EZ-DOS-IT (1986) 0 Utility DOS

EZ-DOS-IT was a very low-cost low-resource multitasking program for DOS on the IBM PC and compatibles. It claimed compatibility with most popular software of the time. However, the initial 1.0 release had serious bugs, was copy protected, and was not compatible enough for many people. Although these issues were quickly fixed and copy protection removed, it earned them bad reviews.

• 4.x

FastBack (1986) 0 Utility DOS

Fastback, by Fifth Generation Systems, Inc, is a backup utility for DOS. Its key feature is that it can read and write both a floppy disk and hard disk at the same time by making use of dual-channel DMA. Combined with speedy data compression, it can make a very fast backup.

• 5.x
• Plus 1.x
• Plus 2.x

FastLynx (1990) 0 Communications DOS

FastLynx, originally called FastWire, is a high-speed file transfer program that operates on two computers connected together via a serial nullmodem or special parallel port cable. It competed against similar file transfer programs such as LapLink.

• 1.x

FastTrax (1987) 0 Utility DOS

FastTrax is a disk optimization program for MS-DOS on IBM PC computers. It rearranges and defragments files to make file access faster.

• 3.x

FastWire (1988) 0 Communications DOS

FastWire is a file transfer program that moves files between two PCs using a serial or parallel port. It is similar to Laplink.

• II

FAXit (1990) 0 Communications Windows

FAXit. from Alien Computing, is a program for sending and receiving faxes under Microsoft Windows. The program simulates a Windows printer, enabling any print job to be sent as a FAX.

• 1.x

FileCommand (1983) 0 Utility DOS

FileCommand is an alternate DOS shell from IBM. The user interface is based on the IBM 3081/3084 mainframe VM/CMS Fulist/Filelist tool. It provides an on-screen file list, and a command area, but uses its own command set. Although advertised as friendlier DOS shell for general PC users, most users would likely find it confusing unless they had prior experience with Fulist.

• 1.00
• II

FirsTime (1985) 0 Editor DOS

FirsTime is a source code editor that is aware of a program's syntax and helps guide you as you create code. It highlights the current relevant sections of code, has customizable macros, and alerts you to certain kinds of errors.

• 1.x

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

Fontrix (1984) 0 Publishing DOS

Fontrix is a crude single-page typesetting program for the IBM PC that prints high quality custom fonts on a dot-matrix printer. It includes a font editor, and number of font packs were available for it.

• 2.x

Fontware (1988) 0 Publishing DOS Windows

Bitstream Fontware is a tool that converts commercial vectored fonts in to formats for use with applications such as Aldus Pagemaker running under Microsoft Windows 2. The program itself is DOS-based but the fonts it generates are for Windows.

• 2.0

FontWorks (1986) 0 Utility Publishing Other

FontWorks is a utility that prints documents using high quality fonts on a dot-matrix printer. It was commonly sold as a companion product to AppleWorks on the Apple II. It can print sideways, it includes a number of high quality fonts, and includes a font editor.

• 2.x

FormWorx (1990) 0 Publishing DOS

FormWorx is a tool for quickly and easily creating high quality printed forms with your personal computer. It comes with a large library of customizable pre-made standard forms. With "Fill & File" you may enter data in to fields or populate multiple forms from a database. Earlier versions were available for DOS.

• 2.x (DOS)

FrameMaker (1990) 3 Publishing Unix MacOS Other

FrameMaker, originally from Frame Technology Corporation and later Adobe, is a professional document system for creating large, complex documents with highly structured layout. It was often accompanied by FrameReader.

• 2.x

Framework (1984) 6 Word Processor Spreadsheet Graphics Communications Database DOS

Originally created by Forefront Corporation for Ashton-Tate and first released in 1984, Framework was an early integrated office suite for DOS. It has a built in word processor, spreadsheet, database, outliner, graphing, and telecommunications.

• 1.0
• Premier 1.x
• II
• III
• XE

FreeHand (1988) 5 Graphics Publishing MacOS

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.

• 1.0
• 2.0

GEM Desktop Publisher (1988) 0 Publishing DOS

GEM Desktop Publisher, from Digital Research, is a GEM 3.x based Desktop publishing program. It is not as sophisticated as Ventura Publisher. It uses a VMM (Virtual Memory Manager) in place of EMS/XMS, and requires a hard disk. It can be used with GEM Artline to provide illustrations.

• 2.x

Get Organized (1984) 0 Word Processor Communications PIM DOS

Get Organized is a bare-bones integrated tool that includes a word processor, address book, index card file, notepad, calculator, calendar, and simplistic telecommunications. It was targeted at high end home users and low end business users.

• 1.x

GOfer (1987) 0 Utility Document DOS

GOfer is a desktop search tool capable of searching many document formats. It loads as a TSR and can be called while other programs are running. It support multiple word search, operators, and inexact searches. It does not use an index, that makes it slower but requires no additional disk space.

• 1.0

Grammatik (1988) 0 Utility DOS MacOS

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
• Mac 2.0

Halo DPE (1987) 0 Graphics Publishing DOS

Halo DPE (Desktop Publishing Editor) was an attempt by Media Cybernetics to enter the desktop publishing market by shoehorning additional text processing abilities in to their Dr. Halo II product.

• 1.x

hDC FirstApps (1990) 0 Utility Windows

hDC FirstApps is a collection of 10 simple "MicroApps". FirstApps includes Alarm Clock, Art Gallery, Auto Save, Character Set, Desktop, Font Viewer, Memory Viewer, Rocks, System Enhancer, and Work Sets. It is essentially a Windows 3 version of the Windows 2-based hDC Windows Manager.

• 1.0

hDC MicroApps 2 Utility Windows

hDC's MicroApps are small desktop accessories invoked through a "MicroApp Manager". The MicroApp Manager adds an extra menu to each application window's system box. The additional menu contains a list of all available "MicroApps". This is essentially a stripped down version of the Windows 2-based hDC Windows Manager.

• IBM Academic Edition

hDC Windows Express (1989) 0 Utility Windows

hDC Windows Express is a "Complete Menu System" shell for Microsoft Windows. The earliest version went under the name"hDC ClickStart", and was for Windows 1.x (Wanted!).

• 2.x
• 3.0

hDC Windows Manager (1989) 0 Utility DOS

hDC Windows Manager is a set of small desktop utilities that enhance the way the Windows 2 GUI works. It includes an alarm clock, auto save automator, a screen saver, font viewer, memory usage viewer, automatic window cascading/tiling, it can set a mono bitmap as a desktop background, and it can store "sets" of applications to open all at once. menu shell, and hDC Color, a tool that lets Windows 2 VGA use all 16 colors instead of just 8.

• 1.0