A reader finds a way to make his copy of Roxio Creator work with Windows 7, but all does not end well Jim wrote to the Gripe Line after experiencing numerous installation problems with Roxio Creator 2009. “When Vista was released,” he explains, “Roxio announced Creator 7.5 was not compatible.” But Jim figured out a work-around. “It was difficult to find, but a patch was freely available on Roxio’s site that allowed version 7.5 to work — so long as you let Vista disable the bundled backup software.”He even upgraded to Roxio Creator 2009 Ultimate. “The installation was a battle,” he says. “It required a lengthy process of shutting down all startup programs and disabling all anti-malware.” However, he managed and it worked fine — for a while. When he updated one of the third-party applications bundled with Creator, he got error messages telling him necessary installation files were missing.[ Frustrated by tech support? Get answers in InfoWorld’s Gripe Line newsletter. ] After trying every fix he could find at Roxio’s support site, Jim called technical support: “I was told Roxio Creator 2009 is incompatible with Windows 7 and that ‘There are a number of attractive pricing packages for Creator 2010.'” But Jim wasn’t buying. “‘Attractive pricing’ must mean attractive to Roxio,” says Jim. “It certainly isn’t attractive to me.”I forwarded Jim’s complaint to Roxio.Chris Taylor, a Roxio spokesperson told me, “Jim’s concerns appear to largely stem from installing Roxio on non-compatible operating systems — even though he acknowledges that Roxio has stated these applications are not compatible and OS compatibility is included on Roxio packaging.” Taylor did not know of a patch that could change this. “The article Mr. Johnson used as a reference when troubleshooting,” explains Taylor, “provides instructions on uninstalling Creator 2009 and 2010 on Windows Vista and Windows 7. However, I do believe we can improve that article.” In response to Jim’s feedback, the company changed that article to clarify that Creator 2009 is not compatible with Windows 7.Taylor offered Jim an upgrade to Roxio Creator 2010 Pro as thanks for his long standing as a customer and to resolve his frustration over this issue. However, Jim had already purchased that product to complete a project and meet a deadline — and no longer considered himself a happy Roxio user.“In that case,” offered Taylor, “we would be happy to reimburse him for that purchase. We’d also be happy to assign a member of our customer care team to resolve outstanding issues he may have.” Got gripes? Send them to christina_tynan-wood@infoworld.com.This story, “A rough ride with Roxio Creator,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Technology Industry