Missing Windows 95 & 98 Welcome Screens and Themes

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22613 – 927

Here’s the haps:

Mrs. Herb was blessed with a brand new computer today. I don’t mind setting it up and making sure everything’s updated and working properly and all her favorite programs are installed and that the printer is ready to go. She does a lot of graphical work for her crafts and printing is vital. Setting up was not too bad and it didn’t take all that long. Not like back in the good old days.

I bought our first computer when the company I worked for sold off their old ones and replaced them. The only problem was that there was no operating system. My son wanted to use the computer too, so he took his money from working, around two hundred dollars almost, and bought the newest, state-of-the-art OS, Windows 95. Fifteen or Sixteen 3.5 inch floppy disks. Boot from the first one then follow the on-screen instructions, e.g., “Disk three complete. Please remove and insert Disk four, then press enter.” Kinda took forever.

I wasn’t really missing that part, though.

I was missing a lot of the customization that came with it. The Windows theme packs were kind of cool. full sets of images, icons and sounds that all went together. I had one that was a redneck theme and the Widows logo was made of rough wood and busted glass and instead of the tagline, “Where do you want to go today” it said, “Where’s y’all wanna git to today?” I really liked changing the startup sounds. whenever I would turn the computer on it played a recording of Eddie the Shipboard computer saying, “Hi guys, this is Eddie, your shipboard computer and I’m feeling just great guys and I know I’m going to get a bundle of kicks out of any program you care to run through me.”

Eddie

Now there isn’t even a Windows start-up sound. Oh, well. If that’s the biggest problem I have in life or even the biggest problem with my computer or Mrs. Herb’s new computer, I have a feeling that I’m probably not too bad off.

I did find a site that has recreated the original themes as well as the “Plus” themes. Windows 98 had an optional add-on disk called “Plus” which had extra themes and a few other things that didn’t come with the installation. https://winaero.com/get-classic-microsoft-plus-themes-for-windows-10-windows-8-and-windows-7/

22 Comments

    • I have not thought about Windows 95 in a loooonnnnng time. I found Paperclip Guy a cutesy annoyance. And I don’t remember the themes at all.

      This reminds me of how many dead-end naming systems they have used. 3.1 (functional), 95/98 (year of introduction), NT/XP (who knows what that was about), Vista (now marketing people were involved), and then back to numbers (but without the decimal). Personally, I would like to see names like they do with hurricanes. “Introducing Windows Ashley!”

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