well, not quite. Just follow the instruction on the page after confirming the originality of your OS.

After which you can enjoy the simplicity of your friendly XP right from your windows 7 desktop.

Benefits: While Windows 7 is robust enough to accommodate new and old programs, some production softwares do not have the compatibility to work with the new OS. This is where XP Mode come in very handy. And also when you want to show of your technical skills to your friends or anyone bored enough to listen to you :)! or maybe you are just missing the good ol’ XP feel.