FAQs are Frequently Asked Questions. FAQs minimize traffic on USENET by providing answers to common questions, before users post those questions on newsgroups. If people knew about FAQs and used them, we wouldn't need ridiculous high speed links just to distribute USENET news. Read the FAQs when available. Save copies. Give copies to your friends.
Read all about FAQs and get others from the FAQ archives at rtfm.mit.edu and their mirror sites.
Microsoft's newest "low end" operating system for Intel based computers. In my opinion, they designed it to wean DOS users off that 20 year old operating system and into some current stuff. It replaces DOS and previous versions of Windows entirely.
In addition to completely re-working the user interface, Win95 brings over large amounts of Windows NT technology, allowing app writers to write for both operating systems. One of Microsoft's requirements for Designed for Windows 95 products is that the product must also run on Windows NT Workstation 3.51.
It also (supposedly) helps you manage your hardware, your software, your time, etc better. It's also supposed to make you rich, good looking, sexually irresistible, and permanently wonderful. Heh heh... (Regarding this, there's supposedly a law suit in progress against MS's over-advertising of Win95. Details to come)
1.3. Why did you write this FAQ about Windows 95?
The traffic on comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc is ridiculous. Other Win95 FAQs I read were too sparse, too technical, too anti-Microsoft, or otherwise too un-useful for the common folk. Also, Microsoft's FAQ, which shipped with the CD-ROM version, was pathetic and full of useless advertising. But ultimately, I wrote it for the experience, so I can say, "Hey, I made a Web page!" I hope this page is useful to you out there.
This FAQ tries to get the big questions answered while going into some technical detail for those who care. Where content goes beyond the scope of this FAQ, I link you to appropriate sites.
Because I was asked to. One of the initial letters I received in response to the FAQ was to have me post it in the FAQ archives for news.answers, so non-WWW people could use it. And not everyone has FTP either; people using the Vancouver CommunityNet have no FTP access at all! Well to get in the archives I had to actually post it to, not only news.answers and comp.answers, but the groups directly concerned with the questions in the FAQ. I wouldn't have received approval from rtfm.mit.edu to cross-post if I wasn't supposed to.
Originally, the .answers moderators' FAQ checker would reject the FAQ if it didn't include a followup-to line containing all the groups in question. I've started using only the .win95.misc group as the followup-to group for the bi-weekly FAQ, and I'll do the same for the other FAQ pages pending .answers moderators' approval.
1.4. Whose work did you include in this FAQ besides yours?
These people:
And then there are those who gave suggestions since the first release... sorry it took so long guys:
1.5. What other FAQs are out there?
Too many... use them.
Win95 Net Bugs: http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~llurch/win95netbugs/faq.html
Win95 Annoyances http://www.creativelement.com/win95ann/index.html
The one on the Win95 CD-ROM even though it sucks now
Ben Goetter's Exchange FAQ: http://www.halcyon.com/goetter/exclifaq.htm
Sue Mosher's Exchange/Windows Messaging FAQ: http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/
There's an excellent Win95 Usage FAQ at http://www.wantree.com.au/~hansie/
Do a search at Infoseek where they seem to have a lot of dinky sites, but nothing serious
1.6. What other resources are out there?
There's Microsoft's Windows 95 Resource Kit, which makes a great start, but will quickly become a doorstop after you get sick of the sales talk in there.
Definitely check out the Microsoft Knowledge Base, (http://www.microsoft.com/kb/) which has a lot of stuff who you might've thought only Technet users had access too. They recently re-did their search engine, so you can search on phrases like "Confirmed bugs" or "Bugs fixed", or "Files available for download". This stuff is right to the point. If you don't use Internet Explorer, visit http://www.microsoft.com/kb/softlib/ for a non-IE-viewable page of software. MS's regular Win95 pages have a bunch of tags that NCSA Mosaic barfs on.
www.windows95.com keeps a well updated library of software.
Do a search on Infoseek or Yahoo! or wherever, for other Win95 pages. They're starting to show up finally.
I won't recommend any magazines as of yet, because they're all full of MS ads and other un-productive junk.
1.7. Whose trademarks did you use?
Windows, MS-DOS, MS Exchange, MS Plus, Internet Explorer, DriveSpace: Microsoft Corp
NT: Northern Telecom (Go figure)
Norton Utilities, Norton Anti-Virus, Norton Navigator, etc: Symantec Corp
Colorado Backup: Hewlett-Packard Corp
Macintosh, AppleTalk: Apple Computer Inc
Pentium, Pentium Pro: Intel Corp
Netscape: Netscape Communications Inc
LANtastic: Artisoft Corp
Disk Manager: Ontrack Systems
DrivePro: Microhouse
Stacker: Stack Electronics
OS/2: IBM Corp
TCPMAN: Trumpet Communications
NetWare, MHS: Novell, Inc
CleanSweep 95, QEMM: Quarterdeck
SoftRAM: Synchronys Software (Evil, evil, evil, evil...)
Award BIOS: Award software
MR BIOS: Microid Research
Sound Blaster (whatever kind), AWE32: Creative Labs
Graphics Ultra/Pro/Expression: ATI
WinCIM: CompuServe Inc
WinFax: Delrina Communications/Symantec
1.8. What restrictions do you put on the use of this FAQ?
Distribution and mirroring are encouraged so long as the source is quoted, and it's distributed in full. (Unfortunately I can't control broken news gateways that won't distribute the FAQ pages... sorry). Translation to other languages and other formats is encouraged provided the intended content remains the same.
As MS fixes the bugs and as vendors come up with new products, this info may be in-accurate. Check with other sources (like the references above) if you are in doubt of any info I have here. I would appreciate updates and comments and you will receive recognition for your work.
The opinions in this FAQ are mine, except where directly quoted and linked from. They do not reflect the opinions of my employer or the provider of this web space. Especially as I often argue with both of them about these topics.
I can't be responsible for any damage this information causes you or your equipment. Try to avoid using REGEDIT. RTFM. RTFFAQ. Ask Questions. But don't come crying to me or sic your lawyers on me if you broke your computer. I can't fix it.