More Adventures In Microsoft Solitaire...

This subject is very off-topic, but, after trawling the depths of the internet for a couple of months, I thought I would share my experience. Your mileage may vary. Last year, I took part in the free upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10. Microsoft Solitaire was and is an important time-wasting tool for Windows users. And, when that tool was threatened by the upgrade to Windows 10, I went to a fair amount of difficulty getting the Windows 7 version of Microsoft Solitaire up and running in Windows 10.

A few months ago, Microsoft made the Windows 10 anniversary update available to users. I installed the anniversary update and suddenly the Windows 7 version of Solitaire stopped working. I found a fairly decent Windows XP version with a nice installer out in the wild (sadly, I can't remember where in the wild at the time of this writing). Unfortunately, I don't see very well -- hence the thick glasses -- and, when I installed the XP version, I found that the cards were too tiny for my defective eyes and didn't resize when I maximized the screen.

I tried the screen magnifier feature but, that proved to be a bit awkward. First, I had to start XP Solitaire. I found it easier for the next step to place the XP Solitaire window in the upper-left corner on the screen. Second, I activated the screen magnifier feature and positioned it over the XP Solitaire window. The mouse pointer had to stay within the bounds of the XP Solitaire window or the screen magnifier would move.

I played around with this for a week, but, it proved to be more of a hassle than it was worth, so, I decided to uninstall the Windows 10 anniversary update. I reinstated the Windows 7 version of Solitaire and it worked just fine.

It took some time, but, the internet is wise. After a while I stumbled across an installer for the Windows 7 Games on the Winaero site specifically engineered with the anniversary update for Windows 10 in mind. I ran the Windows 7 Games installer and it worked just fine WITHOUT the Windows 10 anniversary update. Then, I reinstalled the Windows 10 anniversary update and once again, the Windows 7 version of Solitaire stopped working. So, I re-ran the Windows 7 Games installer and, at last, the Windows 7 version of Solitaire was up and running.

Getting the Windows 10 anniversary update and the Windows 7 version of Solitaire to play nice with each other was more of a hassle than I imagined it would be, but, I'm pleased with the result.