Microsoft Plus!

Microsoft Plus! is a discontinued series of operating system enhancements and add-on packs by Microsoft for Windows. The Microsoft Plus! product line was first announced on January 31, 1994 under the internal codename "Frosting". The first edition was an enhancement for Windows 95 called Windows 95 Plus!

Microsoft Plus! was discontinued in favor of Windows Ultimate Extras in Windows Vista.

Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95


This was the first version of Plus! and had an initial cost of US$49.99. It included Space Cadet Pinball, the Internet Jumpstart Kit (which was the introduction of Internet Explorer 1.0), DriveSpace 3, and Compression Agent disk compression utilities, the initial release of theme support along with a set of 12 themes, dial-up networking server, dial-up scripting, and graphical improvements such as anti-aliased screen fonts, full-window drag, the ability to stretch or shrink the wallpaper to fit the screen and highcolor icons.

Task Scheduler (then known as System Agent) was included. A utility to notify the user of low disk space (DiskAlm.exe) also ran as part of System Agent. Plus! for Windows 95 was initially marketed for adding features for high-performance computers, with the minimum system requirements being an 80386 CPU with 8 megabytes of RAM. Later releases of Windows 95 included DriveSpace 3 and Internet Explorer 3. Windows 98 included all enhancements introduced in Plus! for Windows 95, although the Pinball game was not installed by default; instead, it was included on the Windows 98 CD.

Microsoft Plus! for Kids!
This version of Plus! was released in 1997 and targeted at children of ages 12 and under. It includes three new applications:
 * 1) Talk It! - a text-to-speech program that says what users type using various voices
 * 2) Play It! - an electronic keyboard with music and sound effects
 * 3) Paint It! - a version of Microsoft Paint for kids

It also contained a picture picker along with clipart, fonts, 10 desktop themes, and Protect It!, parental controls for Internet Explorer.

There is also a demo version for Microsoft Plus! for Kids!. However, it only contains the readme for the program and the Underwater theme.

Microsoft Plus! 98
Released on June 25, 1998 as the sequel to the original suite of enhancements for Windows, Plus! 98 included the original set of themes along with 18 new desktop themes, along with new programs and tools for Windows 98. An organic art 3D screensaver rendered unique infinite 3D visual shapes. A Start Menu cleanup utility was added to Windows 98's Maintenance Wizard. A Cybermedia Non-Critical File Cleaner utility was integrated into Disk Cleanup. ZIP file integration with Windows Explorer was first introduced with this version under the name of Compressed folders. New games, such as Microsoft Golf 98 Lite, Lose Your Marbles! and the now popular Spider Solitaire were also part of Plus! 98. A Deluxe CD Player with CDDB support and a basic "express" version of Picture It! were also included. Finally, Plus! 98 came with McAfee VirusScan 3.0, along with a six-month supply of free updates.

Some Plus! 98 features such as Compressed folders and the Spider Solitaire game were included in Windows Me and later Windows versions. The Deluxe CD Player was included with Windows 2000. Although Windows Me does not include all of the Plus! 98 features and Plus! 98 Setup is blocked by Windows Me as incompatible, it can be installed on Windows Me by copying the setup files to the local hard disk and renaming Setup.exe before running it.

Microsoft Plus! Game Pack: Cards & Puzzles
Released on August 22, 2000 for Windows 98 and Me.
 * Microsoft Entertainment Pack: The Puzzle Collection
 * Microsoft Pandora's Box (trial version)

Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP
Released on October 25, 2001.
 * Plus! Themes (some integrated in Windows XP MCE)
 * Plus! Screen Savers (some integrated in Windows XP MCE)
 * Plus! Voice Command for Windows Media Player
 * Plus! Personal DJ
 * Plus! MP3 Converter
 * Plus! CD Label Maker
 * Plus! Speaker Enhancement
 * Plus! 3D Visualizations for Windows Media Player
 * Plus! Skins for Windows Media Player
 * Plus! Hyperbowl (game)
 * Plus! Russian Square
 * Plus! Labyrinth (game)

Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition
Released on January 7, 2003.
 * Plus! Photo Story 2
 * Plus! Party Mode (some integrated in Windows XP MCE)
 * Plus! Analog Recorder
 * Plus! CD Label Maker (some integrated in Windows XP MCE)
 * Plus! Dancer (some integrated in Windows XP MCE)
 * Plus! Audio Converter (some integrated in Windows XP MCE)
 * Plus! Effects and Transitions for Windows Movie Maker 2
 * Plus! Alarm Clock
 * Plus! Sleep Timer
 * Plus! Skins for Windows Media Player 9 Series
 * Plus! Sync & Go for Pocket PC

Microsoft Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP
Released on October 19, 2004.
 * Combined version of Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP and Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition