With a largely successful effort made to be very compatible with programs that have been designed for MS-DOS and similar operating systems, FreeDOS includes quite a bit of software that is more updated and very often better than other common DOS versions. They also have been successful in many cases in convincing authors of software to freely release the source code for a free version of their popular software. Device drivers like CuteMouse take up less memory than alternatives.
The FreeDOS.Org address is often unresponsive. An identical page has been spotted at http://freedos.sf.net/. Files are stored at the FreeDOS site at ibiblio.
The phrase "Windows 9x" (or "Win9x") is sometimes (fairly often, actually) used to mean not only Win95, Win98, and Win98SE, but also WinMe. (This is because WinMe is the one operating system, other than Win95 and Win98(SE), that was marketed towards consumers and is still based on the same 32-bit kernel.)
There are several updates for software included with Windows 95. One is Windows 95 service Pack 1 Update (found from this web page redirecting to Win95 SP1 download which was found from Win95 SP1 Update info page) (stored locally in mswin/mswin95/win95sp1.zip).
Q143003 has some info about what is included in this. So does Win95: “What is in ths Service Pack?”.
To compare with “Windows 95 OEM Service Release 1”, a.k.a. OSR1, Q148761 says “OEM Service Release 1 is Windows 95 with Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 and the fixes and components included with Microsoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1 included. The updated and additional tools provided with Windows 95 Service Pack 1 are not included in OEM Service Release 1.” Also, “You can install Windows 95 Service Pack 1 over OEM Service Release 1.” However, Q174888 says “Note that after installingInternet Explorer 4.0, reinstallation of Windows 95 Service Pack 1 is not recommended.” (Installing some versions of MS IE will cause the Add/Remove Programs entry for Win95 SP1, which allows Win95 SP1 to be uninstalled, to be removed.)
Other articles about this include Q145667 (about the CD) and Q145603 (about using a MSBatch.inf file to specify including Win95 SP1) and Q148709 (about if an installation is aborted), Win95 Service Pack (English) announcement, CD-ROM directory listings (Q150436 and Q150444 and Q150441 and Q150444 and Q150437). Q145990 is about the Update Info Tool (Qfecheck.exe), Q146238, Admin.doc (Q146237 and others)
Mail/password-related problems that may be related to this: Q166898, Q182106, Q196064. Uninstallation issues: Q149142, Q174605.
Some/all of these have not been made available by Microsoft so that any Win95 user may download these. Some version ifnormation is at Q158238.
OS2 2 (with FAT32 support and UDMA support and MS IE 3), OSR 2.1 (with USB support), and OSR 2.5 (with MS IE 4).
A product sold separately. Some info is at: “What is MS PLus! for Windows 95?”
There are a number of updates available. Here are some: Win 98 Customer Service Pack (info), Win98 Y2K Update #1 (info), Win98 Y2K Update #2 (info). System requirements.
The phrase Win98SE generally refers to this “Second Edition”, not the original “Standard Edition”.
KB 234762 lists some differences from Win98 first edition. (Another difference is that some programs released years after Win98SE may officially work under Win98 SE but not the first edition of Win98.) ICS is not downloadable. Most other features of Second Edition were downloadable as separate updates. Win98SE does come with some more WDM drivers (rather than VxD drivers) compared to Win98 Standard Edition.
If suspending occasionally, hangs Win98SE, see if System.ini's 386Enh has a PagingFile using a lowercase drive letter. If so, uppercase it. Directions to do that with MSConfig are in Q233036.
These operating systems have had support officially discontinued from Microsoft. When that happened, TOOGAM spent some time collecting all the official patches from Microsoft. The archive is a bit of a mess, but TOOGAM plans to clean up the web page sometime and release the hyperlinks onto this site.
In the meantime, some of the more useful updates may appear on this site. The local directory is mswin/. The mswin/msw98be/ refers to software for "both editions" of Win98.
The operating systems using the “Windows NT” code base have generally been released in multiple “Editions”. The operating systems or editions that have the word “Server” in their name typically support more things.
Security fixes, and sometimes even new features, may come in one or more collections of files which are individually called a “service pack”. Microsoft even declared that Windows XP had reached its “end of life” before its successor, Windows Vista, was released, although “Windows XP SP2” (with “Service Pack 2”) had remained supported. Some operating system CDs will come with a service pack pre-installed. In addition to the service packs, which people make a bigger deal of, there may be a “security rollup package” (“SRP”) released.
The information on the following operating systems, such as information about available service packs, may move to separate pages hyperlinked to from this one.
There was Windows NT 3.1, Windows NT 3.5, Windows NT 3.51, and Windows NT 4.0. Later versions were released with a name other than simply “Windows NT” followed by a version number.
For Windows NT 4.0, there were a number of service packs: See Q152734/KB152734 for the latest. The download page for Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a has a drop down box allowing a language to be chosen and is meant for “Windows NT 4.0” which is different than “Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition”. For the Server version, there is a download page for Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, Service Pack 6. There are also some security rollup packages: Q299444/KB Q299444: “Post-Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a Security Rollup Package (SRP)”, Window NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Security Rollup Package 1 Now Available (and it's noteworthy anchor: Patches not included in TSE SRP1) Q246009/KB246009: SP 6.0 to 6.0a upgrade.
For Service Pack 3, first review KB950717: Steps to take before you install WIndows XP Service Pack 3 for pre-requisites such as uninstalling updates. Q322389/KB322389 has a section called “Obtain the latest Windows XP service pack from the Microsoft Download Center”. For Service Pack 3, it directed to download page: Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers. That page offered a selection of languages. English Win XP SP3 (via long URL), English Win XP SP3 (via shorter URL).
There is also a download page for Win XP SP3 ISO. The ISO image is a couple hundred MB larger than the service pack by itself. English ISO of XP SP3 (via longer URL)
KB 936929: XP SP3 Release notes, download page for XP SP3 release notes