Improved Application and Hardware Readiness

  • Article

Windows 7 takes advantage of the investments in Windows Vista hardware and application compatibility that organizations previously made. Additionally, Windows 7 and its related tools improve the assessment and readiness cycle for IT professionals:

  • Inbox features. Windows 7 natively mitigates an extended and prioritized list of applications. It also provides more ways for users to apply compatibility modes using troubleshooting features in order to help mitigate incompatible, unknown applications. Additionally, Windows 7 uses the same driver model and hardware performance criteria as Windows Vista, so most hardware produced after Windows Vista was released will be compatible with Windows 7.

  • Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT). ACT enables organizations to create a comprehensive application and hardware inventory. ACT tools can be used to test and mitigate compatibility issues.

  • Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit. The MAP Toolkit is an agent-less hardware and application inventory solution that provides detailed compatibility reporting.

  • Windows Compatibility Center. The Windows Compatibility Center is a unified, online compatibility center. It provides both application and device compatibility information.