wine users - May 2012 - Question about default Wine prefix

Hi. It's been a while since last time I was here...

I noticed that, even with last 1.5 versions of Wine, the default OS original
Wine prefix emulates is stil Windows XP. Maybe there's a good reason to keep
it as it is, although I was thinking, as newer Windows applications (and games
in my case) are being released as time passes by, wouldn't it be good to
change the default emulated system to Windws Vista, 7, or eventually 8?

And this is probably something I haven't still understood. Are Windows
applications affected very much by the prefix's emulated Windows version? Or
is it just a matter of copying the missing dll files to the application's
directory or the prefix directory?

And also, I don't remember how to change emulated Windows version in a
prefix, it's been a while since last time I played with Wine... Is it just a
matter of changing the setting in winecfg, or must I create an entire new prefix
with the option?

Thanks for your help.

F_style wrote:
> 
> I noticed that, even with last 1.5 versions of Wine, the default OS
original Wine prefix emulates is stil Windows XP. Maybe there's a good
reason to keep it as it is,
Most apps work with that setting. 

> Are Windows applications affected very much by the prefix's emulated
Windows version?
Some are. Office 2007/2010 can't save files if the setting is above XP. 

>  Is it just a matter of changing the setting in winecfg,
> 
Yes. And you can change it globally or per app.