While the underlying compatibility engine includes a wide array of compatibility fixes and modes available for use by system administrators (managed through the Compatibility Administrator utility), most of those are not of interest for the average end-user. This is intended as a way to enhance backwards compatibility for older applications, but can also be used for solving or working around various issues that an application might have.
General information Windows (XP and later) includes an underlying compatibility engine that uses compatibility shims to apply fixes and changes for applications that might otherwise not function properly. The underlying Application Compatibility Engine component is forcefully always enabled in Windows 8.1 and later.
