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

PC Magazine Labs Performance Tests (1991) 4 Utility DOS Windows OS2

These disks contain Hardware and Graphics tests from 1990 for Microsoft Windows 2, and OS/2 1.x Presentation Manager.

• 1.x

PC Tools (1985) 87 Utility DOS

PC Tools, from Central Point Software, is a system and disk utility suite similar to the Norton Utilities. Central Point also produced a similar set of tools for the Apple Macintosh known as MacTools. Central Point Backup, bundled as part of PC-Tools, was also offered as a standalone product.

• 5.x
• 6.x
• 7.x

PC World PowerBase/Best Of Star-Dot-Star (1988) 11 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

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

PFS Preface (1990) 0 Utility DOS

PFS Preface is a menu system and file manager for DOS that uses an interface style similar to other PFS products.

• 1.00

PKZip (1990) 45 Utility DOS

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.

• 1.x

POP Menu (1989) 4 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

Popcorn Misspeller's Dictionary (1988) 3 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

Powerbase (1989) 2 Utility DOS

Powerbase is a set of utilities distributed by PC World

• Vol II

Prokey (1989) 2 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

PubTech File Organizer (1989) 3 Utility Publishing Windows

The PubTech File Organizer is an alternate desktop shell for Windows that attempts to mimic the Macintosh Finder. It features drive icons directly on the desktop, a Garbage icon, and folders that open in new cascaded windows with icons representing files. Applications are easily accessible from an "Applications" menu. Files and programs may be placed directly on the File Organizer desktop. In many ways, it is similar to the Windows 95 desktop, but the earlier versions work under Windows 2!

• 2.11
• 3.10

Q-DOS (1989) 3 Utility DOS

Gazelle Systems Q-DOS is a text mode based file manager for DOS. Q-DOS is a simplified file manager that presents all DOS functions visibly. It competed against many other file managers including Norton Commander and Xtree

• 2.x
• 3.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

QEMM (1990) 49 Utility DOS

Quarterdeck QEMM is a DOS Extended Memory Manager for 386+ computer which allows you to make use of memory beyond the 640kb barrier. It can also be used with QRAM, a utility for freeing up the 640k base memory.

• 5.x
• 6.x

QRAM (1990) 6 Utility DOS

QRAM is a memory management tool for 8088, 8086, and 286 based PCs. It can work with LIM 4.0 EMS memory cards, shadow RAM, and even VGA memory to free up or add to the base 640k memory. It also provides XMS compatible extended memory services, so it can replace Microsoft's himem.sys.

• 1.x
• 2.x

Quarterdeck Manifest (1988) 1 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

QuickMenu (1991) 4 Utility DOS

QuikMenu III is an icon-based graphical menu and desktop for DOS.

• 1.x

RightGrammar (1991) 2 Utility DOS

RightGrammar 1.0 was a short lived rebranded version of RightWriter 4.0. It is not clear why it was rebranded or if there is any difference.

• 1.0

RightWriter (1987) 6 Utility DOS MacOS

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.

• 3.x
• 3.2 for DeskMate
• 3.x (Mac)
• 4.0

Sidekick (1984) 29 Utility PIM DOS OS2

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.

• Plus
• 1.0 for OS/2
• 2.0

Sideways (1985) 4 Spreadsheet Utility DOS

Sideways is a printing utility that enables you to print a spreadsheet sideways (landscape) when using a graphics printer. While that might seem like a common basic function these days, this is something that early spreadsheets lacked. Using continuous form (tractor feed) paper, a Sideways printout may seamlessly span multiple pages without having to tape or glue pages together. Sideways was sometimes bundled with spreadsheet products. "Sideways leaves no text un-turned".

• 3.3

SitBack (1991) 1 Utility DOS

SitBack is a unique backup tool that backs up files in the background while users are using their systems. This is based on the reality that most users do not want to take the time or effort to manually back up their work. SitBack can backup up to local drives or network shares, and can back up from many kinds of media.

• 3.x

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

SpinRite (1988) 21 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