In 1995, Microsoft released the first version of the Windows 9x family of operating systems called Windows 95 which helped the company gain a strong foothold in the PC operating system market.
Windows 95 introduced many different features, some of which have since been cut or overhauled, but some still exist in current versions of Windows.
Start button
One of the most iconic features of Windows design is the small Start button at the bottom of the PC screen. While current versions of the Start button only have the Windows logo, in Windows 95 it’s a large steel-colored button with the word “Start” emblazoned in bold black. The Start Menu is not only a convenient stop for users, but also a great starting point for those new to PCs
The initial Start menu is a bit more condensed than the current version, organizing files and functions into six categories, including programs, quick access to documents folders, file search, help, Install, and Run to run files they already know.
Taskbar
Previous versions of Windows left all open programs and file windows floating in space, making it difficult to find them. But with the Taskbar, a gray bar at the bottom of the screen containing the Start button and system clock, everything is fixed.
Whenever a user opens a program or file in Windows 95, a rectangular Taskbar icon appears, and the user can click the icon to immediately bring that window to the front. Later updates to Windows 95 also added a quick launch sidebar for users to link programs and launch them quickly. Up to now, this quick launch icon format continues to become the default setting for the Taskbar on modern versions of Windows.
Plug and Play
Before Windows 95, if you wanted to plug some kind of peripheral into your computer, other than the keyboard that was usually built into the system, you had to manually configure the internal settings and even enable the physical dip switch to make the connection. This is annoying and is why Plug and Play appeared in Windows 95.
Since then, with every version of Windows, the user simply plugs the device into an open port on the PC and Windows immediately detects the device and configures it for the user to use or at least attempt to use. try to do that. This feature was not perfect when it was first introduced because many common hardware and software standards had not yet been established in the industry to support fast connections. Now, everything has become much simpler.
Recycle Bin
In the 1980s, Apple created a “Trash” folder that automatically deleted any deleted files when the computer restarted for a visual look. By 1988, Apple sued Microsoft and HP for developing a visual system with icons they considered too similar. Although Microsoft won the case, the truth is that their Recycle Bin is too similar to Apple’s design and needs to be changed. As a result, when Windows 95 appeared, the Recycle Bin was born
Unlike Mac or MS-DOS, the Recycle Bin acts like a temporary folder, allowing users to double-check what they’ve deleted before emptying it. Since then, it has always been present in Windows versions, serving as the last line of defense for those who neglect to preserve important files and accidentally delete them.