Dont have Windows, Just DOS? Then try Arachne 1.70. This DOS based browser is a small but powerful web browser that will work on almost any pc. It comes with it's own dialer and e-mail client. This is a great browser to build up your old 486 on. It is very easy to customize to you and your PC's needs. It does run kinda slow on image intensive sites (you can disable image loading for faster performance), but it is still a great browser and is less than a 1 meg downloadable self installing exe file.

There are actually quite a few "Enhancements" and "Updates" available for the old 16-bit Windows 3.1 and 3.11, and not to mention a lot of great software. Listed below are some of these that I have found very useful.

Calmira II 3.3 (* * * * *) - This great enhancement gives your Windows 3.1 a Windows 95 style interface look and feel with a great windows explorer style replacement for the old file manager, Win 95 style start menu & desktop, and it is completely customizable. To find out more, check out the Calmira Web Site. Check out the screen shot of my desktop to see how Windows 3.1 looks enhanced by Calmira.

http://calmira.org / Calmira ScreenShot of my desktop (800X600 - 22.7Kb Gif)

Win 32's (* * * *) - Basicly, Win32's allow you to run some 32-bit software in your Windows 3.1 16-bit enviroment. They do not allow you to run all 32-bit software, check out the link to a list of known compatable software listed below. There are quite a few useful programs that can run with Win32's, that is why I recomend them for download.

File Manager Utilities (* * * * *) - These updates to the Windows 3.1 and 3.11 File Manager give it a more "User Friendly" Customizeable toolbar and interface to carry out your disk operations.

Anti-Virus Software - Pretty self explanitory. Tuscows have a pretty good selection.

PKzip / PKunzip 2.63 for Windows (* * * * *) - This probably the best ZIP archive Creator/Expander available and is a must have for most internet downloads. It includes PK ZipFix to fix corrupted ZIP archives and can create disk directories automaticly to unzip your files into..

WinZip 5.0 (* * *)- Anouther Windows ZIP archiver/expander. This one has fewer options and can't fix corrupted archives nor can it creat disk directories, you have to do this in your file manager or calmira explorer, but is still a good program.

Anansi Freeware HTML Editor (* * * * *) - A great Freeware HTML editor for those of you who know or want to learn HTML. I used this program to design this web page.

Word for Windows 1.1a (* * * * *) - This is one of the earliest releases of Microsoft Word. Even though it is over 12 years old, it is still a great word processor and works just fine for typing up school papers, letters, and things of that sort. Word for Windows 1.1a should take care of all you basic word processing needs. If you want more of a selection in this department, check out the other link provided.

Paint Shop Pro 3.11 (* * * * *) - This is a surprisingly versitile and powerful image creator/editor/viewer that works with all the most common image file types and quite a few not so common ones. Its from Jasc Software, a big name in the image editing buisness. This program makes a great addition to your Win 3.1 pc.

AOL Instant Messanger (* * * *) - The popular IM is available for Windows 3.1

WS FTP LE (* * * * *) - This is a great FTP Client and works quite well with Win 3.xx.

Adobe Acrobat Reader (* * * *) - PDF File Viewer for Windows 3.x.

I have listed some of my favorite dos enhancements and applications here. With what you can get some of these apps to do, you don't even really need windows. These would be great for that die hard dos fan or anyone who wants to add more power and ease of use to their dos. There is software to do almost anything windows can do (within reason of course). Most of the apps listed here are for DOS 5.0 or later unless otherwise specified.

WinDOS (* * * * *) - This is an excelent and rather cool Graphical User Interface (GUI) for DOS. It makes it very easy to manage files and applications and is completely customizable.

Quick View Pro (* * * *) - This is a pretty versitile mutimedia viewer/player for dos. It supports most of the common media types. Check out the link for for more infomation.

NeoPaint (* * *) - This is a pretty cool graphics editor for dos from NeoSoft. It is surprisingly powerful for its size but only supports 5 file types (PCX, GIF, TIF, BMP, ST), but there are converters available to convert these file types to most any other. It supports video up to 800X600 16-million colors.

PkUnzip / PkZip DOS (* * * * *) - The popular zip archive utility for dos.

Mario - The Nintendo Classic on PC. This version is kind of a mystery as no one seems to know who made it or when it was made. Despite this, it is a very well done game and has superior graphics than its Nintendo counterpart. It looks as though the games creator(s) attempted to give it a 16-Bit Super Nintendo look, and they did a pretty good job at it. Its a lot of fun to play and quite addictive to a classic gamer. The Arrow Keys Move Forward, Back, and Down Pipes / Alt Jumps / Space Bar Shoots Fireballs / Ctrl Runs / S Toggles The Display / P Pauses / Esc Exits. This is a Dos game but will run under Windows just fine. Have fun.

I stumbled across the source of this mario game and decided to add the link to my page. Check it out here

Arkanoid - The golden oldie from the Atari days. From Taito, this is the original PC release I beleive and can be quite addictive. This is a Dos game but plays just fine under Windows.

Chessmaster - The original classic Chessmaster game for Dos. Although this game is not real graphic intensive, its is quite challenging in its difficult settings. A must have for all chess players.

Microsoft Entertainment Pack 1 - This game pack originaly released by Microsoft contains 7 games and the "Idle Wild" Screensaver set. The games are Cruel (A card game), Golf (anouther card game), Minesweeper (the windows classic), Pegged (you remember, those pegs you played on the wodden boards with holes drilled in them ;-), Tapai (the oriental tile game), Tetris (pc version of the Nintendo classic), and Tic Tactics (Tic Tac Toe on Steroids?). This is a Windows game pack and works great on Win 3.1 and 3.11.

Doom Legacy (aka: Doom 3 / New Doom):

Doom Legacy Add-On Enhancement - This "Add-On Enhancement" for the once very popular "Doom" games, is designed to somewhat modernize the classic that started it all after Wolfenstien 3D. Doom Legacy gives Doom a new look, feel, and playability to compare to the moden games we have become used to seeing. You have got to see it to beleive it. If you want to know more, check out my Doom Legacy Link. it even works with the free to download Doom Sharware version that is available just about anywhere. I have included a link to download the sharware version of doom on my DL page.

Lightspeeds Reference Page - This is one of the absolute best "Reference" pages I have found on Windows 3.x and DOS. Lightspeed has compiled a great list of software and links to keep that old PC running and working for you. This is a must visit site. If you can't find it on my page, then check out lightspeed. You can find most anything your looking for either on his page or through one of his many links.

Igor's Old Windows Page - Need an Operating System? Check out this link! Lots of other stuff available here as well.

DosGames.com & DosGamesArchive.com - Looking for some great dos games to play? Check out these links!