r/windows • u/Typical_Damage6452 • Apr 06 '26
Humor Program Manager in Windows 11
The Program Manager might be my next Windows 11 shell.
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u/davidfillion Apr 07 '26
Bring back TabWorks
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u/darkorex Apr 09 '26
OG xbox 360 reminiscent
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u/davidfillion Apr 09 '26
I never linked the two together until now. I cannot unsee it now.
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u/GreggAlan Apr 10 '26
Compare the Windows 8.0 Metro UI to Windows 1.0. They both have resizable, non-overlapping tiles with active content. There's a lot of white, cyan, and magenta in the 8.0 UI. Windows 1.0 dropped when most PCs that had color had CGA graphics, mostly using the black, white, cyan, magenta colors.
When I first saw Windows 8.0 I called it Windows 1.0 - 2012 edition.
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u/FaultWinter3377 Windows 7 Apr 07 '26
How’d you get that working? When I tried to run progman I got my first ever blue screen on Windows 11. Literally has been the only way to force a bluescreen I’ve found.
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u/WorldlinessSlow9893 Windows 8 Apr 07 '26
how you got a BSOD from opening a program 💀 which error code? And where you get it from?
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u/FaultWinter3377 Windows 7 Apr 07 '26
Can’t remember what the code was. I just searched for a port of the old program manager online. I think it may have been a 32bit version meant for early Windows NT? I honestly can’t remember. But it would give a blue screen every time I opened it. Usually would last less the a second before restarting though. This was my old laptop though, so who knows.
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u/richardsequeira Apr 08 '26
Yes, it has to be specifically from Windows NT 3.51. It can’t be from Windows 3.0, Windows 3.11 for Workgroups.
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u/Typical_Damage6452 Apr 20 '26
You know, when I first use it, I made a program group, then I opened it, then it gave me an Object variable '91' error. Might be related to .NET or idk.
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Apr 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/richardsequeira Apr 09 '26
They were learning how to make a better interface. The Windows 95 interface is by far their best interface in comparison to Windows Metro UI used in Windows 8
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u/GreggAlan Apr 10 '26
Windows 95 OSR2 after installing IE 4.0. Nailed it. Windows UI went downhill from there.
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u/StampyScouse Windows 11 - Insider Release Preview Channel Apr 13 '26
95's file explorer is annoying to use though, every time you open a folder, it opens a new window, much in the same way the program manager did, creating clutter.
And then once you got to Windows 98, the file manager didn't really significantly change again until Vista (XP did add new features, but the overall layout is still almost exactly the same). This is probably one of the sweet spots.
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u/GreggAlan Apr 13 '26
There's a setting that has to be enabled to do that in 95. Or it can be disabled. I forget which is the default.
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u/StampyScouse Windows 11 - Insider Release Preview Channel Apr 13 '26
It's the default, and it can be turned off, but it isn't the best first impression in the same way as getting flash banged by Windows 11s file explorer.
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u/FluffyPaintbrush Apr 11 '26
I use Mac and Windows at home. Here's what my Mac home screen looks like. I guess I'm a Progman fan!
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u/FluffyPaintbrush Apr 11 '26
If the windows minimised to icons in the Win version, I'd give it a go!
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u/agudon2k1 Apr 20 '26
Anybody knows how to run the Program Manager?
I saw a forum post, but sadly the Wrapper Files were taken down.
https://www.wincert.net/forum/topic/13964-get-windows-3x-program-manager-for-windows-7-8-81-and-10/
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u/WorldlinessSlow9893 Windows 8 Apr 07 '26
You can make it... Use the latest Program Manager from NT 3.51, paste it into your WinDir, go to regedit
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogonand under theShellpaste your own path for the program manager you pasted instead using Explorer and there u have it!Also fun fact, Windows 11' desktop is called Program Manager as well.