I have a lot of DOS software installed on my PCs, but the most common one i install are:

CTMouse
3DBench2
PCPBench
Note
PKunzip

And for Windows 9.X

Total Commander
7Zip
Final Reality 1.1

My additions (I'm skipping programs, which are a must have but were mentioned before):
DOS:
DOS Navigator

Windows (most have an old version for Windows 9x):
an ACDSee clone (XnView, IrfanView, Imagine)
foobar2000
Media Player Classic
HxD

Stojke wrote:

Total Commander

An ABSOLUTE MUST-HAVE! 😀 Hehe, I even have mine setup to look and function as close to the old Norton Commander for DOS as possible (see/click attached pic) 😀 Also, I REFUSE to call it "Total Commander", but rather "WINDOWS Commander" (damned MICKEY$OFT laywers!) 😀 Side note: The author STILL releases a 16-bit version whenever he releases an update even today.

P.S. Hey, don't forget DOSBox <grin> 😀

Same here, i use Total Commander in Windows 3.11 😀
I have been searching for interesting Windows 3.11 applications, but found nothing spectacular, except Mod4Win.

Stojke wrote:

I have been searching for interesting Windows 3.11 applications, but found nothing spectacular, except Mod4Win.

Oh man, the memories... that's one that I used to use as well 😀 Been a while, but IIRC it even supported loading the module's samples into the onboard sample RAM of my AWE32 cards (similar to how Cubic Player for DOS can/did). Hence you can use EMU8K reverb and chorus effects when playing back Tracker tunes 😀

Just remembered a few other Windows XP (and higher) essentials:

The BASSMIDI SoundFont Compatible Software Synthesizer Driver for MIDI music playback (if you don't have a SoundFont compatible sound card).

XMPlay Media Player (also supports a MIDI Plugin by the same author that uses SoundFonts).

Most any form of Paint Shop Pro.

Norton Ghost under Windows XP for cloning hard drives (for full mirror-image system backups).

And... you ready for this one? The old "Macro Recorder" ("Recorder.exe") for Windows 3.x, that I STILL even use today under Windows XP 😀

Interesting, I remember Total Commander but never really used it! I might give it a go later 😀 keep the software list coming 😀

dacow wrote:

Interesting, I remember Total Commander but never really used it!

I don't wanna derail your thread with TC/WC praises and raves, but good lard a-mighty... TC/WC is the ABSOLUTE BEST FILE MANAGER FOR WINDOWS IN EXISTENCE AND EVER CREATED! 😀 I would be ABSOLUTELY BLIND without it 😀

(Note that I rarely use CAPS in Internet posts 🤣!)

(Edit) P.S. Back on-topic, I suppose that I *should* have mentioned as well:

Norton Commander for DOS, most ANY version, although I currently use v5.5 (v5.5 ALSO works quite well under Windows XP, and supports LFNs to boot!) 😀

Volkov Commander is a good lightweight substitute too.

Other than that, GSPlay and SoftMPU (biased), SetMul for cache/multiplier control.

My needs are creatively-slanted...

Dos:
Pkunzip
Ctmouse
S3VBE20
Setblast
Vgacopy
DJGPP
X-Tree Gold

Windows:
Blender 2.49 and 2.66a
CoolEdit 96 (or 1.31 if 16-bit compatibility permits)
WinRAR, WinZIP for 486s (and only ever up to 6.3)
7-Zip (For what WinRAR can't open)
Fooobar2000, WinAMP for older machines and WinKawaks usage
Noesis for 3D previewing
Filezilla for FTP
Modplug Tracker
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, never upgraded.
MinGW+MSYS
SiSoft FileFinder v2.8
WinDirStat
WinImage
ImgBurn
DOSBox 😀

It depends on what the rig will be used for. Most of my rigs are either just for playing a couple retro games or perhaps doing only some benchmarking. But for rigs that intend to be doing more (my main rigs or LAN rigs etc) I also install Opera and Irfanview and perhaps some codec pack (mostly to be able to play DVD movies (or downloaded ones) and downloaded youtube video's.

As I spend a lot of time modding games, I've found Total Commander to be indispensable, it's a really handy tool!

And since I dislike Windows 7 standard paint, I installed The Gimp as a somewhat substitute.

For systems from before ME I also install Winzip or Winrar.

On my backup rig (which is also used for slipstreaming XP disks and floppy images) I also use a free burner program (I "think" it was xp burner pro or something along those lines? Though the more recent versions were crappy so I used an older version I still had laying around. These days I use Imgburn though, it's much better) and ofcourse Winimage (iirc I used version 4.0 because the trial never runs out 😁 ).

For ME I also have a ZIP disk with tweaking thingies written in a textfile, along with the unofficial service pack (I only use the "Do tweaks" part of it though) and a couple different versions of dx.

I'll add more once I remember more 🤣

Edit: I also like Notepad++, also handy for modding games.

ARJ, UNIVBE, 4DOS, QuickMenu III, PC Tools, SoftMPU, GSPLAY. 😀

TClockEx was one of my favorite old Win9x programs: not only did it make the taskbar clock more functional, but its discrete resource meter is vital to keep Windows from crashing. It's largely redundant in 2K/XP/etc, though.

For Windows 3.x, I adored PMIcons, though these days you'd probably be better off with Calmira.
Re: Want to take fun of windows 3.1 program manager

You'll also probably want a decent task manager for Windows 3.x, though I never found one that I was particularly enthusiastic about.

For more recent versions of Windows, just start with Ninite and pick what you want.

See also Re: Your favorite shareware/freeware? .

mTCP and List 😀

Dos...
Most have been listed but
RDISK, use it to make a quick ram drive to get under 64mb.
DOSSHELL the one from 5.0. I like it, and its quick.

9x
Can't Live without NetPerSec in 9x. Shows network usage in real-time as an icon on the taskbar\system tray.
Hztool, to broadly change refresh-rates quickly.
Winsystem, shows CPU usage\Mem Usage back in the dialup days modem usage, can also free memory, and test your Beeper speaker and show Temps on winbond chip equipped systems.
PS/2 Rate because 60hz on trackball is torture.
Paintshop Pro 5.0 Because, MSpaint is useless, and that it is the best version of Paintshop, I still use it even under 8.1.
7zip 9.20 if its win98se\ME
WinZIP and WinRAR if its win95osr2 or 98a as 7zip's gui won't function and I'm not sure whats missing as to why.
KernelEX for obvious reasons
Firefox 3.x as a Browser "needs KernelEx"
3dmark 2000 because I that's my goto test suite for pre DX 8 stuff.

DOS:

a complete DOS installation with all important external commands
Norton Commander 4.0 or 5.0
QEMM386 8.0 or 9.0 package
Norton Utilities 4.5a for fast file tools, just sysinfo sometimes from 7.0 or 8.0
Package of file archivers such as pkzip, arj, lha, rar, pkpak, zoo, pklite, ucexe, uc2
additional mini tools such as cdplay, nnansi, kdrive, fdformat, network drivers for basic ipx gaming (lsl, ipxodi), umbpci, xmsdsk, fastvid, csdpmi, pmode, hed or hiew, the draw
for sound gsplay, open cubic player, xtc player, xmiplay, ultrasound directory (or at least the patches for CP)
univbe, vgacopy, softmpu, trans64, star commander, terminate 5.00 the final terminal, DCP

not anymore:
F-Prot but this is somewhat outdated now.
Crosspoint 3.12

AlphaWing wrote:

Paintshop Pro 5.0 Because, MSpaint is useless, and that it is the best version of Paintshop, I still use it even under 8.1.

I used to be really fond of Paintshop, but it isn't freeware. For that reason, I use Paint.NET when I need it.

IZArc is still my preferred archiving program – freeware (unlike WinRAR) and a classic, functional UI (unlike 7-Zip). Just make sure you find an installer without the included crapware.

Metapad is my preferred notepad. There's probably something better out there, but it's small and functional, and handles Unix-line terminations. I don't need much more than that.

My media player is Media Player Classic, as supplied with the K-Lite Codec Pack. For music, I still stick with Winamp, much like I have for the last ten years.

I should also mention DISPLAY where DOS is concerned. It's an exceptionally versatile viewer which even handles video files pretty nicely.
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/wpgformat.html
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/dispinst.exe

Quickview Pro is pretty impressive for a DOS application as well, but it's not freeware.
http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/

See also the List of Interesting DOS Programs.
http://www.opus.co.tt/dave/indexall.htm

Not much love for XTree? I just realised PCTools and ARJ definitely should have been on my list. I used to have QEMM but with all the awesomeness people have done with just HIMEM/EMM386 config files, I don't really see the need for QEMM anymore. I do miss the DOSSHELL from 5.0, surprised not many other people have mentioned it.

Aside from a generic CD-Rom driver, generic mouse driver and other truly essential software to get hardware running, there's not that much I feel I "must have" for a DOS system.
The closest things would probably be:
Fast Tracker 2.08 or 2.09.
Cubic Player 1.6 or 1.7.
Pkunzip, Arj and other file extraction tools.

My main motivation for building a DOS system was for use with music software. I used to make music in FT2 back in the days, and I'm trying to get back into it. That was also the reason I chose a GUS as my main sound card. There are lots of other applications I see as useful and/or convenient, but I could sacrifice them all if I had to for the sake of tracker tools.

dacow wrote:

Not much love for XTree? I just realised PCTools and ARJ definitely should have been on my list. I used to have QEMM but with all the awesomeness people have done with just HIMEM/EMM386 config files, I don't really see the need for QEMM anymore. I do miss the DOSSHELL from 5.0, surprised not many other people have mentioned it.

Yea I also use just himem/emm386.
With CTMOUSE and some of the smaller cdrom drivers like vide-cdd.sys, and with SHCDX33F.com I just don't see the point of another mem manager, even with MSCDEX, I am still in the 61xkb region.

Mouse drivers before CTMOUSE existed, ate a large chunk of ram, some of the ones that came with older mice were 20-30kbish. Even sometimes more!
I was often under 580kb back then. It was always the main cause of a program not running, and had to be unloaded.