IBM Assistant Series Quick Looks (1985) 0 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Database DOS

This is a set of trial applications from the IBM Assistant Series. It includes Writing Assistant, Filing Assistant, Graphing Assistant, and Planning Assistant. They are limited so they can not print or save.

• 1.00

Protec (1985) 0 Utility DOS

Protec is a DOS menu shell that restricts access of files and programs to specific users. It hides files so they can not be easily seen by unauthorized users, includes encryption tools, and features access audit logging.

• 2.x,3.x

Norton Commander (1986) 66 Utility DOS OS2 Windows

Norton Commander is a MS-DOS based file shell that was widely popular due to it's two column design. You could easily copy and move files between one folder or another, execute DOS commands and more. It competed against many other file managers including Gazelle Q-DOS and Xtree

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 1.x (OS2)
• 4.x
• 5.x
• 1.x (Win)
• 5.5x
• 2.x (Win)

FastBack (1986) 0 Utility DOS

Fastback, by Fifth Generation Systems, Inc, is a backup utility for DOS. Its key feature is that it can read and write both a floppy disk and hard disk at the same time by making use of dual-channel DMA. Combined with speedy data compression, it can make a very fast backup.

• 5.x
• Plus 1.x
• Plus 2.x
• Plus 3.x
• Plus 6.x

QuarkXPress (1986) 23 Publishing DOS Windows

QuarkXPress was THE standard publishing software during the 1990s. However it failed to update its product line to newer technologies in a timely manager, charged insane amounts for updates or additional features that should have been built in to the software, and became very abusive to their customers. Later versions required a parallel port/ADB copy protection dongle. They lost most of their market share to Adobe InDesign.

• 3.x
• 4.0

Ventura Publisher (1986) 3 Publishing DOS Windows

Ventura Publisher, originally from Xerox, is a professional desktop publishing program for the GEM graphical environment and later Windows. It has the distinction of being the first popular publishing program for the IBM PC platform. It competed with Aldus PageMaker, which initially was more popular on the Mac platform. There are also versions for Mac and OS/2.

• 1.0
• 1.1
• 2.0
• 3.0 for DOS-GEM
• 3.0 for Windows
• 4.0 for Windows
• 4.1.x for Windows
• 4.2

ClickArt Personal Publisher (1986) 0 Publishing DOS

ClickArt Personal Publisher is a simplified, Mac-like desktop publishing program. It was later purchased by Software Publishing Corporation and turned in to PFS:First Publisher, who then in turn sold it to Spinnaker Software where it became Easy Working Desktop Publisher

• 1.x

Springboard Certificate Maker (1986) 0 Publishing DOS

Certificate Maker, from Springboard, is a fun little program for printing a variety of styled certificates on your dot-matrix printer. You must refer to the manual to see what the templates look like, as it provides no on screen preview. Award Maker seems to be an offshoot of this product.

• 1

SY-TOS (1986) 0 Utility DOS OS2

SY-TOS is a powerful backup program for DOS, and other operating systems. It was commonly customized for and bundled with OEM backup hardware. SY-TOS Plus was the first retail standalone version.

• 1.x (DOS)
• 3.x (DOS)
• 1.x (OS/2)

Executive Card Manager (1986) 0 Utility Database DOS

Executive Card Manager, from Hewlett-Packard, is a Rolodex-like database for storing contact information. It features the ability to transfer information between other common applications. screen.

• 1.x

Turbo Lightning (1986) 0 Utility DOS

Borland's Turbo Lightning is a DOS based TSR spell checker. It can also look up Synonyms.

• 1.x

Professor DOS (1986) 0 Education DOS

Professor DOS, from INDIVIDUAL Software, is a friendly interactive training guide that helps you learn how to use DOS on your IBM PC or compatible computer.

• 2.x

Popcorn Desktop (1986) 0 Utility PIM DOS

Popcorn desktop is a set of TSR utilities similar to Borland Sidekick. It includes a text editor, a calculator, and a calendar. It can copy information from currently running programs displayed on the screen.

• 1.x

Back-It (1986) 0 Utility DOS

Back-It, from Gazelle Systems, is a fast and compact hard disk backup utility. It was sometimes part of OEM system bundles. It was kind of low-end, and changed backup formats between releases but otherwise did what it was supposed to do.

• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x

SuperKey (1986) 0 Utility DOS

Borland SuperKey is a combination resident macro program and file encryption tool. It can record and play back keystrokes in most DOS application, enabling you to automate repetitive tasks. It also includes a file encryption tool that lets you password protect sensitive files. It was marketed alongside Borland Sidekick.

• 1.x

Lotus Metro (1986) 0 Utility PIM DOS

Lotus Metro is a set of resident desktop management tools similar to Borland Sidekick or Popcorn desktop. Metro includes an appointment book, phone book, scheduler, calculator, clipboard, and a text editor. A user can call up these tools while almost any other DOS program is running. In addition to performing small tasks without exiting their primary program, Metro can copy information from or to the screen. It also include macro functionality for automating tasks comparable to Borland SuperKey. It was primarily targeted at existing users of Lotus 1-2-3 and Lotus Symphony.

• 1x

Executive Systems HOT (1986) 0 Utility DOS

HOT, from Executive Systems - the makers of XTREE, is a highly configurable menu shell for the IBM PC, with built-in "hot menus" for common DOS functions. It features a pop-up file browser, a small text editor, the ability to feed keystrokes to applications, and automatically sets up known programs found on your hard drive.

• 3.0

Microsoft Learning DOS (1986) 0 Education DOS

Nothing is more frustrating than getting a new PC and not knowing how to use it. It's equally frustrating when inexperience with the finer points of DOS keeps you from being more productive. Microsoft Learning DOS is the complete DOS learning system - everything you need to start out right and to master DOS.

• 1.x
• 2.0

Broderbund Type! (1986) 0 Education DOS

Type! is an interactive typing tutor. Its lessons are optimized around research on how people learn to type. It includes both basic and special skill levels, and monitors your progress with detailed graphs.

• 1.1

Individual Training for Lotus 1-2-3 (1986) 0 Education DOS

Individual Training for Lotus 1-2-3 is an interactive computerized training lesson for Lotus 1-2-3 Release 1A and Release 2. Individual Software also produced a number of other training programs such as Professor DOS.

• 2.x

DS Backup (1986) 0 Utility DOS

DS Backup Plus is a simple hard disk backup utility. It was not as full featured or robust as other backup products, but it got the job done. Backups can be done from within the program or from the command line. It supports wildcards, filespec inclusion/exclusion, backup to any DOS drive type, automatic disk formatting, incremental backups, and claims to be faster than DOS backup and restore.

• Plus 1.x

Media Master (1986) 0 Utility DOS

Media Master is a disk utility for interchanging files between MS-DOS and certain CP/M or non-DOS systems. Supported disks must be MFM or FM decodable by the computer's floppy disk controller, therefore formats like Apple II or C64 can not work.

• 3.x

EZ-DOS-IT (1986) 0 Utility DOS

EZ-DOS-IT was a very low-cost low-resource multitasking program for DOS on the IBM PC and compatibles. It claimed compatibility with most popular software of the time. However, the initial 1.0 release had serious bugs, was copy protected, and was not compatible enough for many people. Although these issues were quickly fixed and copy protection removed, it earned them bad reviews.

• 4.x

RightWriter (1987) 0 Utility DOS Windows

RightWriter is a grammar / structure checking utility. You can feed it a document, and it will produce a marked up copy listing high level critiques such as readability, delivery strength, and jargon. It competed with Grammatik, but RightWriter generally produced superior results.

• 2.x
• 3.x
• 3.2 for DeskMate
• 4.0
• 5.0 for Windows

PowerPoint (1987) 9 Presentations Windows MacOS

Microsoft PowerPoint is a graphical presentation tool that is today part of Microsoft Office. Prior to its acquisition by Microsoft, it was known as "Presenter" from Forethought Inc. These are the standalone versions. For the Office bundled versions, see Microsoft Office.

• 2.0
• 3.x
• 4.x
• 95 (7.0)