My Photoshop 4 LE that I got for free when I bought a scanner ran fine under Windows 98SE, but now that I am using XP on a new Toshiba laptop it won't run. The same is true for my copy of IBM Toppage, which has a very good logo-constructor I want to use. Ordinarily, I would rather avoid getting into partitioning and multiple OS's, but the version of Photoshop I have is not upgradeable (nor is TopPage), and I don't want to pay $600 for a new Photoshop (the older version is good enough for my purposes). I am currently downloading trial versions of VMWare and Connectix Virtual PC, which cost $300 and $200. Even if I get them working, I may not be able to use the Windows 98SE from my Sony desktop because of the way they refuse to give you disks containing the OS, only those emergency restore disks. Then I would have to pay $150 or whatever it is for another copy of Windows 98, which I think is a rip-off (I previously owned 3 other laptops, each with Windows on it). The reason all of this is a problem now is that I am doing a lot of traveling, and everything has to be on just one main laptop (Toshiba with XP). Does anyone have suggestions as to how I can get my old version of Photoshop etc. to work on this XP laptop, without being taken to the cleaners for hundreds of dollars? Or if I do have to spend money, what is the best choice? Thank you.

right click on the photoshop icon on your desktop, and select compatibility mode, select windows 95. save sattings and see if it runs this way.

Compatibility mode doesn't solve the problem. Here is my updated view of the problem: When I have a legal version of a program, I either have installation disks, or recovery disks (like you get with a new Sony computer for included software such as Adobe Premiere). When I upgrade to a new computer, I feel I should be able to continue to use those programs, and if Sony or anybody is going to try to prevent that I feel like it's a ripoff, because I already spent plenty of money. If Sony, Compaq, or any company provides a software installation disk that won't let me install the software on my new, upgraded, more expensive computer (in my case, a Toshiba laptop with all the multimedia bells and whistles), I think I should try to get it to install anyway. If this means I should try to find out what the registry entries are that I need, then I should do that. I can look on the old computer and search in the registry and elsewhere for any filenames that I am aware are associated with that program. Another situation that can arise when I upgrade to a new computer, is that I have either lost or thrown away installation disks (like when I moved out of my old apartment, believing I would not care about that program in the future, and then later realizing I hadn't been using the program for awhile, but now need it very much again). So it was just my mistake to not keep the installation disks. But who doesn't make mistakes? (In my case, I was moving out of an apartment under extreme duress because the building owner is a criminal and when I recover sufficiently I will be suing him for millions of dollars). I don't think the money I originally spent on these programs should be in vain. So what should I do? Can anyone advise me on registry and other related aspects of getting these programs that I legally own to install on my new computer (and remember - I am no longer using the old computer, so it's not like I am trying to run any of the software simultaneously on two computers - I now only use the newest computer and want to migrate all of my programs to it), or ways of dealing with the software vendors so they don't rip me off? Please advise - Mike (I'll copy this post to a new thread also)