straight outa the help, thought some people might find it usefull
To set the compatibility properties for a program manually
Right-click the program icon on your desktop or the shortcut on the Start menu for the program you want to run, and then click Properties.
Click the Compatibility tab, and change the compatibility settings for your program.
Notes

The Compatibility tab is only available for programs installed on your hard drive. Although you can run the Program Compatibility Wizard on programs or setup files on a CD-ROM or floppy disk, your changes will not remain in effect after you close the program.
For more information about an option on the Compatibility tab, right-click the option and then click What's This.