Last Versions of Software for Windows 95

[ppgrainbow]

3 minutes ago, submix8c said:

Might work on 95.

Thank you for the link.

I'll try to look for more software that is the last to support Windows 95 later on.

[cov3rt]

On 4/13/2017 at 2:43 PM, ppgrainbow said:

I just loaded Adobe Reader 5.1 (2002-09-17) on Windows 95 and it still works. While it is not officially supported by Adobe, it is the last version shown to work on Windows 95.

Also MSN Messenger no longer works, because Microsoft shut the service down.

LAST - FREE - AlfaMini 1.8.0 --- http://web.archive.org/web/20111220120548/http://www.alfasoftweb.com/download/alfamini_v1.80.exe

AlfaMini 2.0.0 doesn't seem to work on Windows 95.

LAST - FREE - DirectX 8.0 (2000-11-04) --- http://www.oldversion.com/windows/directx-8-0

LAST - FREE - Visual C++ .NET 2003 Redistributables --- http://www.mdgx.com/files/VC_R_71.EXE

I'm gonna test out IMGBurn 2.4.4 and CPU-Z 1.32.1 on Windows 95 later on!

hi, do you know what exactly the "Visual C++ .NET 2003 Redistributables" does? does it update important files in the system? i did a general search up of what it microsoft visual c++ was through wikipedia, but i just wanted to know more specifically if its something that is recommended to install on any w95 system excluding anything else that it might need to function completely, but just the package you had put down, its only about 1 MB. 

[ppgrainbow]

1 hour ago, cov3rt said:

hi, do you know what exactly the "Visual C++ .NET 2003 Redistributables" does? does it update important files in the system? i did a general search up of what it microsoft visual c++ was through wikipedia, but i just wanted to know more specifically if its something that is recommended to install on any w95 system excluding anything else that it might need to function completely, but just the package you had put down, its only about 1 MB. 

It is the latest Visual C++ redistributable available for Windows 95. It installs the MSVCR70.DLL and MSVCR71.DLL binaries in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory to load software complied with Visual C++ 7.0 and Visual C++ 7.1. With the software operating using the working entry points under Windows 95, the application will run.

[ppgrainbow]

Here are some more software that I found that works with Windows 95, but is most likely no longer updated:

LAST - FREE - AOL Instant Messenger 4.8 ---- (no longer functional)

LAST - FREE - Microsoft IntelliMouse (2003-11-11) --- http://priede.bf.lu.lv/ftp/pub/OS/peles/Microsoft/IntelliMouse/IP4_0EngALLMsi.exe

ONGD - FREE - InfraView 4.4.4 (2016-12-20) --- http://www.irfanview.com/

LAST - FREE - mIRC 4.1 (1996-04-27) --- http://www.oldversion.com/windows/mirc-4-1

LAST - SHAR - mIRC 6.35 (2008-10-17) --- http://www.oldversion.com/windows/mirc-6-35

LAST - FREE - Netscape 6.23 (2002-03-15) --- http://www.oldversion.com/windows/netscape-6-23

ONGD - SHAR - Total Commander 9.0a (2016-12-14) --- http://totalcommander.ch/win/tcmd900ax32.exe

LAST - SHAR - WinRAR 3.80 (2008-05-30) --- http://www.oldversion.com/windows/winrar-3-80

LAST - FREE - Yahoo! Messenger 5.6 --- (no longer functional)

I tried to load XnView 2.13 on Windows 95 guest and it's missing a entry point located in KERNEL32.DLL. Does anyone have any idea which version of XnView earlier than 2.13 is the last to work under Windows 95?

Also, I can't confirm this, but trying to view the About Box in the latest release of InfraView causes an Illegal Operation and crashes!

Lastly, I can't confirm if Total Commander 9.0a works on Windows 95 or now, but can try installing and running it to see if it works or not. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll fix it.

Edited April 17, 2017 by ppgrainbow

[LoneCrusader]

6 hours ago, ppgrainbow said:

LAST - FREE - Microsoft IntelliMouse (2003-11-11) --- http://priede.bf.lu.lv/ftp/pub/OS/peles/Microsoft/IntelliMouse/IP4_0EngALLMsi.exe

Since it was mentioned here it's worth pointing out that IntelliPoint is an important piece of software for Windows 95. It enables the use of Wheel Mice - without it the mouse wheel does not work unless your mouse has a working Windows 95-specific driver that provides this functionality. The 3.2 version of IntelliPoint also provides this and does not include dependencies on IE5 or have "auto check for updates" functionality embedded in it.

6 hours ago, ppgrainbow said:

LAST - SHAR - WinRAR 3.92 (2010-03-15) --- http://www.oldversion.com/windows/winrar-3-92

I've seen some issues with the WinRAR installer under 95 when using 3.8x/3.9x versions. The program itself works but the installer crashes or throws errors. I ran some experiments previously to determine where this starts but I can't remember exactly what I found out at the time. I'll have to check but I think 3.71 still installed without problems. If 3.92 works then 3.93 (last of the 3.x series; last to support 98/ME) should work as well.

[ppgrainbow]

Thank you for the information. When Windows 95 came out, there was no support for wheel functionality on mice.

Speaking of XnView, I'm guessing that I'm gonna have to try to find a version of the software that works with Windows 95. I'm on version 1.66 right now.

[cov3rt]

winrar 3.80 was the last i got to work on my windows 95 osr 2.5 systems, newer versions did not work for me, although i don't remember which exact version(s) newer than 3.80 that didn't work, although you listed 3.92 as working. i use version 3.80 on 98SE as well. 

xnview 1.82.4 was the last version to work on windows 95 osr 2.5, i personally have xnview 1.11 in my archived contents as its more lightweight and the first version to support screen capture, however, its obviously less advanced in features than 1.82.4. 

[ppgrainbow]

1 hour ago, cov3rt said:

winrar 3.80 was the last i got to work on my windows 95 osr 2.5 systems, newer versions did not work for me, although i don't remember which exact version(s) newer than 3.80 that didn't work, although you listed 3.92 as working. i use version 3.80 on 98SE as well. 

xnview 1.82.4 was the last version to work on windows 95 osr 2.5, i personally have xnview 1.11 in my archived contents as its more lightweight and the first version to support screen capture, however, its obviously less advanced in features than 1.82.4. 

Thank you for the heads up. I'll update one of my comments and change it to version 1.82.4.

Here is a good screenshot running XnView 1.8.2 on Win95B:

Edited April 16, 2017 by ppgrainbow

[sdfox7]

7 hours ago, LoneCrusader said:

Since it was mentioned here it's worth pointing out that IntelliPoint is an important piece of software for Windows 95. It enables the use of Wheel Mice - without it the mouse wheel does not work unless your mouse has a working Windows 95-specific driver that provides this functionality. The 3.2 version of IntelliPoint also provides this and does not include dependencies on IE5 or have "auto check for updates" functionality embedded in it.

I've seen some issues with the WinRAR installer under 95 when using 3.8x/3.9x versions. The program itself works but the installer crashes or throws errors. I ran some experiments previously to determine where this starts but I can't remember exactly what I found out at the time. I'll have to check but I think 3.71 still installed without problems. If 3.92 works then 3.93 (last of the 3.x series; last to support 98/ME) should work as well.

I always stuck with IntelliPoint 2.0 from October 1996 due to its compatibility with the even older NT 3.5x.

http://sdfox7.com/nt40/INTELL20.ZIP I also have version 3.1: http://sdfox7.com/nt40/INTELL31.EXE

LightSpeed was a person that maintained a Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 website for many years, last seen in July 2008.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080730090550/http://oldfiles.org.uk/lightspeed/main.html and http://web.archive.org/web/20080730090545/http://oldfiles.org.uk/lightspeed/lightspeed95.html.

I am not sure what happened to him or her, and it is a shame because it is clear they put a lot of time into their pages. Anyway, the Windows 95 page s/he created noted WinRAR 3.71 as the last supported version for Windows 95.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080730090545/http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

Unfortunately the archive link doesn't work because the pages uses a ROBOTS.TXT, but I have always maintained it in my /win95 directory, along with an older 2.06 version: http://sdfox7.com/win95/WRAR371.EXE

Regarding the latest version of WinRAR for Windows 95, WinRAR 3.80 appears to be the last version that installs completely and successfully. Later versions fail.

InitializeCriticalSectionAndSpinCount is not a valid function in Windows 95. This behavior occurs in all version of WinRAR 3.93, 3.92, 3.91, 3.90, and 3.80.

However, 3.80 is the only version that continues installing successfully after throwing up the error.

Even more strange, while this function is supposedly not supported in Windows 95, the error does not appear once VMWare Tools and Internet Explorer 5.0 RTM is installed under VMWare. I installed both at the same time, so I'm not sure which one suppressed the function from appearing.

Edited April 16, 2017 by sdfox7

[ppgrainbow]

2 hours ago, sdfox7 said:

I always stuck with IntelliPoint 2.0 from October 1996 due to its compatibility with the even older NT 3.5x.

http://sdfox7.com/nt40/INTELL20.ZIP I also have version 3.1: http://sdfox7.com/nt40/INTELL31.EXE

LightSpeed was a person that maintained a Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 website for many years, last seen in July 2008.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080730090550/http://oldfiles.org.uk/lightspeed/main.html and http://web.archive.org/web/20080730090545/http://oldfiles.org.uk/lightspeed/lightspeed95.html.

I am not sure what happened to him or her, and it is a shame because it is clear they put a lot of time into their pages. Anyway, the Windows 95 page s/he created noted WinRAR 3.71 as the last supported version for Windows 95.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080730090545/http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

Unfortunately the archive link doesn't work because the pages uses a ROBOTS.TXT, but I have always maintained it in my /win95 directory, along with an older 2.06 version: http://sdfox7.com/win95/WRAR371.EXE

Regarding the latest version of WinRAR for Windows 95, WinRAR 3.80 appears to be the last version that installs completely and successfully. Later versions fail.

InitializeCriticalSectionAndSpinCount is not a valid function in Windows 95. This behavior occurs in all version of WinRAR 3.93, 3.92, 3.91, 3.90, and 3.80.

However, 3.80 is the only version that continues installing successfully after throwing up the error.

Even more strange, while this function is supposedly not supported in Windows 95, the error does not appear once VMWare Tools and Internet Explorer 5.0 RTM is installed under VMWare. I installed both at the same time, so I'm not sure which one suppressed the function from appearing.

InitializeCriticalSectionAndSpinCount requires Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later. WinRAR 3.80 is also the last version to work on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows Millennium, Windows 2000, Windows XP RTM/SP1 and Windows Server 2003 RTM. So, I'm gonna lower the version number from 3.92 to 3.80.

[ppgrainbow]

LAST - FREE - Bochs 2.3.7 (2008-06-05) --- https://sourceforge.net/projects/bochs/files/bochs/2.3.7/

If I am correct on this one, starting with Bochs 2.4.0, the entry point function, IsDebuggerPresent gets introduced in KERNEL32.DLL causing Bochs 2.4+ to not run under Windows 95. IsDebuggerPresent requires Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98.

I have two trivia questions for you to ask. DOSBox 0.7.4 is the latest version that works on Windows 95 if you install Internet Explorer 4.0 SP 2 with Active Desktop.

1. What is the latest version of DOSBox that does NOT require Internet Explorer 4.0.2 with Active Desktop under Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0?

2. What is the latest official revision of DOSBox 0.74 shown to work under Windows 95?

Edited April 17, 2017 by ppgrainbow

[sdfox7]

1 hour ago, ppgrainbow said:

LAST - FREE - Bochs 2.3.7 (2008-06-05) --- https://sourceforge.net/projects/bochs/files/bochs/2.3.7/

If I am correct on this one, starting with Bochs 2.4.0, the entry point function, IsDebuggerPresent gets introduced in KERNEL32.DLL causing Bochs 2.4+ to not run under Windows 95. IsDebuggerPresent requires Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98.

I have two trivia questions for you to ask. DOSBox 0.7.4 is the latest version that works on Windows 95 if you install Internet Explorer 4.0 SP 2 with Active Desktop.

1. What is the latest version of DOSBox that does NOT require Internet Explorer 4.0.2 with Active Desktop under Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0?

2. What is the latest official revision of DOSBox 0.74 shown to work under Windows 95?

 Would have to try each version, likely beginning with the oldest.  I will look into it but they are also available here if you want to look: 

https://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox/files/dosbox/

[ppgrainbow]

2 hours ago, sdfox7 said:

 Would have to try each version, likely beginning with the oldest.  I will look into it but they are also available here if you want to look: 

https://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox/files/dosbox/

I'm gonna look into each revision of DOS 0.74 to see which is the last version known to work under Windows 95 sometime tomorrow.

[sdfox7]

"I'm gonna look into each revision of DOS 0.74 to see which is the last version known to work under Windows 95 sometime tomorrow."

According to SourceForge, there is only "one revision" of DosBox 0.74: https://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox/files/dosbox/

I have Internet Explorer 5.0 installed without Active Desktop, and it wants Windows Sockets 2.0 (WS2_32.DLL) available here: http://sdfox7.com/win95/WS2SETUP.EXE

After installing Windows Sockets 2.0, it then complains about SHGetSpecialFolderPathA, a function requiring Active Desktop.

Without Active Desktop Installed, DOSBox 0.65 (http://sdfox7.com/win95/DOSBox0.65-win32-installer.exe) is the final version that runs on Windows 95, unless there is a bypass I am unaware of.

Edited April 17, 2017 by sdfox7
additional info re active desktop

[ppgrainbow]

1 hour ago, sdfox7 said:

"I'm gonna look into each revision of DOS 0.74 to see which is the last version known to work under Windows 95 sometime tomorrow."

According to SourceForge, there is only "one revision" of DosBox 0.74: https://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox/files/dosbox/

I have Internet Explorer 5.0 installed without Active Desktop, and it wants Windows Sockets 2.0 (WS2_32.DLL) available here: http://sdfox7.com/win95/WS2SETUP.EXE

After installing Windows Sockets 2.0, it then complains about SHGetSpecialFolderPathA, a function requiring Active Desktop.

Without Active Desktop Installed, DOSBox 0.65 (http://sdfox7.com/win95/DOSBox0.65-win32-installer.exe) is the final version that runs on Windows 95, unless there is a bypass I am unaware of.

If I can't look on SourceForge, I'll look elsewhere to see which SVN revision of DOSBox 0.74 is the last to work on Windows 95.

If I do, I'll let you know.

I'll run some test of older versions of DOSBox on a Windows 95 VM without Active Desktop to see if it works or not.

Update: I checked the SVN revisions of DOSBox 0.74 and r4008 will not load on Windows 95, because I suspect that developers switched compilers to MSVC 2010 which requires Windows XP SP2/Server 2003 SP1 or later.

Edited April 17, 2017 by ppgrainbow