I have accumulated quite a few programs, patches and utilities for the most systems I use, but "returning back to the roots" I feel at loss - not only where to get the software, but what to get. For obvious reasons there are no advertisements and word-of-mouth for those products. Most of the original companies are probably long time out of business anyway.

While you could certainly argue and say "if you need a word processor go and get the word processor", I personally feel like the "on a need to get" argument works very poorly with funky specter of programs in question. From many codecs you may require to watch a simple 320 by 240 minute long clip to bozo desktop monkeys and DOS screensavers - impossible to cover without one hell of a guide.

I would be madly excited if someone could provide a link to FTP, site or maybe share some part of his personal =<98 collection of retail copies (untouched by dirty 😈 pirates) no "modern progressives" care for anyway. I expect you'll get quite some karma for helping out a bloke who's DOS memories only include Norton Commander 😠.