WinBar and Calmira

Replace the Program Manager
with a Windows 95 task bar and more

WinBar, 177Kb

Calmira, 662Kb

Would you like to make Win 3.x work more like Win 95?

Well you can. WinBar and Calmira do away with the awkward program manager and replaces it with a slick Windows 95 interface.

WinBar

Basically WinBar is a permanent bar at the bottom of the screen from which you can just about everything the program manager does more conveniently, and more.

1) You can switch between programs that are running by choosing from a menu on the task bar. No more trying to find a window buried under other windows or find icons or find a piece of desktop to bring up the task list.

2) You can start programs from a multilevel start menu on the task bar. You can even put icons on the task bar and start any program with a single click!

3) WinBar's task bar has a clock on it so the time is always visible. The menu bar can also be configured to show the date, the amount of free memory, and system resources. All of them can be displayed at once, if you want to.

4) The start menus can be nested, so can have subgroups of groups unlike program manager.

5) The Windows setup, system files, and control panels are all grouped conveniently under the 'settings menu'.

WinBar is close enough to its Windows 95 cousin that you'll quickly feel comfortable with it if you use Windows 95 on another computer. And if you don't want to give up the program manager, you can run WinBar as a separate program and use them both.

WinBar will translate you program manager groups automatically to it start menu system, so the programs you have setup in Program Manger will automatically be available from the Start menu. Customizing WinBar is a little difficult because there's not enough documentation about it. You customize through a series of popup menus but I think some people will have trouble with this. It's easy once you realize how it works, but can be confusing at first.

I cannot sing WinBar's praises highly enough. It will make your computing life MUCH easier. And you won't feel so left out about not having Windows 95.

Calmira

Calmira is another free Win 3.x face lift that does everything WindBar does but goes even further. Sure it has a taskbar a la Win 95, but it also has these features:

1) It has a Windows Explorer and My Computer file management programs to replace file manager, but when other programs create, delete, or modify files, the changes won't be represented until you refresh the window or change folders.
2) It is configurable for multiple users.
3) It has a tip of the day feature.
4) It has a very thorough help facility
5) It's start menu features places for one click access to favorite documents and internet resources
Calmira is so artfully crafted to be close to Windows 95 that people may be fooled into thinking it IS Windows 95. Frankly it is a beautiful interface and a wonderful program. However, on some computers you cannot make Calmira the "shell" (i.e. the program that windows starts up with-- normally Program Manager). When you try, icons and the Start menu vanish on you. If you have one of these computers, you will have to run both Program Manager and Calmira, which will take up more memory and CPU time.

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