I have been messing with Windows Codename Whislter Build 2267 and been trying get it for 9x level program wise which i consider usable for most of my daily tasks and entertainment use. Why I like that build is since it got watercolor theme. Now running programs with it you will likely crash one or two errors. First one is this:
<assembly manifestversion="1.0">
<dependency assemblyname="comctl32" version="6.0.0.0" />
</assembly>
For example if program is Retrozilla.exe you need create file called retrozilla.exe.manifest. Next problem you may encounter when launching program with watercolor theme on is this:
If you can launch program without crash when watercolor theme is off it is caused by program calling uxtheme.dll which lacks some calls which Windows XP has. Workaround for this is find which file calls for it and using hex-editor change name inside file to uxthemm.dll. If you just erase it you may corrupt program.
Now here is list of programs I tested so far. Please note that I am using real hardware (Compaq Presario 5112EA, Celeron 850mhz, 256mb ram, Nvidia TNT Vanta 16mb, SB Live!) so I do not have juice to test most heavy programs. Best HW for Whislter is one that is supported under Windows 2000 RTM.
Retrozilla 2.3: Requires manifest file for retrozilla.exe and also rename mention of uxtheme.dll inside components\gkgfxwin.dll using hexeditor. Works well for browsing around internet and writing emails using IMAP.
Pidgin 2.6.6: Requires manifest file and also legacy GTK runtime v2.6.10. Using one for 2000/XP will result crash. Good client for XMPP under legacy system.
Putty 0.83: Requires manifest file but runs fine after that. Best SSH client for Windows period.
Winamp 2.95: installs and works OOBE. Good for playing MP3 files, you know that thing people used to do before it was fashionable to use streaming services. I still listen my music from local MP3 files.
Irfanview 3.35: installs and works OOBE. Best image viewer for older systems. Includes lot of features.
Flash Player 8 standalone: Works oobe. Good for viewing flash files locally
TCPMP MOD: Requires manifest file. Good and lightweight video player for playing back videos.
If you gotten any other program run under Whistler, please post it below along with possible tweaks
if picture does not show error says "Windows was not able to process the application binding information. Please refer to your System Event Log for further information". This error cause is simple. Going from Whistler into XP final application manifest format has changed. Now many programs got one for XP and they will fail with that error. Workaround for the problem is simple luckily. All you need to do is create file called <program name>.exe.manifest into folder and add following with notepad: