Windows 7 - How do I run legacy programs?

I want to run a lot of old software which ran Ok in my old XP Pro PC.
For starters as administrator I installed MS Office 2002 into my new Windows 7 PC from the CDs.
However when I try to run Word I get "Required registry information is missing and the application cannot run. Please rerun setup to correct this problem."
I have not rerun setup yet. Where do I stand? Is the Windows 7 registry damaged at by now?

Run this and see if you have problems, but I doubt that you do.

SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

The best way IMO of running legacy programs is to run them from a Virtual Machine.

Even most Laptops now have sufficient hardware resources to run one or even two Virtual machines.

It's a bit fiddly if you've never set one up before --look at the virtualisation threads on how to install and manage Virtual Machines.

This way you don't need to hunt down obscure or non existant drivers etc and you can run the legacy apps for as long as you like.

Once you've mastered it then you will wonder why you never used that method before.

Cheers
jimbo

You've got Win 7 Pro, why not use XP mode? I have some older stuff that I use that won't install in 7, and it runs just fine there. It's basically a VM, like Jimbo was talking about, and it's free from MS if you have Pro.

This thread can be closed.
Windows 7 is behaving itself. I had to set UAC Settings to Never notify.
WordPerfect 9 from 2000 AD crashes when I try to create a new folder when I Save As but this is well known in the WordPerfect world for Windows 7 and I can live with it.