Just as DOS 6.22 (with it's SCANDISK.EXE inclusion) was and is THE pinnacle of DOS operating system achievement (compared to earlier versions of DOS - such as 3.2, 5.0, 6.0, 6.20, 6.21, etc.) created by MICROSOFT during the last half of the twentieth century.....so Windows 3.11 was and is THE finest version of Windows ever produced by MICROSOFT (and, at the time of this writing, Windows 3.0, 3.1, 95, 97, 98, 2000, ME and XP exist).
1. Though a nice-looking easy-loading graphical Windows environment, one problem with Windows 3.0 is that if one wants to delete files (like program files of other software) put thereon, those files put thereon have to be deleted ONE at a TIME (that is: groups of files cannot be quickly deleted, as they can with WINDOWS 3.11).
2. A similar problem with Windows 3.0 is that Diskette Spanning Transfer is not possible with Windows 3.0 in contrast to Windows 3.11 (meaning that if the total number of files with their associated byte sizes within a subdirectory on the C drive exceeds the capacity of one 1.44-Meg-capacity diskette, Windows 3.0 does NOT apportion (onto however many diskettes it takes) transfer of all files within that particular subdirectory of several files.
3. As indicated by their outside-cover Specifications, most software is not compatible with Windows 3.0, and if one attempts to load and/or run such software, an error message of 'A NEWER VERSION OF WINDOWS IS REQUIRED' is portrayed on the monitor screen.
4. Compared to Windows 3.11, Windows 3.0 is deficient pertaining to its
Program manager Run utility, which utility has no Browse option, thus requiring one to type in the FULL Driveletter:\\directoryname\subdirectoryname\launchfilename into the Command Field Box manually....to load and launch new programs.
Pertaining to Windows 3.1, the SETUP.EXE file associated with it does NOT allow for a Super VGA driver option - which makes Windows 3.1 inadequate for realistic and pleasing display of internet and other .jpg and .gif photo files.
Problematic with the beyond-WIN311 versions of Windows (e.g. Windows 95, 98,
and so on) is that:
(1) they require installation from a CD-ROM
using a CD-ROM drive (something old 386 and 486 computers with 8 MB RAM and
33-133 MHz processors frequently do not have, but instead often contain the
ancient 5-1/4 inch floppy drives instead of a CD-ROM drive). Windows 95 files cannot [for all practical purposes] be loaded from 80 or more 3-1/2 diskettes because of the longer-than-8-character filenames required for Windows 95 loading and launching (the endings of which 9-or-more character filenames are represented on diskettes by merely a tilde and 1 indication (~1).....whatever that might stand for).
Diskettes have internal moving parts and are subject to magnetic
erasure - and thus more fragile and subject to disk failures as contrasted with
CD-ROMs. Assuming the BIOS of a computer correctly matches, recognizes, and indicates the actual disk drive and video card types within a computer without mismatch, having been partitioned with FDISK and then having a DOS6.22 operating system loaded therein, formatted with FORMAT.COM, and both CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT placed in the root directory (along perhaps with WINA20.386), Windows 3.11 files can rather quickly be loaded onto the hard drive from the A or B drive into their respective C:\WINDOWS and C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectories (typed using md while yet in DOS) and launched (after re-starting the computer) with no OEM number registry info required for loading nor launching -- provided that the computer has a DOS 6.22 (or equivalent) 16-bit (not 32-bit) operating system transferred onto the hard drive using the SYS.COM file from an DOS 6.22 operating-system (OS) diskette, and that both a properly-coded 54-byte AUTOEXEC.BAT file, written as:
ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS
SET TEMP=C:\DOS
and 73-byte CONFIG.SYS file, written as:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH
FILES=40
have been copied onto the root directory (C drive) from the A or B diskette drive
(2) they take up a HUGE amount of hard-disk (i.e. fixed-disk)
space in terms of megabyte capacity. Windows 3.11 takes up less than 25 MB,
whereas even Windows 95 requires over 100 MB to load, launch, and
run.
(3) the startup/setup files MUST be loaded SEQUENTIALLY in
ORDER with NONE missing....or there will occur a HIMEM.SYS MISSING error message or Registry error happening when trying to launch and run Windows 95 or
newer.
In stark contrast, Windows 3.11 files can be respectively loaded
from the black-screen C:\ prompt in DOS [6.22] into one
md-created C:\WINDOWS directory and one md-created
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory in ANY order, then launched [AFTER re-starting computer] by typing in win at the C:\WINDOWS/ prompt....then run OK.
To elaborate, the following C:\ directory Windows 3.11 files (though
shown below in alphabetical order for your convenience, and including some
Internet Explorer 3.02 and Adobe Acrobat files here and there) can be loaded
into the C:\WINDOWS directory in ANY order, then launched after
re-starting or re-booting computer!, and successfully run - with no HIMEM.SYS MISSING or
other error messages:
[NOTE: Any additional files showing up in the WINDOWS directory or WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory are supplemental files accumulated (as from software programs) -- whether useful or useless, good or bad. One particularly useful WINDOWS\SYSTEM file to have is VBRUN300.DLL for certain WINDOWS 3.11-compatible programs this webauthor has affectionately renamed WindowsCapture, WinfileSplit, WinfileSearch, MemoryMonitor, QuikPic and so forth [not all of which require VBRUN300.DLL, incidently].
Harmful files are viruses, worms, trojans, etc. and should simply be deleted when discovered, with no need for an always-on-to-muddy-up-and-slow-down-the-system antivirus program to constantly reside on the hard srive (whether Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro's P-Cillin, or whatever). This is NOT to say that occasionally running Trend Micro's P-Cillin anti-virus program on the C-drive [even FROM the C-drive and not from slow-loading cold-start diskette!] is not a good idea to delete any hidden viruses of whatever type.
(4) they use file and directory/subdirectory alphanumeric names larger than 8 characters - conflicting with the established up-to-8-characters-only limitation - making MANUAL md and other directory and directory/subdirectory construction and rd deconstruction from DOS difficult if not impossible.
(5) they are configured so that they themselves, not DOS,
function as automatically-launching operating and shutdown systems after
computer-power-switch turn-on and in place of MANUAL computer-power-switch turn-off. (Sort of like having AUTOEXEC.BAT coded so that the computer is forced to load directly to Windows, rather than sometimes-conveniently staying in black-screen C-prompt DOS in which DOS one can freely manipulate files and directories/subdirectories without being in a Windows environment)
(6) they have files larger than 1.4 MB, and therefore are not containable (unless zipped into compression) on up-to-1.4-MB 3-1/2-inch diskettes...requiring 100MB-250MB IOMEGA or CD-ROM media. (The cannot-be-contained-on-a-diskette 3.0 MB win386.swp file seen on some already-built-up screens of File Manager in Windows 3.11 does NOT have to be copied, because it is AUTOMATICALLY constructed when Windows 3.11 launches)
(7) because Windows 95 and newer versions launch
automatically from computer power-on, and thus the MS-DOS C-drive prompt is
embedded in the Windows 95 environment, files of Windows 95 and newer cannot be
erased from that MS-DOS C prompt...showing an ACCESS DENIED message if one attempts to MANUALLY erase them from the C prompt. (Windows 95 and newer files ...including all ACCESS DENIED files....can, of course, be erased by formatting the hard drive using FORMAT or partitioning the hard disk using
FDISK, but both of these techniques erase ALL the data off the hard
drive).
(8) they are WAY too complex - consisting in part of subdirectories of subdirectories of subdirectories of subdirectories, etc. Such makes the newer versions of Windows extremely difficult and tedious to erase the files of using DOS commands in the C-prompt black screen (in situations where the Windows files become hopelessly corrupted with Registry problems or viruses, or when installing a simpler version of Windows is desired). In stark and quite pleasant contrast, ALL the files of Windows 3.11 (a DOS shell - in essence - contained in ONLY ONE directory and ONLY ONE subdirectory) are EASILY and QUICKLY erased with NO non-erasable residue files! THAT makes Windows 3.11 extremely easy to QUICKLY rebuild if desired.
(9) a lot of still-quite-useful software
(including earlier versions of NETSCAPE, such as their 2.02 and 3.0 or even 4.08 editions, and relatively-fast Internet Explorer 3.02; a quite-adequate version of MS Works sized less than 1.4 MB - thus containable on ONE 1.44M diskette; QUITE-sufficient Write word-processing programs (simpler, and not frustrating users with the tab/indent jumpiness of newer versions of Word for Windows); certain Bible software; and much more, is compatible with Windows 3.11.....so there is NO advantage in running such on and being encumbered with the newer versions of Windows. [Admittedly, a number of software designers have - unfortunately, but perhaps in the ongoing financial interest of computer-related corporate greed, licensing and copyright-related strong-arming from Redmond Washington, and economic inflation - made their programs compatible not for Windows 3.11 but only Windows 95 and newer].
Some claim that the newer versions of Windows load faster, execute programs
faster, have greater search for and install wizard capacities (pertaining to
setting up modems, printers, scanners, and so on), and are more compatible with
the newer internet browser versions. Indeed, the newer drivers for the newer
peripherals are contained in the newer versions of Windows, facilitating easier
install of modems, printers, scanners, etc. And, the newer versions of Internet
Explorer (like 5.5 at the time of this writing) and Netscape (such as 4.5, 4.7
and 6.0) are structured for the newer versions of Windows. However, given the
latest speed and specifications increase in the latest computers (with RAM specs way past 128MB, processors in the gigabit range, and hard drives touting 20, 30, 40 and higher gigabit capacities), the speed of Windows 3.11 would obviously increase tremendously with such supercomputer types.
This webauthor has found -- through trial-and-error hard-knocks experience -- that the newer versions of Windows are much more susceptible to all sorts of malfunctioning problems and thus impose serious shortcomings.
Moreover, dinosaur-ancient 386 and 486 computers - maxing out at 120-200 MB hard drives, 33-133 MHz processors, and 8 MB RAM - simply cannot handle the massive system requirements of Windows 98 and newer.
Thankfully, non-registered hand-me-down files of Windows 3.11 are practically (but not quite) in public domain which do NOT require the OEM registration identification necessities of Windows 95 and newer to load and launch.
One's highest regards go to insightful MICROSOFT chairman Bill
Gates, his wife Melissa, plus the brilliant, hardworking, and insightful
MICROSOFT software design engineers and their spouses who invented and
distributed such a refreshingly simply yet phenomenally efficient, dependable,
and elegant Windows program one can take apart and put back together as
applicable and convenient for edifying and socially-beneficial purposes.
Recently, much publicity has been given to the senseless terroristic cyber-genocidal vandalism of virus-concocting hackers exploting script-exposed source-code deficiencies and vulnerabilities of Microsoft and their PCs incurred by massive-user internet web browsing, networking, and e-mail. Can UNIX-based MAC OS X source code and device drivers be malcoded and make their way into singular open ports of MAC users? CAN such worms, trojans, and whatever be forced into MACs despite built-in active-default firewalls? The reader may find the following as-of-this-time-working hotlink below interesting:
A final note:
When one purchases or first acquires a computer, one should - if one wants to load Windows 3.11 thereon - make sure that a [true] DOS or dual operating system which includes [true] DOS has been selected for the
BIOS of the computer....not a Windows 95 or newer-ONLY operating system. [Perhaps one can help to insure that by loading a DOS 6.22 (or equivalent) operating system using SYS.COM through the A or B diskette drive BEFORE switching a new computer on. Otherwise, if Windows 95 initially launches FIRST, and AFTERWARDS a different operating system and windows versions is imposed on the computer, the system will probably hang incessantly now and then [again: IF Windows 95 or newer Windows version takes FIRST precedent on the new computer.
In summary, I realize that Microsoft would not make much money limiting OS sales to DOS 6.22 with WINDOWS 3.11...even though a price of $200 or $300 for such would be better than nothing. Certainly, WINDOWS 3.11 would be much larger if the ever-increasingly myriad device driver files for all the new printer, modem, scanner, and other peripherals were added. And Microsoft would have to convince software manufacturers and programmers to allow specifications for such software and peripherals to accomodate again to WINDOWS 3.11 instead of restricting such to WINDOWS 95 and the newer versions of Windows. Such could be done, obviously, and it would unify the computing world tremendously.
