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Thread: On this day, 20 years ago...

  1. #1
    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    Thumbs up On this day, 20 years ago...

    ...Windows 95 was released.

    A huge chunk of what we'd think of as "Windows" today originated with 95. This includes the desktop, Start menu and taskbar, Recycle Bin, long filenames, event sounds, registry, user accounts, hardware profiles, compatibility mode, a rudimentary version of system file protection, and many other things. Furthermore, by including Winsock, a TCP/IP stack and drivers for most modems and network controllers of the time, it contributed to the early adoption of the Internet by the general populace. While far from perfect compared to what we have now (blue screens and lack of true memory protection spring to mind), it did represent a significant technological leap then - its contribution to computing in the 90s was on par with XP's at the turn of the millennium, or 7's on the current decade.

    Despite the fact Microsoft declared Windows 95 to be "end of life" on December 31st, 2001, it remains in use to this day by point-of-sale and other embedded systems, retro gamers, and enthusiasts. Some of the latter even dare run it on modern computers, with varying but generally acceptable results and limitations. A rather big community keeps on offering support as well as unofficial patches, service packs and addons.

    Let's take a while to remember.




































    Thanks to Microsoft and the Windows 95 development team for making this possible!
    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
    Thanks

  2. Who Said Thanks:

    crystal (27.09.15) , Master Razor (14.09.15) , tr-cht-fx-242p (31.08.15) , blood (25.08.15) , alpacino (25.08.15) , zora (25.08.15) , yoco (25.08.15)

  3. #2
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    I think I had this OS on my Pentium II
    Thanks

  4. #3
    That "safe to shut down" screen is probably the most nostalgic things in the whole thing. all the others are still there in some way, but that one in particular I haven't seen in ages. Good times :)
    g̺̗͙̺l̜̜i͖̦͇̙t͕̲̜c͇̮͕̺̩͎̰̜h͕̦̘
    Thanks

  5. #4
    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sazzy View Post
    That "safe to shut down" screen is probably the most nostalgic things in the whole thing.
    Fun facts about that screen:

    • It is actually a 320x400 8-bit bitmap stored on C:\WINDOWS\LOGOS.SYS, and can be replaced with any other image.
    • You can get (back) to the DOS prompt from it if Windows was started by running "win" from a prompt in the first place. Blindly type "cls" and press Enter. You can then change to VGA text mode with "mode co 80".
    • The original words were changed during the development process...



      ...but can still be seen if you delete the file.


    • To not see it and shut down directly, on any version of Windows, you must have an ATX power supply and APM or ACPI enabled. Otherwise...





      Windows Vista and above will not install or run if your computer does not support ACPI or has a BIOS built before January 1st, 1999, so you'll never see it there unless you enable a certain group policy.



      Unfortunately, Windows 8 and above never show the message (policy or not), turning video off instead.

    ...and last but not least... it's a lie. It's never safe to turn off your computer.
    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
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  6. #5
    Advanced User alpacino's Avatar
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    Well aren't you the windows 95 shutdown page specialist?
    it's hip to be square
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  7. #6
    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    I like that screen too

    And there was a set of things you had to do to be a 90s wannabe hacker:

    • change the shutdown logo by replacing the bitmap
    • change the Internet Explorer titlebar by adding a registry value
    • change the Shell line in SYSTEM.INI to open the clock instead of Windows Explorer
    • boot into DOS and rename the .pwl files in the Windows directory to get through password protection (this could be self-taught after a little tinkering)
    • use DEBUG.EXE to delete the BIOS password (you probably learned this from a friend or computer magazine)
    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
    Thanks

  8. #7
    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    This method worked up to Windows XP, by opening the accessibility programs in the welcome screen, then running a command prompt (with SYSTEM privileges, no less!) from their help file.
    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
    Thanks

  9. #8
    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    So, I heard some of you like this screen.



















































    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
    Thanks

  10. Who Said Thanks:

    yoco (01.09.15)

  11. #9
    surprised to find my language in there
    g̺̗͙̺l̜̜i͖̦͇̙t͕̲̜c͇̮͕̺̩͎̰̜h͕̦̘
    Thanks

  12. #10
    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sazzy View Post
    surprised to find my language in there
    Windows was always available in many languages, although it would take until Windows 2000 for language packs to exist at all, and Vista for them to be available to regular users. Pre-Internet localized versions can be pretty hard to find.

    Other interesting facts:

    Initial sales of Windows 95 in China had to be temporarily halted because anti-communist, pro-Taiwan messages were found within. A patch was later released to remove them.

    The Chinese version of Windows 3.11 was released as "Windows 3.2". This higher version number is due to the code changes required to display Chinese characters.

    Thai and Vietnamese versions of Windows 95 also exist. They are partial translations (no safe shutdown screen on those).

    Windows 95 was nearly banned in India, because clicking a certain part of the world map to select the system time zone showed a disputed territory as belonging to Pakistan instead. Microsoft reacted by removing that feature entirely, and it was never readded ever since.
    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
    Thanks

  13. Who Said Thanks:

    tr-cht-fx-242p (02.09.15)

  14. #11
    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    I made something for you.
    Attached Files Attached Files
    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
    Thanks

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    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    I need that backpack
    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
    Thanks

  16. #13
    It feels like in the past we had better quality than nowadays. As anon said, 95 was a major breakthrough that acted like a springboard for microsoft's cash flow.
    microsoft was very proud of their accomplishments, you could've easily seen that.

    I don't have the required technical knowledge to say WHY microsoft these days create only bad/innefficient products that don
    t benefit the user anymore-- just themseves. It was better in 1995 than it is now.
    Thanks

  17. #14
    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Master Razor View Post
    I don't have the required technical knowledge to say WHY microsoft these days create only bad/innefficient products that don
    t benefit the user anymore-- just themseves. It was better in 1995 than it is now.
    Nowadays' tablets and touch-based smart TVs didn't exist in 1995, and the cash flow must be maintained. It's noteworthy that Windows 10 seems to be aimed at fixing recent design mistakes (while adding free Internet surveillance, but oh well) and making everything usable to everyone once more.

    This is a custom built PC from 1992. You can probably buy ten or more tablets with the same money.



    With that said, some of the "magic" is gone if you compare that picture of a man very happy to be walking away with two copies of 95 versus what we have now. Do people even buy boxed software anymore?
    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
    Thanks

  18. #15
    Moderator anon's Avatar
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    With that said, Windows 95 wasn't perfect.







    "I just remembered something that happened a long time ago."
    Thanks

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