Daily Archives: June 18, 2024

Windows NT4 Resource Kit

A sort of expansion pack for the Windows NT 4 operating system, which adds a set of tools and resources. You can consider this to be a mixture of the resource packs that were released for the 9x line of operating system, but with Plus! content included

A new desktop theme and wallpaper that ships with the resource kit, this makes use of additional colours that the regular NT desktop themes lack the use of.

Themes

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Like the Plus! pack for Windows 95, the resource kit adds desktop theme support and comes bundled with themes, some of which came with the 95 Plus! and some would go on to appear in Windows 98.

Themes exclusive to Windows NT

From L-R, Tropical Interlude, Ancient pathways, and the Windows NT theme pictured at the very top, These were exclusive to the NT resource kit.

Themes from Windows 95 Plus!

Returning themes include The Golden Era, Mystery, Space and Inside Your Computer which were included in Plus! 95 and in Windows 98. Some of these themes differ in the chosen font compared to the 9x counterparts

Configuration

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C2 Configuration: This was a tool to ensure your PC workstation was C2 compliant, which was a set of standards by the NSA to ensure integrity and security. Here you can configure certain policies such as logon messages/privacy where the previous username is cleared upon logon. These features are now standard in every corporate domain environment.

Auto Logon: Automatically log on a specific user when the PC is turned on. Useful if this is the only user that will be using the PC or if the PC is intended for specific use like in a factory or automation. This only appears to work once in my case.

Command Scheduler: Like the task scheduler in Windows 98, you can schedule maintenance tasks for disk defragmenter or virus scanners.

Desktop Tools

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3D Paint: Not to be confused with the 3D Paint from later versions of Windows 10, this lets you place 3D objects onto the viewport. You can adjust the size, rotation and dimensions of the object, and add any additional shading or texture mapping. It’s not Bryce, but it does let you create some interesting images if you’re willing to spends some time with it. Bitmaps can be applied to the 3D objects themselves, and you can apply different colour hues to the shading and change the direction of light.

Files are saved in the 3DP format.

Advanced Cursor Editor: Open and edit cursor animations, including the ones that come with the operating system. You can edit additional frame, or add new frames in between.

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Microsoft Desktops: Lets you have multiple desktops with active windows, like many Linux distros supported.

Image Editor: Bitmap image editor, not much use for JPEG or GIF images. Even with bitmaps you are limited to images no larger than 256×256. Even if you try to open a smaller bitmap, it has to be a valid 3.0 format bitmap file. Because it these limitations, there not much use outside editing icons or clipart. The program dates from 1992 which could explain the limitations.

Text Viewer: Looks like Windows Explorer in tree view, but when you click on a file it appears as if you have opened it in notepad. Useful for HTML developers or programmers, or even gamers if they need to quickly edit an ini file since you can edit and save text file directly.

There are other various utilities such as Disk Probe, Fault Tolerance Editor, Network Watch, Process Viewer and Quick Slice. A lot of these are niche for use to look at as they serve a specific purpose.