QAPlus (1989) 1 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) 2 Utility DOS Windows

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
• 7.x
• 8.x
• 9.x

QRAM (1990) 2 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 GameRunner (1995) 1 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

QuickMenu (1991) 0 Utility DOS

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

• 1.x

RightGrammar (1991) 0 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) 10 Utility DOS

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.

• 3.2 for DeskMate
• 4.0

ScreenExtender (1992) 1 Utility DOS

ScreenExtender is a series of add-on software enhancements for popular word processors such as WordStar and WordPerfect. ScreenExtender increases the amount of text that is visible on the screen at one time. It does this by enabling smaller text characters at higher resolutions. Such text modes, up to 160 columns and 58 rows, are commonly possible with VGA adapters, but ScreenExtender can even extract extra screen real-estate on CGA, EGA, and MGA/Hercules graphics cards.

• 2.0

Search & Rescue (1998) 0 Utility DOS

PowerQuest Search & Rescue is an advanced file recovery tool. It operates as a set of bootable floppy disks that can scan a FAT or FAT32 hard drive, piecing together files even when partitions or file systems are damaged.

• 1.0

Sidekick (1984) 3 Utility PIM DOS

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.

• 2.0

Sideways (1985) 0 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) 0 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

Spellbinder (1982) 0 Word Processor DOS

Spellbinder, from Lexisoft and later Ltec Inc, is a word processing program originally created for CP/M and OASIS operating systems and eventually competed with WordStar. It was designed as a work-alike of the NBI Word Processing system and featured spell checking, grammar checking, footnotes, two-column print, proportional printing, and macro programming language. It was bundled with machines from Eagle Computers, Hewlett-Packard, and Xerox.

• 6.10

Spellin! (1992) 0 Utility DOS

Spellin! is a spell checker that works from within Lotus 1-2-3 to find and correct spelling errors in spreadhseet text fields. Includes a database of 90,000 words and support custom dictionaries. Note: Lotus 1-2-3 3.x Requires Release Spellin release 3

• 1.x

SpinRite (1988) 2 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.

• II
• 3.x
• 4.x
• 5.0

Stacker (1991) 4 Utility Archive DOS Windows

Stacker, from Stack Electronics, was a hard drive compression tool. It was wildly popular until Microsoft virtually eliminated the third party market for this by including their own drive compression tool with MS-DOS 6. and Expandz! Plus.

• 1.0 (DOS)
• 2.0 (DOS)
• 3.x (DOS)
• 4.0 (DOS)

Super PC-Kwik (1992) 1 Utility DOS

PC-Kwik is an easy to use hard drive disk caching utility. Compared to some other caching utilities, it is easy to use, it automatically configures itself, and is less likely to cause data corruption.

• 5.x

SuperStor (1992) 1 Utility DOS

SuperStor is a drive compression program similar to Stacker, DoubleDisk or Microsoft DriveSpace. can not compress.

• Pro 2X

System Commander (1996) 7 Utility DOS

System commander, from V Communications, Inc, was a commercial boot manager for PCs. It offered a graphical menu and the ability to hide other partitions from the selected OS. It supported a variety of OSes including DOS, Windows 9x, Windows NT/2000, Linux, OS/2, and various Unixes.

• 2.x
• 3.x
• Deluxe 4.00
• 2000 (5.x)

Textra (1985) 0 Word Processor DOS

Textra, from the University of Michigan based Ann Arbor Software, was a small and fast word processor highly optimized for speed and rapid data entry. First released in 1982 Textra, like many other early PC word processors, was born out of the lack of a decent IBM PC editor/word processor. Textra featured a full set of text manipulation commands, common text formatting abilities, and full screen editing. It was specifically designed for the IBM PC, giving it faster load and save times and the most responsive user interface possible. It was priced much lower than most other text editors or word processors.

• 6.0
• 7.0

The Program Director (1989) 0 Utility DOS

The Program Director is a tiny little customizable menuing program. It was sold commercially as budget software.

• 1989

Timeworks DOS Office (1993) 0 Word Processor Spreadsheet Database DOS

Timeworks DOS Office, from Timeworks, Inc., is an office suite consisting of the Timeworks Word Writer PC word processor, the Timeworks SwftCalc spreadsheet, and the Timeworks Data Manager desktop database.

• 1.0

Toolworks Backup Pro (1990) 0 Utility DOS

Backup Pro, from The Software Toolworks, is an easy to use backup program for MS-DOS. It features drop down menus and mouse support. It was sometimes bundled with OEM computers, and was sold for very low cost compared to others.

• 1.x

ToyBox Menu Manager / Magic Desk (1992) 0 Utility DOS

ToyBox II, later renamed to Magic Desk, is a simplified graphical menu system that lets you launch your DOS applications from a selection of tiled iconic buttons. Supports nested hierarchies, includes an icon editor, and a number of common icons.

• 2.x
• 3.x (Magic Desk)