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Windows Desktop Update

 

 
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Windows Desktop Update
 
 
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Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
's Windows Desktop Update was an optional feature included with Internet Explorer 4
Internet Explorer 4

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 is a graphical web browser released in September 1997 by Microsoft, primarily for Microsoft Windows, but also with versions available for Apple Macintosh, Solaris , and HP-UX....
, which introduced several updated shell
Shell (computing)

In computing, a shell is a piece of software that provides an Interface for users. Typically, the term refers to an operating system shell which provides access to the services of a kernel ....
 features to the Windows 95
Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Microsoft Windows products....
 and Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is a Preemption , Graphical user interface and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or Symmetric multiprocessing computers....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
s. These features became part of the standard installation in Windows 98 and later versions. It included features such as Active Desktop
Active Desktop

Active Desktop is a feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4's optional Windows Desktop Update that allows the user to add Hypertext Markup Language content to the desktop metaphor, along with some other features....
 and tight IE4 integration with the Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards....
. It was downloadable as part of IE4 for all versions of Windows 95
Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Microsoft Windows products....
 except Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.5 (4.00.950C) which included IE4 (but not slipstreamed) and installed it after Windows 95 was set up.






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Encyclopedia


Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
's Windows Desktop Update was an optional feature included with Internet Explorer 4
Internet Explorer 4

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 is a graphical web browser released in September 1997 by Microsoft, primarily for Microsoft Windows, but also with versions available for Apple Macintosh, Solaris , and HP-UX....
, which introduced several updated shell
Shell (computing)

In computing, a shell is a piece of software that provides an Interface for users. Typically, the term refers to an operating system shell which provides access to the services of a kernel ....
 features to the Windows 95
Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Microsoft Windows products....
 and Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is a Preemption , Graphical user interface and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or Symmetric multiprocessing computers....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
s. These features became part of the standard installation in Windows 98 and later versions. It included features such as Active Desktop
Active Desktop

Active Desktop is a feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4's optional Windows Desktop Update that allows the user to add Hypertext Markup Language content to the desktop metaphor, along with some other features....
 and tight IE4 integration with the Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards....
. It was downloadable as part of IE4 for all versions of Windows 95
Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Microsoft Windows products....
 except Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.5 (4.00.950C) which included IE4 (but not slipstreamed) and installed it after Windows 95 was set up. It was also available as part of IE4 for Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is a Preemption , Graphical user interface and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or Symmetric multiprocessing computers....
. It was not included in any later version of Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer , commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of graphical user interface web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995....
 (IE5
Internet Explorer 5

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 is a graphical web browser released in March 1999 by Microsoft, primarily for Microsoft Windows, but initially with versions available for Apple Macintosh, Sun Microsystems Solaris , and HP-UX....
 onwards) although if the Windows Desktop Update was installed as part of IE4, Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5 updated some of the shell features such as sorting by name in a context menu and drop down menus whenever menus or toolbar buttons did not fit on the screen.

Updates

Updates to the Windows Desktop Update were part of IE 4 hotfixes and service packs. Later, shell security updates for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 included both the update to the Windows Desktop Update version and the original version. Also sometimes the Windows Desktop Update version and the update to the original version were packaged separately.

The Windows Desktop Update also added the ability to create desk-bands like the quicklaunch bar. It also updated the Windows file manager, explorer.exe (also a shell), to be more modular and extensible.

External links

  • Detailed technical documentation of Internet Explorer 4.0, including Windows Desktop Update
  • Detailed HowTo about the installation of the Windows Desktop Update with IE5 and IE6