Microsoft's ancient icon library still lurks in Windows 11
pifmgr.dll remains in modern Windows and contains whimsical 16×16-era icons originally created to represent MS‑DOS application shortcuts and manage PIF files.
Inside Microsoft's quest to make Windows 11's AI irresistible
Windows 11 introduces Copilot Voice to enable spoken interactions with AI and spoken responses, continuing decades of Microsoft voice-computing efforts.
Windows 95 was too fat to install itself so slim 3.1 helped
Microsoft used a miniature Windows 3.1 during Windows 95 setup because it was smaller, required fewer reboots, and already existed, saving time and engineering effort.
Microsoft removed the HLT instruction from Windows 95 because numerous devices would lock up and the company couldn't reliably detect all affected systems.
Windows 95 testing almost stalled from cash reg overflow
Windows 95's compatibility testing involved a unique initiative where engineers tested numerous applications, leading to an unexpected cash register overflow incident during software acquisition.