16-BIT APPLICATIONS RUN ON 32-BIT O/S's....CONFLICT OR HARMONY?

[MARK a/k/a FAST.JAGUAR3]

My o/s is W2K Pro. If I install one or more software applications that were purchased in the last 4 years, but were designed to operate on a 16-bit operating system, will they likely create problematic conflicts in functionality, resulting in pop up error messages, and, even worse, corrupted files or scripts? Would it likely result in a major mess, to the point where I would have to do a clean install of the o/s and re-installation of all applications? Or are applications designed for a 16-bit environment actually safe to use on W2K Pro?
Mark a/k/a FAST.JAGUAR3 > (Please respond only via the message board. Thank you.)

 

[Dan Seur]

Well-written 16-bit apps should run OK on the W2k system. If they're
really old DOS, or recent but poorly-written, and require hands-on to
the real hardware, they may fail. The reasons are buried in the actual
coding. Almost never, however, would the app itself or any of its data
or any other concurrently-running process be damaged by trying to run
them. You can always try, using (if you're really worried) backup copies
of the apps that you can afford to lose. It should be virtually
impossible to damage W2k itself. Worst case, the app won't install.