I have managed to get these versions of Windows up and running inside VirtualBox virtual machines. They work well and function perfectly. As a next step I have decided to install some extra software, software from the days when those versions of Windows were in their heyday.
Would anyone happen to have any examples of software they have managed to install and run on Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, or XP? Are any old antivirus programs still available and able to be installed, not to defend against malware but to have an authentic older Windows experience?
Games are one thing I have considered, but I am new to this and am not sure if graphical games can run in a virtual machine. I imagine the driver and simulated hardware would be much more primitive than those of an actual computer, even an older computer. One game I considered was Microsoft Train Simulator.
I realise I should just try things out rather than asking questions but I thought I'd seek out any helpful advice first.
Software/games for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP
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Re: Software/games for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP
I don't remember AV being much of a thing before XP. The cynical side of me suggests that touting AV is what the snake oil merchants switched to when the time limited "millenium bug" hysteria ended on Jan 1st 2000. XP was released in 2002 IIRC.
I didn't use any AV in XP at home. There were several AV packages available though, and I guess they'd all be equally ineffective today.
IMO, your biggest problem in XP and earlier won't be the malware threat from the Internet, it will be getting on the Internet at all. You need a modern browser that still supports a decades old OS. These do in fact exist for XP, but you need to hunt for them. I'm not aware that good examples exist for anything older.
I didn't use any AV in XP at home. There were several AV packages available though, and I guess they'd all be equally ineffective today.
IMO, your biggest problem in XP and earlier won't be the malware threat from the Internet, it will be getting on the Internet at all. You need a modern browser that still supports a decades old OS. These do in fact exist for XP, but you need to hunt for them. I'm not aware that good examples exist for anything older.
Re: Software/games for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP
There is a website dedicated for old versions of Windows. But, probably i can't post the link, but I can say that it's WinWorld. Basically an archive with a lot of OS's, games, software and more. Although if your guest OS supports CD drive, you might wanna use an ISO burner (such as ImgBurn [not sponsored]) and save quality of life apps.
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Re: Software/games for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP
I've seen Winworld myself. Interesting site. Would just like to point out that Greg the OP seems to have their VMs running already, so not likely to be in need of install media.
I didn't have AV on my ME computer in the 2002-ish years, but I don't think I had internet then either. Got Webbed and XP'd about the same time, maybe around 2004. AV came on as a need (at least for me) very quickly then, when XP's built-in instant messaging service started putting up some disturbing ads....
Re browsers, this might be useful. No internet for a WinXP/98/95 guest
I didn't have AV on my ME computer in the 2002-ish years, but I don't think I had internet then either. Got Webbed and XP'd about the same time, maybe around 2004. AV came on as a need (at least for me) very quickly then, when XP's built-in instant messaging service started putting up some disturbing ads....
Re browsers, this might be useful. No internet for a WinXP/98/95 guest
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Re: Software/games for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP
AVs were very much a thing in Windows 2000 already and the failure to run one resulted in a PC infected with dozens of virii at least here in Russia (the country was and continues to be piss poor, so people cannot afford software and games, and pirate them). Many users back then loved Dr.Web but in the organizations I managed this AV proved to be almost entirely worthless and we ended up replaced it with Kaspersky which had a much higher detection rate. Lots of people loved Eset, but for some reasons I never liked it.mpack wrote:I don't remember AV being much of a thing before XP. The cynical side of me suggests that touting AV is what the snake oil merchants switched to when the time limited "millenium bug" hysteria ended on Jan 1st 2001. XP was released in 2002 IIRC.
I didn't use any AV in XP at home. There were several AV packages available though, and I guess they'd all be equally ineffective today.
IMO, your biggest problem in XP and earlier won't be the malware threat from the Internet, it will be getting on the Internet at all. You need a modern browser that still supports a decades old OS. These do in fact exist for XP, but you need to hunt for them. I'm not aware that good examples exist for anything older.
Kaspersky still supports Windows XP perfectly which is kinda insane to think about it: https://support.kaspersky.com/us/common ... lity/15479
As for software for these OS'es - dig archives including the Web Archive. Very few modern applications still support them. I don't know anything which still runs on Windows 98SE or 2000.
Speaking of games: the situation is quite bleak because many games back then were written specifically for certain GPU models and running them now is near impossible. Also various game protection technologies back then required you to have an actual CD/DVD drive. Check:
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Home
https://megagames.com/game-content/fixes/all/all
https://www.gamecopyworld.com/