Microsoft Plus!

Microsoft Plus! (codenamed Frosting) is an expansion pack by Microsoft initially released for the Windows 95 operating system. Newer versions were also released for the Windows 98 and Windows XP operating systems.

Versions

Windows 95

Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 was released concurrently with the operating system as a separate retail add-on. It included the then-new System Agent utility, which performed system maintenance tasks on a schedule, or while the computer was idle. DiskAlm.exe, a component which used System Agent, was designed to notify the user of low disk space.

The add-on package incorporated the DriveSpace 3 and Compression Agent disk compression utilities. System Agent and Compression Agent can be used concurrently without any performance penalty.

Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 also provided a set of 12 themes, the Space Cadet Pinball game, and various graphical improvements to the Windows shell.

Windows 98

Microsoft Plus! for Windows 98 introduced support for the ZIP file format in Windows Explorer, and included several other enhancements, games, and utilities for the Windows 98 operating system. New utilities include a non-critical file cleaner integrated into Disk Cleanup, a Start menu cleaner added to the Maintenance Wizard, and McAfee VirusScan 3.0 with six months of free updates.

Other new features include the Deluxe CD Player which was later included with Windows 2000, a basic version of Microsoft Picture It!, and the Direct3D accelerated Organic Art screensaver. In addition, a total of three games were included with the software package: Microsoft Golf 98 Lite, SegaSoft Lose Your Marbles!, and Spider Solitaire.

While providing the 12 themes from the previous Plus! release, a total of 18 new themes were introduced: Architecture, Cathy, Cityscape, Corbis Photography, Doonesbury, Falling Leaves, Fashion, FoxTrot, Garfield, Geometry, Horror Channel, Jazz, Peanuts, PhotoDisc, Rock 'n' Roll, Science Fiction, Windows 98, and World Traveler.

Windows XP

Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP was released on October 25, 2001, and was designed to show off the new capabilities of the Windows XP operating system.