The Program Director (1989) 0 Utility DOS

The Program Director is a tiny little customizable menuing program. It was sold commercially as budget software.

• 1989

Software Bridge (1989) 0 Utility DOS

Software Bridge is a set of executable word processor file converters. It can convert between a large number of word processors while preserving formatting.

• 3.x

Prokey (1989) 1 Utility DOS

Prokey is a DOS TSR macro recording and playback program. It adds lotus-style menus to applications, lets users create their own help messages, can copy text from the screen, remembers the last 300 keystrokes, and supports timed reminder alerts.

• 5.x

Word for Word (1989) 0 Utility DOS

Word for Word is a document converter that features the ability to convert multiple documents automatically, while retaining as much formatting as possible.

• 4.x (DOS)

POP Menu (1989) 3 Utility DOS

A program to organize your computer programs and avoid the DOS prompt. With MENU! you create a personal display of program names. Then run any program with the touch of a single key.

• 2.x

QAPlus (1989) 3 Utility DOS

QAPlus is an extensive set of tools to test the functionality of a PC, measure performance, and optimize the configuration. It can test motherboard resources, RAM, video cards, I/O ports, and floppy drives. Later versions supported Microsoft Windows. It competed with tools like Checkit and AMI Diagnostics.

• 3.x

SpinRite (1988) 13 Utility DOS

SpinRite, by Gibson Research, is a tool that can diagnose, repair, and rejuvenate the low-level formatting and optimize the interleave of MFM and RLL (ST412/506 interface) hard disk drives. Its pattern testing ability is also useful for verifying the operation of SCSI and IDE hard drives.

• 1.x
• II
• 3.x
• 4.x
• 5.0

Grammatik (1988) 5 Utility DOS

Grammatik is a standalone grammar checker, and was possibly the first grammar checker for personal computers. Later versions were built in to Word Perfect. It competed against RightWriter.

• II
• III
• IV

MenuWorks (1988) 1 Utility DOS

Menu Works, from PC Dynamics, Inc, is a DOS based menu program that lets you boot your computer to a friendly menu of options rather than a confounding DOS prompt. It supports mice, features custom menu creation, sub menus, automatic scanning for known programs on your hard drive, on-line help, built in file management, and a built in file search function.

• 2.x
• Advanced 2.0

Direct Access (1988) 4 Utility DOS

Direct Access is an easy to use menuing program designed to simplify access to applications on systems with many programs loaded on the hard drive. It is customizable, includes screen blanking, and includes password protection and usage logging. Later versions also detect common programs already installed on the hard disk.

• 4.x
• 5.x

CheckIt (1988) 17 Utility DOS

CheckIt, from TouchStone Software Corporation, is a diagnostic tool for generic PC/XT/AT compatible computers. It can perform tests on RAM, hard disks, video cards, floppy disks, motherboard resources, and I/O devices. It has an easy to use menu interface but can also run tests non-interactively. It was followed up by the product WINCheckit.

• 1.x
• 2.1
• 3.0
• LAN 2.x
• Pro 1.x

PC World PowerBase/Best Of Star-Dot-Star (1988) 2 Utility DOS

PC World PowerBase/Best Of Star-Dot-Star is a set of user contributed utilities and tips. These 5.25" floppy disks were distributed alongside the PC-World magazine as a supplement to their long running Star-Dot-Star column.

• Vol I
• Vol II
• Vol III
• Vol VI
• Vol V
• Vol IV

DS Optimize (1988) 0 Utility DOS

DS OPTIMIZE is a disk defragmenter tool. It has a few more options than its competitors, and has a "fast" mode that does not protect against interruptions. This tool competed against Mace Utilities, The Norton Utilities, PC Tools, and many smaller defragmenter tools.

• 2.x

Popcorn Misspeller's Dictionary (1988) 0 Word Processor Utility DOS

Popcorn Misspeller's Dictionary, from Popcorn Software, is a TSR program with a popup list of commonly misspelled words. You may find a word by typing it, but it does not make corrective suggestions.

• 1.x

PC-Fullbak (1988) 1 Utility DOS

PC-Fullbak was a small low-cost hard drive backup program that aggressively competed head-on against Fifth Generation Systems Fastback. It was comparatively speedy, and supported appending to existing backups. under the name "PC-FullbakEZ". There were also versions for the Macintosh.

• 2.x

Partition Commander (1988) 1 Utility DOS

Partition Commander is a Wizard based partition and disk utilization tool. It supports FAT, FAT32, NTFS, HPFS, and some Unix file systems.
It runs in real-mode DOS and installs from only two floppy disks. It competed directly against Partition Magic. Memory Commander, a 386 Expanded/Extended Memory Manager.

• 1.x

Diskette Manager (1988) 0 Utility DOS

Diskette Manager, from BLOC publishing, previously from Lassen Software, is a software tool for the IBM PC and Tandy that inventories the contents of your floppy disks in to a database. It enables you to quickly and easily search for files or print disk labels.

• 3

Flu-Shot Plus (1988) 0 Utility DOS

Flu-Shot Plus (usually written Flu-Shot+) is a tiny tool that prevents unwanted reading and writing to boot sectors and specified files on a hard disk or floppy disk. The package flaunts its ability to block virus spreading, but despite this, it is not a virus scanner, and can not detect or remove viruses.

• 1x

Quarterdeck Manifest (1988) 2 Utility DOS

Manifest is an easy to use diagnostic program that provides incredibly detailed information about DOS resource usage, loaded programs, IO devices, and memory usage including EMS, XMS, and UMB memory. It was available as a standalone program and bundled with QEMM and Deskview. Tools like this were essential for resolving compatibility problems between poorly behaved DOS programs and highly customized environments, especially in task switched or multitasking environments.

• 1.x

RightWriter (1987) 2 Utility DOS

RightWriter is a grammar / structure checking utility. You can feed it a document, and it will produce a marked up copy listing high level critiques such as readability, delivery strength, and jargon. It competed with Grammatik, but RightWriter generally produced superior results.

• 2.x
• 3.x
• 3.2 for DeskMate
• 4.0

Mace Utilities (1987) 3 Utility DOS

The Mace Utilities, from Paul Mace Software, is a suite of disk and system tools similar to the Norton Utilities and PC-Tools. Notable features in included the ability to undelete files, recover re-formatted disks, a defragmenter, and disk caching software. In 1989, Paul Mace Software Inc sold the Mace Utilities to 5th Generation Systems. After "Mace Express" in 1991, the product seemed to vanish?

• 4.x
• 5.x
• v1990

Disk Technician (1987) 5 Utility DOS

Disk Technician, from Prime Solutions Inc., is a hard disk utility and surface monitor. It contains an interleave adjuster and pattern tester similar to Spinrite. The Gold version also includes a defragmenter and disk-level virus protection.

• 4.x
• Advanced 3.x
• Gold 1.x

DS Recover (1987) 0 Utility DOS

DS Recover, from Design Software, is a set of file utilities for DOS that lets you unerase files and directories, and unformat disks. It competed against the Norton Utilities, PC Tools, and Mace Utilities.

• 2.x

DS Manager (1987) 0 Utility DOS

DS Manager is a menu and file management shell for DOS. It features password protection with the ability to display different menus for different users.

• 1.0

Microsoft MS-DOS Manager (1987) 1 Utility DOS

MS-DOS Manager is a friendly file manager shell provided through OEMs for use with MS-DOS 3.x. It was bundled with systems from Zenith, 3COM, and others. It is similar in operation to the Windows 1.x and 2.x MS-DOS Executive. single or split screen file list (but no drag-and-drop), files may be viewed with details or as a compact list, supports associating file type with external applications, and programs installed on your computer are easily added to an "Applications" dropdown menu.

• 1.00