Programs written for previous versions of Windows will not function in Windows 8 unless you have an older version of the .Net Framework installed. You can easily run both the new and older versions of the framework at the same time.
Older versions of the .Net Framework have become optional extras in Windows 8, this means that if you want to run older programs you will need to enable them, to get started press the Windows + R keyboard combination then type appwiz.cpl in the run box before hitting enter.
