X
Business

Windows 95 reborn: Windows 10, Linux, Mac get major nostalgia upgrade

Relive Windows 95 on a Mac, Linux or Windows 10 machine.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer

The Windows 95 app that first surfaced last year has been given a major upgrade by its maker, developer Felix Rieseberg.  

Version 1 hit GitHub in August 2018, offering fans of Microsoft's ancient OS a chance to step back into the 1990s with Windows 95 versions of WordPad, MS Paint, and Minesweeper. But there were some limitations to the first release, such as its inability to run Internet Explorer. 

This new release of old Windows 95 now comes pre-installed with a web browser, not Microsoft's Internet Explorer, but Netscape 2.0, which appropriately came out in 1995. 

But that's not all. This build also brings support for sound, so all the familiar Windows 95 sound effects can be heard. It also has several pre-installed games and apps and around 500MB of free space in virtual disk. Rieseberg also added 'Reset', a machine button, and better support for High-DPI devices.  

Rieseberg's Windows 95 is in fact an Electron app, a popular cross-platform development framework that uses web technologies.

SEE: 20 pro tips to make Windows 10 work the way you want (free PDF)

The app also includes Microsoft FrontPage, FrontPage Server, while on the games front, there's Doom, Wolfenstein3D, A10 Tank Killer, and Grand Prix Circuit. 

Due to the all these pre-installed goodies, the file is a little larger than the 130MB file in the first version, but it's still just 300MB in size. 

Files for the Windows 95 app are available on GitHub for Linux, Mac and Windows.     

screenshot-2019-02-08-at-14-42-17.png

The new release of old Windows 95 now comes Netscape 2.0 pre-installed.

Image: Felix Rieseberg/GitHub

Previous and related coverage

Windows 10: Now you can get 1990s Windows File Manager from Microsoft Store

Microsoft publishes the Windows File Manager from the 1990s in its app store.

Windows 10 revisits 1990: Now you can run Windows 3.0's open-sourced File Manager

Microsoft open-sources its first graphical file management application for Windows.

Windows 10 is now most popular PC OS as Windows 7 wanes

Windows 10 overtakes Windows 7 amid very slow adoption of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update.

The History of Windows: A timeline 

As information begins to emerge about Windows 9, and the venerable Windows XP finally approaches the end of its extended support lifetime, we examine the long and complex history of Microsoft's operating system.

Windows 1.0 to 10: The changing face of Microsoft's landmark OS

Windows -- originally codenamed Interface Manager -- was announced by Bill Gates in 1983, but didn't ship until 20 November 1985.  

Don't want Windows 10? No problem, upgrade to Windows 3.1 instead

Meet the Microsoft operating system that ushered in much of what we experience in desktop computing today.

Raspberry Pi 3 meets Windows 98: Project brings classic Windows OS to DIY 'watch'TechRepublic

The Windows Wrist Watch 2.0 boots the classic Windows 95, 98 and XP operating systems on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and displays them on a wearable touchscreen.

The entire history of Windows in one video CNET

Watch the entire string of upgrades from Windows 1.0 to Windows 8, as well as some gameplay from Reversi and Doom, in just over an hour. 

Editorial standards