Windows 3.0 files This is a list of the files which constitute a new installation of Microsoft Windows 3.0. This is not quite a complete list of *all* files that come with the operating system, but it covers most of the major files. In fact, it covers all the files in the operating system's main directory, but some of the files in the SYSTEM directory are not yet covered here. Startup files: WIN.COM: The file you run to actually run Windows. Requires one of the three kernel .EXE files, as well as GDI.EXE, USER.EXE, and SYSTEM.INI. GDI.EXE: Graphics Device Interface main file, which controls graphical operations for the Windows user interface. Required to run Windows. USER.EXE: The user interface for Windows 3.0. Required to run Windows. KERNEL.EXE: The Windows kernel. Required to run Windows in real mode. DOSX.EXE: DOS extender, required to run Windows in standard mode. WIN386.EXE: The 386 enhanced mode kernel, required to run Windows in 386 enhanced mode. KRNL286.EXE: ? KRNL386.EXE: ? SYSTEM.INI: Text file describing the system configuration. Required to run Windows. WIN.INI: Windows' own INI file. Interestingly, not required to run Windows. PROGMAN.EXE: Program Manager, the default shell for Windows 3.x. PROGMAN.INI: Program Manager's INI file. PROGMAN.HLP: Program Manager's help file. *.GRP: Group files which contain information for Program Manager groups. By default, Windows 3.0 comes with three GRP files: ACCESSOR.GRP: Accessories group. GAMES.GRP: Games group. MAIN.GRP: Main group. Program files: CALC.EXE: Calculator program. CALC.HLP: Calculator help file. CALENDAR.EXE: Calendar program. CALENDAR.HLP: Calendar help file. CARDFILE.EXE: Cardfile program. CARDFILE.HLP: Cardfile help file. CLIPBRD.EXE: Clipboard viewer. CLIPBRD.HLP: Help file for the clipboard viewer. CLOCK.EXE: Clock program. (Oddly enough, no help file for it.) CONTROL.EXE: Control Panel. CONTROL.HLP: Control Panel's help file. CONTROL.INI: Control Panel's INI file. MSDOS.EXE: DOS Prompt. NOTEPAD.EXE: Notepad executable. NOTEPAD.HLP: Notepad's help file. PBRUSH.EXE: Paintbrush, the predecessor to Windows Paint. PBRUSH.HLP: Paintbrush's help file. PBRUSH.DLL: A DLL for Paintbrush. PIFEDIT.EXE: PIF Editor utility. PIFEDIT.HLP: PIF Editor's help file. *.PIF: PIFs (Program Information Files) are files which contain information on what environment Windows should use to run MS-DOS programs in. PRINTMAN.EXE: Printer Manager. PRINTMAN.HLP: Printer Manager's help file. RECORDER.EXE: Recorder, a program which had the ability to record keystrokes and mouse clicks as macros, which you could save for playback later. This program could be amazingly handy. Why did Microsoft remove it from Windows? RECORDER.HLP: Recorder's help file. RECORDER.DLL: DLL file for Recorder. REVERSI.EXE: Reversi, a game similar to Othello which was replaced with Minesweeper in Windows 3.1. REVERSI.HLP: Reversi's help file. SETUP.EXE: Windows Setup. When Windows is installed, this program mainly just shows your current system configuration, but it pulls double duty, because this is also the actual setup utility that you use to install Windows. SETUP.HLP: Windows Setup's help file. SOL.EXE: Solitaire game, the infamous game that's wasted countless hours of office productivity. SOL.HLP: Solitaire's help file. TASKMAN.EXE: Task Manager, a utility which lists open windows and allows you to switch to one or arrange them on the screen. TERMINAL.EXE: Terminal, a modem terminal utility. Predecessor to Win9x's HyperTerminal. TERMINAL.HLP: Terminal's help file. WINFILE.EXE: File Manager, the predecessor to Windows Explorer. WINFILE.HLP: File Manager's help file. WINHELP.EXE: Windows Help. The program which opens .HLP files. WINHELP.HLP: Help on using Windows Help. WINVER.EXE: Windows Version, a utility to tell you what version of Windows you're running. It actually works with Windows 9x, although it claims you're running version 3.something. WRITE.EXE: Write, a word processor with slightly more functionality than Notepad. WRITE.HLP: Write's help file. Other files: RAMDRIVE.SYS: RAM drive driver. SMARTDRV.SYS: SMARTDrive, Microsoft's classic disk-caching software which actually worked very well. It performed as well as or better than commercial disk-caching utilities, and yet it came free with Windows and MS-DOS. SMARTDrive was one of the classic examples of how Microsoft sometimes got things right by producing really good software and bundling it for free. MOUSE.SYS: Mouse driver for DOS. *.FON: Font files for Windows. Some of these are required to run Windows 3.0. *.DRV: Drivers. Windows 3.0 came with the following .DRV files: COMM.DRV KEYBOARD.DRV MOUSE.DRV MSNET.DRV SOUND.DRV SYSTEM.DRV VGA.DRV *.BMP: Windows bitmap files. Windows 3.0 comes with several of these for wallpaper. 3270.TXT: Text file with information on 3270 applications. (?) NETWORKS.TXT: Text file about using networks with Windows 3.0. PRINTERS.TXT: Text file about using printers with Windows 3.0. README.TXT: Windows' README file. SYSINI.TXT, SYSINI2.TXT, and SYSINI3.TXT: Files with information on configuring the SYSTEM.INI file. WININI.TXT and WININI2.TXT: Files with information on configuring the WIN.INI file. EMM386.SYS: EMM386 memory manager. Often used to emulate EMS (Expanded Memory, not to be confused with XMS, which is Extended Memory).