Bookshelf (1987) 8 Reference Windows

Microsoft Bookshelf is a CD-ROM based multimedia reference tool from Microsoft, including a dictionary, thesaurus, quotations, atlas, and other types of references. Some versions were included and integrated with Microsoft Office, albeit sometimes stripped down.

• 94
• 95

Encarta (1993) 19 Reference Windows MacOS

Microsoft Encarta was a home oriented interactive encyclopedia that was often sold with new OEM machines. Unlike a paper encyclopedia, Encarta took full advantage of being on a computer, with updates from the Internet, sound clips and movies, interactive charts and games, and good navigation.

• 1995
• 1996

Microsoft 500 Nations (1995) 0 Reference Windows

Multimedia software from the Microsoft Home series providing reference material relating to the North American Indians. The actor Kevin Costner also appears in it.

• 1

Microsoft Ancient Lands (1994) 0 Reference Novelty Windows

Multimedia software from the Microsoft Home series providing reference material of the ancient Roman, Greek, and Egyptian civilizations. Runs on Windows 3.1 or later.

• 1.0

Microsoft Cinemania (1994) 1 Reference Windows

Microsoft Cinemania is a reference application that was released by Microsoft that was a database of films that contained still images, sound clips, dialogues, sound tracks and some full motion video clips. The software was released annually until 1997, with the last version being Cinemania 97. Think of this as an early IMDB, but without the internet part.

• 1994

Microsoft Complete Basketball (1994) 0 Reference Novelty Windows

Multimedia software from the Microsoft Home series providing reference material on players, teams, and history of the NBA league. Runs on Windows 3.1 or later.

• 1994-95

Microsoft Dangerous Creatures (1994) 2 Reference Novelty Windows

Multimedia title from the Microsoft Home series about venomous and dangerous animals, such as spiders, snakes, fish, etc. from around the world. Runs on Windows 3.1 or later.

• 1.0

Microsoft Musical Instruments (1994) 5 Reference Novelty Windows

Microsoft Musical Instruments is a multimedia CD ROM encyclopedia of musical instruments from around the world. Part of the Microsoft Home family of multimedia products.

• 1.x

Microsoft Office Manager (1993) 2 Utility Windows

Microsoft Office Manager contains the Office Toolbar, several toolbar tools, and Cue Cards. This is for use with independently packaged applications from the Microsoft Office suite.

• 4.2

Microsoft Plus! (1995) 70 Utility Novelty Windows

Microsoft Plus! was an add-on package to Windows that added desktop themes, screen savers, sound effects, power-toys, and other assorted goodies for the home user. Plus! 95 also included Internet Explorer 1.0, which was not included in all Windows 95 distributions.

• 95

Newshell (1995) 7 Windows

Newshell, or the "Shell Technology Preview Update", is a shell update for Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 that gives it the appearance and desktop from Windows 95. Newshell is a beta product, and only meant to demonstrate how the upcoming NT 4 would look.

• Beta

Windows Resource Kit (1991) 30 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.

• 95