The Best in Win95/Win3.xx Utilities

There have been a lot of utilities for Windows since it first came out. Some have been great programs, but due to whatever reasons, they turned into "vaporware" mostly because not enough interest was generated to keep the product going in the market. What I have listed here are products that deserve world-wide (or in this case Web-Wide) recognition. I'd hate to see PFE, for example, disappear from the market. It has won my approval as one of the best utilities out there for editing text files (even web-pages!). Also listed are products that are well known and.or recognized by PC magazines and other industry leaders.

NOTE: The main links here go to the Home Page of the product so you can always get the latest version directly from the source.
None of these links will start a download .

(In alphabetical order):

Get-Me-There-Quick Zone

Microsoft Site Builder Network

Want to create awesome web pages without a lot of work? Become a member of the MS Site Builder Network! Once a member, your eligible to receive a ton of great web-editing toys, sounds, images, and other neat stuff.

PFE - Programmer's File Editor

The most powerful text editor available for FREE! (Yes, it's Freeware.). It's main design is for programmers, but anyone can use it! The features that this program has are to numerous to fit here, but here's a "small" list borrowed from the help file:

• PFE's capacity is essentially limited only by the total amount of memory available on your system. There are no editor-imposed limits on the number of files that you can edit simultaneously, nor on the number of edit windows that you may have open. There is no limit on the size of file that can be handled, and none on the number of lines that a file may contain.
• PFE adheres strictly to the Windows MDI conventions. You can invoke most commands and facilities from menus; you can move around with a mouse or with the standard keyboard shortcuts; you can cut and paste from the clipboard, and so on.
• You can reconfigure the use of keys, so that if you don't like the built-in way PFE works, you can change which keys do what to suit your preferences. If you like, you could have commands invoked by two-character key sequences like Esc G and Ctrl+K Ctrl+B; or you could use key sequences such as Alt+F and Alt+S - almost all keyboard keys can be mapped, in any combination.
• PFE is able to run DOS commands, such as compilers, and to capture their output into windows for inspection. This lets you use it as an integrated development environment, cutting down the amount of work you need to do to build and test your applications. You can also quickly launch the application you're developing, and you can configure details of the Windows tools that you use, so that these too can be launched with only a few mouse clicks.
• There are also some features that let you build files more easily. You can define sets of templates - standard lines of text - that you can insert into the file you're editing with just a few mouse clicks. You can group the templates you work with into distinct files, and load them for use automatically.
• Why should you use PFE? If you already have a favorite editor, fine. PFE is not sold for money, so the author has no need to persuade you to do something you don't want. However, you might like it; and you are also very welcome to contribute ideas for improvements. There is a great deal of scope for changing and improving things, so let the author know what you think.

Windows95 PowerToys and KernelToys

What good is Windows95 without some great toys to get the system working better and faster. The Win95 Shell and Kernel Teams at Microsoft have released some "extras" for Win95 that no user should be without. There are new additions added ever so often, so take a look if you're familiar. PowerToys includes (Exerpts from the README.TXT file):

• TweakUI - Get rid of the obnoxious "Shortcut To" words and arrow. Loose the "special" default desktop icons? Replace them with a push of a button. Create new document templates so you can right-click and select one of your older programs. Deleted a program, but didn't use the Uninstaller built into Win95? Get rid of the option in your "Add/Remove Programs" folder. Gain some control of how your system acts when you boot. And there are other great features that's worth the price of the download.
• HTML Printer Driver - Have something you would like to save as an HTML page for your Web site? Don't convert it, PRINT IT! the HTML driver installs just like a printer driver, but the document is saved on your HD as an HTML file. Some editing may be required, but it sure saves a lot of re-typing. Any Windows program that can print can use this!
• DOS Prompt Here 1.0 - Right-click a folder and start an MS-DOS prompt right there, right away. No searching for the MS-DOS Prompt icon and then changing to the directory. Just click!
• CAB File Viewer - You know those *.CAB files that you'll find on the Win95 CD and floppies? Well, with the CABFILE Viewer shell extension, you can browse right into a CAB file and see all of its contents, and perform normal shell operations on the files inside. Extract them wherever you need them and your all set!

There's more, so click here to get PowerToys

As for the Kernel Team, they were getting a bit jealous of the shell team and released their own toys. Here's what's included in the KernelToys package (Exerpts from the README.TXT file):

• Conventional Memory Tracking - Not getting enough conventional memory? This device driver helps you decipher all the memory that "mem" reports as belonging to "vmm32". It writes to a file on your Win95 drive so you can view it in DOS, if needed.
• MS-DOS Mode Configuration Wizard Customization Tool - Teach this wizard how to install your CD-ROM drive, network, mouse, etc. Then the next time you need to configure a game for MS-DOS mode, you can let Windows do the work instead of having to write CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files by hand. Very handy for those tough-to-run-under-Win95 games.
• Windows Time Zone Editor - A Windows 95 version of the Windows NT time zone editor. Use this tool if your country changes its daylight savings time switchover rules.
• Keyboard ReMap - Annoyed by the placement of the CapsLock, Ctrl, Shift, and Alt keys on your keyboard? Envious of your friends who have the new Microsoft Natural Keyboard? This keyboard control panel extension lets you fight back. After installing, go to Control Panel, Keyboard, ReMap, and set up your keyboard the way you want it.

Sounds interesting? Grab them here!

WinZIP

The latest and greatest shareware ZIP manager around. If you grab a lot of ZIP files on the Internet or need to make backups and don't want to worry about a backup program, this tool is for you (After all, who DOESN'T have PKZIP/PKUNZIP on their machines ;). If you don't have PKZIP/UNZIP, click here.

NOTE: PKZIP/UNZIP is not required for WinZIP. As of this writing, a beta DLL is available for "spanning" features, which can substitute PKZIP, if you want to save to floppies and you need to "span" (save one ZIP file) across several floppies. PKZIP/UNZIP and WinZIP are Shareware, so please register if you use it extensively.

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Last Updated: Friday, December 22, 2000

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