Norton Textra Writer (1989) 4 Word Processor DOS

Norton Textra Writer is an easy to use word processor for IBM PCs and compatibles running DOS. It was based on Ann Arbor Software' Textra, a small and fast word processor highly optimized for speed and rapid data entry, and published by the W W Norton & Co Inc publishing company (no relation to Peter Norton Computing or Symanetc).

• 2.0

Nota Bene (1990) 1 Word Processor DOS

First released in 1982 and based on XyWrite, Nota Bene is a word processor specifically tailored to academic use. It is a very complex, unfriendly, program, but it is packed full of features. Features include footnotes, endnotes, redlining, styles, outlining, tables, indexes, bibliographies, a text retrieval system, foreign language support, spell checker, thesaurus, and a built in programming language. The Ibid component was an option that acted as sort of a database of bibliographic references.

• 3.0

Open Access (1990) 1 Word Processor Spreadsheet Graphics Communications Database DOS

Open Access III is a DOS based integrated office suite that includes a database, word processor, spreadsheet, statistical analysis, graphics, telecommunications and a C style custom application programming language.

• III

Packard Bell Navigator (1993) 0 Utility Other DOS

Packard Bell Navigator is an alternate user interface that replaces the Windows 3.1 Program Manager shell. It presents the content of your computer as a series of rooms.

• 3.5

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

PartitionMagic (1995) 47 Utility DOS Windows

A tool from PowerQuest, and later Symantec, that enables manipulation of partitions through its own bootable media. PartitionMagic can shrink, grow, or move partitions without the need to backup and restore files in that partition. It supported a variety of file systems, and the core DOS-based parition tool fit on a bootable 1.44mb floppy disk. It was extremely popular, and made installing or removing multiple OSes much easier.

• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x

PC Magazine Labs Performance Tests (1991) 0 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 World PowerBase/Best Of Star-Dot-Star (1988) 3 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
• Vol V
• Vol IV

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

Peachtext 5000 (1983) 3 Word Processor Financial Database DOS

PeachText 5000 is a complete personal productivity system for word processing, financial modeling, mailing lists and simple database management. It contains a thesaurus, spell checker, and file conversion tools.

• 2.x

Perceive Personal (1993) 0 Publishing DOS

This is an early OCR program for DOS based computers.

• 1.1 for DOS

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

Plus Hardcard (1987) 0 DOS

These are the software tools and drivers needed to install and operate a Plus 20 Hardcard internal hard drive.

• 1987

Popcorn Misspeller's Dictionary (1988) 0 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

PractiWord (1986) 3 Word Processor DOS

PractiWord is an easy to use word processor that works similarly to WordStar and integrates with PractiCorp's PractiBase database and PractiCalc III spreadsheet. It was lower cost than WordStar and was primarily targeted at home users and small businesses. Supports the IBM PCJr.

• 1.x

Print Magic (1988) 0 Publishing DOS

Print Magic is a sign, card, and banner printing program, similar to Print Master. Compared to others of the time, its functionality is rather crude, lacking previews or undo.

• 1.0

Professional Write (1986) 27 Word Processor DOS

Professional Write, from Software Publishing Corporation, was a popular word processor for home use during the late 80s and early 90s. It features an easy to use menu system and an integrated spell checker. Professional Write was a revamp and replacement for SPC's earlier PFS:Write.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.0

Q&A Write (1988) 6 Word Processor DOS

Q&A Write is a word processor designed to accompany Symantec's Q&A database software product. Q&A Write is designed to resemble PFS:Write, and excelled in the areas of ease of use and laser printer support. It also includes mail-merge, keyboard macros, math calculations, envelope printing, spell-checking, and a Lotus 1-2-3 interface.

• 1.x

QAPlus (1989) 2 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

QRAM (1990) 8 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

QuarkXPress (1986) 13 Publishing DOS

QuarkXPress was THE standard publishing software during the 1990s. However it failed to update its product line to newer technologies in a timely manager, charged insane amounts for updates or additional features that should have been built in to the software, and became very abusive to their customers. Later versions required a parallel port/ADB copy protection dongle. They lost most of their market share to Adobe InDesign.

• 3.x

Quarterdeck GameRunner (1995) 0 Utility DOS

Quarterdeck GameRunner, from Quarterdeck Corporation, is a specialized packaging of their QEMM memory management product that is specifically designed to automatically maximize the memory and speed available to known games. DOS based games of the time used a hodgepodge of memory access methods, that varied from product to product and often created conflicts. GameRunner attempts to mitigate some of this chaos by providing automatic configuration and management.

• 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

RealType (1985) 0 Word Processor DOS

RealType is a small commercial program that lets a computer and printer act as a typewriter. This can be useful for filling out pre-printed forms. It includes Trubo Pascal source code.

• 2.x