DESQView (1984) 5 Utility DOS

DESQView, from Quarterdeck, was a DOS application multi-tasker and in later versions functioned as an X client for applications on remote UNIX systems. It competed against IBM Topview. The original DESQ was just a task switcher, but subsequent versions offered preemptive multitasking of well behaved DOS programs on real-mode 8088 PCs. It gained popularity when DESQView 386 added virtual x86 support. This enabled the ability to multi task many poorly behaved programs, and was often used on BBSes due to its excellent COM port handling. It was later overtaken by OS/2 and Windows.

• 2.x
• DESQView X 2.x

Dilbert Break A Day (1997) 1 Novelty Windows MacOS

Released in 1997 by DayBreak Software, Break A Day is a calendar that shows a different Dilbert comic every day. Includes a 16-bit Windows 3.1 version, 32-bit Windows 9x/NT version, and a Mac version.

• 1

DiskClone (1998) 0 Utility DOS

DiskClone, from Quarterdeck, is a simple, professional, small, powerful, and easy to use hard disk cloning tool. It can copy a drive to another internal or external drive of different sizes. It can be used as a backup, or a migration tool to a new drive. It all fits on a single floppy disk. "Corporate" editions.

• 1.0

Diskeeper (2001) 0 Utility Windows

Diskeeper is a professional disk defragmenting tool with versions for both 9x and NT. It includes features such as scheduling and background defragmentation.

• 6.0

DiskLock (1993) 2 Utility DOS Windows

DiskLock, From Fifth Generation Systems, and later from Symantec as Norton DiskLock, is a data security tool that can lock a hard disk or individual files or directories so that it requires a password to access any data. It can also log activity to detect unauthorized access attempts. It also features the ability to lock the system after an idle usage period. There were versions for PC and Mac.

• 3.x

Dr Solomons Anti-Virus Toolkit (1997) 2 Utility Windows

Dr Solomon's Antivirus was a top rated commercial virus scanning suite. There were versions for DOS, Windows 3.1, 95, 98, Novell, SCO Unix, Solaris, and OS/2.

• 7.x

Easy Chefs One Million Recipes (1999) 0 Reference Windows

Easy Chefs One Million Recipes, from American Cooking Resources, is one big multimedia CD that contains a huge card file of food recipes. It literally has over a million recipes stored in its searchable database.

• 4.5

EasyDesktop (1994) 0 Utility Windows

EasyDesktop, from MicroSeconds International, is an alternative desktop shell for Microsoft Windows that uses a more compact text-based file list and integrates its own file manager.

• 5.0

Encarta (1993) 21 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
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999

Encarta Virtual Globe (1997) 1 Reference Windows

Encarta Virtual Globe is a companion multimedia product to Microsoft Encarta, and was also included on the Encarta Reference Suite DVD. Microsoft Encarta Virtual Globe contains detailed geographical and topographical maps and information, a huge database of places, geography games, satellite photographs, and 3D "flights" over major landmarks.

• 1998 Edition

Expedia Streets (1997) 2 Reference Windows

Expedia Streets, from Microsoft, is a multimedia street atlas similar to Delorme Street Atlas. It competed with DeLorme Street Atlas, and Rand McNally Route Planner.

• 98 (6.0)

Expert Dream Interpreter (1999) 0 Novelty Windows

Dream Interpreter is a program for recording and analyzing dreams. It contains a large database of dream symbols and interpretations and can analyze trends over time.

• 1999

EZ-Drive (1996) 2 Utility DOS

EZ-Drive is a hard disk partitioning tool bundled with new hard drives. It detects, partitions, formats drives, and installs BIOS overlays, all in one easy to use program. Such setup programs were often necessary due to the complexity of BIOS size limitation and the skyrocketing size of new hard drives. EZ-Drive is similar to Ontrack Disk Manager.

• 8.x

Faces (1998) 1 Graphics Novelty Windows

Faces 3.0 is a face composting tool similar to that which law enforcement uses. Select from a large number of facial features and parameters to re-create almost any face.

• 3.x

Family Origins Deluxe (1996) 1 Reference Windows

Family Origins Deluxe is a genealogy tracking program that lets you keep track of family history and plot family trees.

• 5.0

Fauve Matisse (1994) 0 Graphics Windows

Fauve Matisse was an extremely slick and powerful natural media paint and image manipulation program. It sold for a fraction of the price of the market leader Fractal Design Painter, and had a number of more powerful features like floating layers in its early versions. Matisse (and Fauve Software) died when the two brothers who owned it bet the farm on a high-end image-manipulation program called X-res - and lost. Ironically, X-res (and Matisse)was acquired by Macromedia.,While X-res continued to be published by Macromedia, Matisse was allowed to slip into a quiet grave." (And Macromedia was in turn bought out by Adobe). software that supported multiple free-floating layers of images.

• 1.x

FAXFree (1996) 0 Utility Windows

FAXFree is a program that automates creating and managing Windows 9x/NT FAX image files and routing them to other people via e-mail, instead of real fax machines and overpriced long distance telephone calls.

• 1.x

FileMaker (1984) 3 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 3.x
• Pro 4.x
• Pro 5.x

Flash (1999) 29 Graphics Video Windows

Macromedia Flash is a vector animation package originally developed by FutureWave and later acquired by Adobe. Flash can export animation as video files or in its own proprietary interactive vector animation format playable by the Flash Player. Flash versions prior to 5 do not include the ActionScript scripting language. The interaction is instead scripted using drag-an-drop "actions".

• 4.x
• 5.x

FontMinder (1993) 0 Utility Publishing Windows

FontMinder, by Dennis Harrington & Costas Kistos, is a font management tool that streamlines the installation and archival of Windows TrueType and Adobe Type Manager fonts.

• 2.5

FormTool (1985) 2 Database Windows

FormTool is an easy to use form creation and data entry application.

• 1.x for Windows

Fractal Design Dabbler (1994) 1 Graphics Windows

Dabbler, by Fractal Design, was released as a cut down version of Fractal Design Painter, and later re-branded as "Art Dabbler" (when Fractal Design merged with MetaCreations). Dabbler used the brush on canvas metaphor, allowing the artist to build up density/opacity by repeating strokes over the same part of the image. Interestingly, it also was capable of using many of the Adobe defined .8bf plugin filters for special effects.

• 1.0

Fractal Design Painter (1992) 0 Graphics Windows

Fractal Design Painter is a painting program that provides a number of unique effects, that can make use of pressure-sensitive tablets. Its drawing capabilities can mimic brush effects such as oil and water color painting.

• 3.0

FreeHand (1988) 1 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.

• 4.0
• 5.0

Ghost (2000) 15 Utility DOS

Ghost, originally released in 1995 by Binary Research and later under Symantec with the "Norton" title, is a PC cloning and imaging tool. It can image and restore drives to drives of different sizes, supports many different file systems, and supports many different archiving and communications methods. Ghost 7.5 and earlier support running from DOS. Later versions are Windows-only.

• 7.x