Bored by Windows 7? Confused by Windows 10? Then take a trip into computing history by running Windows 3.1 in your browser. Jonathan Parkyn shows you how
Boot up your current computer and you’ll be greeted by flashy graphics, smooth fonts and gigabytes of powerful, easy-to-use programs. But it wasn’t always like that. For a reminder of what computing was like 24 years ago, you should head online to the Internet Archive (http://archive.org), where you’ll find a fully working version of Windows 3.1 that runs within your web browser, as well as more than 1,300 free games and programs built for it. We’ll explain what’s inside this fascinating time capsule.
What is Windows 3.1?
First, a short history lesson. People often cite Windows 95 as the turning point for Microsoft, but Windows 3.1 – its 16bit predecessor – was just as significant. By 1992, Windows had been around for several years, but early versions were crude and unreliable. When Windows 3.1 came along, it was markedly different in a number of ways. Firstly, it was more stable. It pioneered new technologies, too. You needed a PC with a hard drive to run it, and it was the first version of the OS to be distributed on CD-ROM as well as floppy disks.
Windows 3.1 worked and looked much better than earlier versions, with support for TrueType fonts and a built-in media player. Crucially, it was the first incarnation of Windows to come pre-installed as standard on many PCs. For many people, Windows 3.1 was their first taste of Microsoft’s operating system. Over 3.1’s lifetime, thousands of popular programs, tools and games were created for it, many of which evolved into software we still use today.
Why has Windows 3.1 been put online?
The people at the Internet Archive believe that computer software should be preserved for posterity, just like books, film footage, music, images and other historical artefacts. The non-profit organisation has already built a fantastic online archive of playable arcade games, such as Defender and Astro Blaster (www.snipca.com/19767), and a collection of almost 10,000 programs and games from the MS-DOS era (www.snipca.com/19768). This year, as the Internet Archive’s Jason Scott puts it in his blog (www.snipca.com/19766), “it’s time to upgrade to Windows 3.1”.
Head to www.snipca.com/19758 and you’ll find a selection of Windows 3.1 software. Scroll through the list and you’ll see that large amounts of the programs available have been grouped into ‘Software Libraries’, including one for games and one for productivity tools. More programs will be added as they becomes available.
If you just want a reminder of the operating system itself, click the Windows 3.11 Stock Installation (www.snipca.com/19775) and take the old OS for a spin – it even makes the familiar old Windows startup sound when you first launch it. You can rediscover the old File Manager and Program Manager navigation systems, as well as familiar old tools, such as Write and Paintbrush, and built-in games, such as Minesweeper. You can even indulge in a few rounds of Solitaire which, unlike Windows 10’s equivalent, can be played entirely for free – with no annyoing adverts.
In terms of third-party software, you won’t find too many big names among the programs. That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of gems to discover, such as Bookbase (www.snipca.com/19776), a database program that lets you digitally catalogue your book collection, or Guitar Scales and Modes (www.snipca.com/19777) to help you learn the guitar.
There’s also a collection of Desktop Toys worth checking out at www.snipca.com/19778. These are simple, fun widgets designed to sit on the Windows desktop – including a rather endearing animated fish tank (www.snipca.com/19779). They’re like precursors to modern-day apps on your phone and tablet.
How does it work?
The Internet Archive is able to bring you Windows 3.1 through your browser by clever use of emulation and streaming technology. Click the big green power button shown on each program’s page to launch a special JavaScript version of DOSbox (www.dosbox.com) which, in turn, will boot up an emulated copy of Windows 3.1 and run your chosen program.
Click anywhere within the program and your browser will prompt you to allow archive.org to hide or disable your mouse cursor. In fact, what happens is that the emulated program will capture your cursor so that you can use the mouse to control it. When you want to return to your ‘real’ desktop, just press Esc on your keyboard.
Sound can be toggled on or off by clicking the floating, white speaker icon on the right of the browser window. To switch to full-screen mode, click the white icon of four outward-pointing arrows (see screenshot below), though most of the software wasn’t designed to be used at such high resolutions, so full-screen mode doesn’t always look great. Press Esc to return to smaller windows.
In some cases, it’s possible to download the program’s EXE file – click the Zip link under Download Options. This would, theoretically, allow you to install the program on a Windows 3.1 computer in the unlikely event that you still have such a thing hanging around (please let us know if you do – we’d love a photo!).
Are there any catches?
The Archive’s Windows 3.1 emulation is surprisingly sturdy. It didn’t crash or freeze when we tested it. We were able to run it in all the main web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Internet Explorer (IE), though the latter two didn’t like the full-screen mode. Edge switched to a black screen when we clicked the full-screen icon, while IE flatly refused to fill the screen.
Apart from that, there aren’t any real pitfalls. The biggest disappointment is that the free collection doesn’t include many of the paid-for programs and games you may remember using back in the Nineties. There’s no Microsoft Office or Aldus PageMaker, for example – presumably for licensing reasons. Other minor gripes include the fact that you can’t currently save files or game progress (the Archive hopes to add these) and the collection isn’t organised particularly well. Items are listed by truncated file names, so it’s often not obvious what the program’s full name and functions are until you’ve booted it up.
But these are quibbles. Overall, it’s a great way to relive computing glories.
EXPLORE THE INTERNET ARCHIVE FURTHER
As well as games and programs, the Internet Archive pays tribute to the darker side of computing, with its Malware Museum (www.snipca.com/19782), a collection of viruses and other nefarious nasties from the pre-internet age. Another gem is the Wayback Machine (www.snipca.com/19784), an archive of old web pages. Type a URL into the search box, press Enter, then browse the calendar to see what a site looked like at any point in the past 20 years. From the main Internet Archive homepage, click one of the icons in the middle to browse the corresponding libraries. The film icon, for instance, leads to the Moving Image Archive – home to more than 2 million video files, including many classic films (www.snipca.com/19783), all available for free. Similarly, the Audio Archive (www.snipca.com/19786) contains millions of recordings, including concerts and old radio shows that you can listen to for nothing. The ‘eBooks and Texts’ archive (www.snipca.com/19785), meanwhile, offers more than 8 million free ebooks.