Windows XP has a feauture called Compatibility mode. Essientially it is a setting to make XP act like a previous version of windows (win95, win98/ME, Win NT, Win2000) for specified programs. Here is how to set it up.
1) Find the shortcut of the program you want to run in compatibility mode.
2) Right-click on the icon
3) Select properties
4) go to the compatibility tab
5) check the box labeled "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"
6) choose the version of windows from the drop-down list
7) Click "OK"
That program will now run in compaitility mode for the version of windows you selected. I have found that it is not 100% effective, but I have been able to get programs to run under it where they would not run before.