I am trying to install 32 bit software (ACT 6.0) that I already own onto a new computer running Window 7 - 64 bit home addidtion. It will not load. It will cost as much to upgrade the software as I paid for the new PC. Any suggestions?

I installed my act 6 on safe mode on a windows 7 64 bit machine. It worked!

ACT 6.00 was produced by Sage, not Symantec, and Sage have a win7 compliant version, which is even available from Amazon. I dont know where you got your price estimation from, for upgrade, but its completely off base

http://www.sage.co.uk/software_and_services/customers/sage_act_2011.aspx

Hi,

Act 6.0 is very old in computer terms.

Did you check on the Windows 7 Compatibility Center?

Windows 7 Compatibility Center

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/

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These might help :

Help with Windows 7 compatibility problems

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/compatibility

Make older programs run in this version of Windows

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/make-older-programs-run-in-this-version-of-windows

How to Run a Program in Compatibility Mode in Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html

Using Windows 7 or Vista Compatibility Mode

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-windows-vista-compatibility-mode/

Open the Program Compatibility troubleshooter

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Open-the-Program-Compatibility-troubleshooter

Try Compatibility Assistant :

Program Compatibility Assistant: frequently asked questions

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Program-Compatibility-Assistant-frequently-asked-questions

How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 Program Compatibility Assistant

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/70829-program-compatibility-assistant-enable-disable.html

Turn Off Program Compatibility Assistant

http://maximumpcguides.com/windows-7/turn-off-program-compatibility-assistant/

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More however the above hopefully will be all you need.

Note : Windows XP mode requires Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise. Added that even ifyou decide to use this somehow you would need to know that your program would run onXP as Act 6.0 is very old.

From a post by Kristan M. Kenney :

"Most applications that were designed for Windows 2000 or Windows XP will still function correctly under all editions of Windows 7, including Home Premium. Some applications check the version number of the operating system and will fail to run if it finds an unexpected version number, therefore Windows 7 has a compatibility mode which allows these types of programs to run correctly. 

There is also another compatibility option geared towards IT professionals and business users which is called "Windows XP Mode," which is essentially a fully-licensed copy of Windows XP Professional running inside of a virtual machine and is only available to Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, and Windows 7 Ultimate users. 

Windows XP Mode is meant primarily for companies who have designed their own software in-house which is targeted specifically for a version of software - a prime example of this is a web application that only works in Internet Explorer 6 (which is available with Windows XP, but not with Windows 7).

For more information on application compatibility with Windows 7, please see

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/compatibility 

and

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Make-older-programs-run-in-this-version-of-Windows.

For more information on Windows XP Mode, please visit

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-xp-mode 

and

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7 ."

And more : 

Get all the benefits of Windows 7 and continue to leverage your investments in older business and

productivity programs that require a PC running Windows XP. Note: Windows XP Mode requires a

download.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/features/windows-xp-mode.aspx

Windows XP mode

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Windows XP Mode is supported through Technet

Technet - Forums - Windows 7 virtualization

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprovirt/threads

Hope this helps.

Rob Brown - MS MVP - Windows Desktop Experience : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.