Running legacy software in Windows XP

I had Windows 2000 installed in my PC and there are many times that I’ve personally been in a situation when I needed older versions of OS to run some legacy s/ws. Some of the games and softwares written for older versions of OS such as DOS and early Windows 95 weren’t compatible with Windows 2000 which was a very big problem.
Windows XP whereas include several options designed to make your older version s/ws more compatible with the XP version of the Window NT kernel. XP can be set to mimic various OS environments for that program only. If you have a program that simply refuses to work on XP, you can give these methods a try:

1 : After installing the application, right click on the executable file or the shortcut to it, and select 'properties.' Choose the 'compatibility' tab. The first section in this window 'compatibility mode,' covers mimicking various operating system environments to try and make your application more comfortable. If you know the application is designed for one of the operating systems contained in the drop-down box, try it out.
2 : You can also set the program to run in 256 colours and/or 640x480 resolution, which many older software titles require.

With these options I’m sure that many of your problems regarding the applications that require older OS will be solved.