Windows Resource Kit (1991) 28 Utility Windows

The Microsoft Windows Resource kit is a set of supplementary tools for managing and deploying Microsoft Windows. The first Windows Resource kit was released in 1991 for Windows 3.0. Most, but not all, Windows versions after that had corresponding Resource Kits. These were often freely downloadable from Microsoft.

• 3.x
• 95
• NT 4.0
• 98
• 2000

Clipper (1990) 27 DOS Windows

Clipper, from Nantucket Corp and later Computer Associates, started out as a native code compiler for dBase III databases, and later evolved in to a full fledge database language and application development environment.

• 5.x

Microsoft Money (1992) 24 Financial Windows

Microsoft Money is a home oriented financial management tool. It was designed specifically for Microsoft Windows, and was touted as being easier to use. At its release it competed against products such as Quicken. Microsoft Money was discontinued in 2009.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x (95)
• 97 (5.0)
• 98
• 99
• 2000
• 2002
• Sunset

Windows Media Center (2004) 23 Video Audio Media Player Windows

Windows Media Center was a full-screen media player and video recorder designed for use on home theater PCs. It competed against digital recording devices like the Tivo.

• 6.1 (7)
• 2005 (XP)

Microsoft FrontPage (1995) 22 Publishing Windows

Microsoft FrontPage is a WYSIWYG HTML editor/Cuisinart for Microsoft Windows.

• 1.0
• 1.1
• 97 (v2)
• 98 (v3)

Microsoft Direct X (1997) 20 Windows

Microsoft Direct X is a library addon/update for Microsoft Windows that adds or improves the ability to render high-speed 2D or 3D graphics, and use special input devices, mainly for games.

• 5.0

OS/2 1.x (1986) 19 OS2

OS/2 was originally a joint effort between IBM and Microsoft. It grew out of efforts to create a Multitasking MS-DOS. It was intended to be the future OS for IBM's new PS/2 series. At release it competed against Microsoft's Windows GUI shell, but most users continued to use DOS. OS/2 1.x was used as the basis for Citrix Multiuser | 1.x | 2.x | 3.x | 4.x | All |

• Pre-Release
• 1.0
• 1.1
• 1.2
• 1.3

Microsoft OS/2 SDK (1987) 19 DOS OS2

The Microsoft OS/2 SDK includes pre-release builds of OS/2, beta development tools, sample code, and loads of documentation. These were released prior to the OS/2 1.0 and 1.1 releases. Microsoft charged $3,000 in 1987 for the SDK. It was criticized as overpriced, buggy, and slow.

• 1.00-1.01
• 1.02
• 1.03
• 1.04
• 1.05
• 1.06
• 1.10
• 2.0

Microsoft BOB (1995) 18 Novelty Windows

Microsoft BOB is a Windows 3.1 graphical shell intended for novice users. It presents your desktop as a series of "rooms" with various selectable objects, and assists you with a friendly animated guide. It features vector based graphics that scale to any size or resolution screen, supports user profiles, and includes rudimentary editor, calendar, address book, and checking programs. It was created as a response to Packard Bell Navigator and is somewhat comparable to Apple At Ease and 3DNA.

• 1.00
• 1.00a

Sidekick (1984) 18 Utility PIM OS2 Windows

Borland Sidekick is a DOS based PIM (Personal Information Manager) and one of the first widely-used TSR (terminate and stay resident) programs. The key feature of Sidekick was that one could use Sidekick's utilities while using most other MS-DOS applications. This was important because MS-DOS had no built-in multi-tasking or task switching capabilities.

• 1.0 for OS/2
• 1.0 for Windows
• 2.0 for Windows

FileMaker (1984) 18 Database Windows MacOS

FileMaker is a very easy to use graphical flat-file database management tool from Claris that allows for visual form and report creation. Originally for DOS, there were Macintosh versions and later it was ported to Windows.

• Pro 2.x
• Pro 3.x
• Pro 5.x

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (2001) 18 Windows

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe is a simplistic version control system used for storing program code and keeping track of revision. It integrates with a number of Microsoft Products.

• 6.0

Microsoft Pascal (1981) 17 DOS OS2

The Microsoft Pascal Compiler is Microsoft's implementation of the ISO Pascal language for DOS, Xenix, and OS/2. It was among Microsoft's early language products provided for DOS. It was superseded by Microsoft QuickPascal. The Microsoft Pascal Compiler was licensed to IBM, who sold it as the IBM Pascal Compiler.

• 4.0

Microsoft Arcade (1993) 17 Windows

Microsoft Arcade is a pack of classic arcade video games ported to Microsoft Windows.

• 1.x
• Return of

Autodesk AutoCAD (1984) 15 Graphics Engineering Windows

AutoCAD, from Autodesk and first released in 1982, is a powerful Computer Aided Design tool. It was, and still is, often considered the standard for CAD tools. Primarily for the IBM PC platform, it was ported to x86 machines with higher video resolutions such as the Zenith Z-100 and NEC APC. Intermittently, versions for the Macintosh appeared. Later versions use a dongle copy protection.

• r11 (Win)

XTree (1985) 15 Utility Windows

XTree is an easy to use text-mode file manager. It pioneered the use of a GUI-like hierarchy tree, and provides many integrated file viewers. It competed against many other file managers including Gazelle Q-DOS and Norton Commander

• Gold for Windows 4.0

McAfee VirusScan (1995) 14 Utility DOS Windows OS2

McAfee VirusScan was a very popular and reliable virus scanner during the late 90s. Notably, they distributed a free shareware version of their product. VirusScan was often pre-loaded with OEM computers.

• 2.x
• 4.x
• 7.0

Microsoft Project (1984) 14 Planning Windows MacOS

Microsoft Project is a project management chart and gantt chart generator. It is a Microsoft Office family member, and built on the Office code, although it has never shipped with any Office suite.

• 1.0
• 3.0
• 4.0
• 95
• 98
• 2000

Sound Blaster 16 ASP Drivers (1993) 14 DOS Windows

Drivers for the Sound Blaster 16 ASP series of cards.

• SB16-STD-01 (Revision 6)

Mathcad (1989) 14 Mathematics Windows

Mathcad is computer software primarily intended for the verification, validation, documentation and re-use of engineering calculations.

• 3.x
• 4.0
• 5.0

The Print Shop (1984) 13 Publishing Windows

The Print Shop is a home oriented publisher capable of creating calendars, banners, greeting cards and other printable goods. It started off on the Apple II and Commodore 64 where it became popular for its simplicity and ease of use. From day one, it featured interactive editing, on-screen artwork/layout selection, print previewing, and a library of customizable clipart.

• Deluxe (Win)
• Deluxe 2.0 (Win)
• Deluxe III
• Premier 5.x (Win)
• Deluxe 6.0 (Win)
• Ensemble III
• 2002 (Mac)

FreeHand (1988) 13 Graphics Publishing Windows

FreeHand is a vector based drawing program used to create illustrations. It is similar to CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator. Initially it offered more features and flexibility than illustrator. It was created by Altsys, sold through Aldus, then sold to Macromedia, and then finally was assimilated by Adobe. Later versions repositioned itself as a content creation system for the web through Flash. The final version was Freehand MX (version 11) in 2003.

• 3.1
• 4.0
• 5.0

Adobe Type Manager (1991) 12 Windows MacOS

Adobe Type Manager was designed to provide scalable fonts on early Mac and Windows 3.0 systems that did not provide similar functionality natively. ATM is required by a number of graphics application originally designed to work in these environments. ATM is packaged as a "lite" installable runtime. Later releases offer a "Deluxe" version with extra font management abilities. Other OSes including NeXTSTEP, DESQview, and OS/2 come with ATM functionality built-in.

• 1.x
• 2.0x
• 3.0x
• 4.x

Microsoft TCP/IP-32 (1995) 12 Windows

Microsoft TCP/IP-32 version 3.11b is an update to Microsoft's TCP/IP-32, a 32-bit protected mode VxD TCP/IP network protocol stack for Windows for Workgroups version 3.11.

• TCP/IP-32 3.11b

PKZip (1990) 12 Utility Windows

Pkzip is the most common archiver for MS-DOS based systems. It implements a an open compression method and is much faster than other archivers of its time.

• 2.5 for Windows