ANSI.SYS—. Keep. ANSI display (CON) device driver. Provides enhanced control of the display, as well as keyboard redefinition support. Used by MODE and certain application programs.

APPEND.EXE—. Append utility (TSR). Defines a search path for data.

ATTRIB.EXE—. File attribute utility. Views or changes file attributes.

CHKDSK.EXE—. Keep. Check-disk utility. Checks a disk's logical file structure for errors and displays useful information about available disk space.

CHOICE.COM—. Command-line choice utility. Displays a prompt and then waits for you to press a key.

COMMAND.COM—. Vital. MS-DOS command-line shell. Normally located in the root directory of the boot disk drive.

COUNTRY.ICE—. International. (DOS 6.0 only) Code page symbol set support for Icelandic keyboards. See the README.TXT file for details.

COUNTRY.SYS—. International. Code page symbol set support file. Loaded with the COUNTRY= command in CONFIG.SYS.

DBLSPACE.BIN—. DoubleSpace device driver loaded into memory by MS-DOS (before CONFIG.SYS processing). Located in the root directory of the startup drive, DBLSPACE.BIN is marked with system, hidden, and read-only attributes.

DBLSPACE.EXE—. DoubleSpace disk compression utility.

DBLSPACE.HLP—. DoubleSpace online help file.

DBLSPACE.INF—. DoubleSpace setup information file.

DBLSPACE.INI—. DoubleSpace configuration information file. Created by DBLSPACE.EXE.

DBLSPACE.SYS—. CONFIG.SYS utility that allows the DBLSPACE.BIN driver to be moved into high memory.

DBLSPACE.WIN—. DoubleSpace uses this file to keep track of Windows during the installation of a compressed volume file (CVF).

DBLSPACE.00x—. DoubleSpace CVF created by DBLSPACE.EXE. You normally do not see these files because they are hidden, but they are your DoubleSpace compressed disk drives.

DBLWIN.HLP—. Windows. Help for the DoubleSpace Info Box in the Windows File Manager Tools menu.

DEBUG.EXE—. Danger! Programmer's debugging utility. A low-level programmer's tool that has almost unrestricted access to your computer. Debug can erase your hard disk with just a few keystrokes. Don't run Debug in a Windows DOS box.

DEFRAG.EXE—. Keep. Disk defragmenting program. Rearranges files to eliminate fragmentation on your disk.

DEFRAG.HLP—. DEFRAG online help file.

DELOLDOS.EXE—. Remove? Deletes OLD_DOS.x subdirectories from your hard disk and then deletes itself. Feel free to delete this file if you've already removed the old DOS files from your system.

DELTREE.EXE—. Delete directory branch utility.

DISKCOMP.COM—. Disk compare utility. Makes an exact comparison of two floppy disks.

DISKCOPY.COM—. Keep. Disk copy utility. Makes a copy of a floppy disk. Use it to make backup copies of the MS-DOS distribution disks.

DISPLAY.SYS—. International. Display device driver with code page symbol set support.

EGA.CPI—. International. Code page information file for EGA and VGA video displays.

EGA.ICE—. International. (DOS 6.0 only) Code page information file for EGA and VGA video displays using an Icelandic symbol set. See the README.TXT file for details.

EGA2.CPI—. International. (DOS 6.2 only) Alternative code page information file for EGA and VGA video displays. See the README.TXT file for details.

DMDRVR.BIN—. On-track disk manager version 5.0 device driver upgrade. Installed by Setup only if an older version is on the disk.

XBIOS.OVL—. On-track disk manager overlay file (AT Software BIOS Extended v1.3). Installed by Setup only if an older version is present on the disk.

DOSKEY.COM—. DOS command-line editing and macro utility (TSR).

DRIVER.SYS—. Remove? Device driver that can assign drive letters to an existing floppy drive or create an alias for a floppy disk drive.

EDIT.COM—. Keep. ASCII text file editor. This file is actually a loader that runs the editor included in QBASIC.EXE. If you delete QBASIC.EXE, you cannot use EDIT.

EDIT.HLP—. ASCII text file editor online help file.

EGA.SYS—. Remove? Device driver that is required by the DOS Shell (and other task swapping software) when running on an EGA display. Without an EGA display, this driver is useless.

EMM386.EXE—. 80386 expanded (EMS) and upper (UMB) memory manager. Requires an XMS provider, such as HIMEM, to run. Required by MS-DOS for loadhigh functions.

EXPAND.EXE—. Keep. Utility that expands the files supplied on the MS-DOS distribution disks into a usable form.

FASTHELP.EXE—. Utility that displays syntax help for DOS commands. This is the same help you get when you type the /? switch.

DOSHELP.HLP—. Fasthelp help text file (ASCII text). You can add or edit entries in this file, as long as the entries remain properly formatted in alphabetical order. This file is handy for the shareware utilities you do not remember how to use.

FASTOPEN.EXE—. Danger! Remove? Directory information cache (TSR). FASTOPEN is slower and more dangerous than SMARTDRV. If you can't use SMARTDRV, use the BUFFERS command to optimize disk access on your computer.

FC.EXE—. File compare utility. Useful for both binary and ASCII text files.

FDISK.EXE—. Danger! Disk partitioning utility. Prepares a new hard drive and optionally creates one or more logical drives on it. However, one wrong keystroke can wipe out all the information on your hard disk. Get this program off your path. I strongly advise removing it from your hard disk. Keep it on a bootable floppy disk with other disaster recovery tools.

FIND.EXE—. Find text filter utility. Useful in batch files.

FORMAT.COM—. Keep. Format disk utility.

GRAPHICS.COM—. Enable graphics mode print screen utility (TSR).

GRAPHICS.PRO—. Printer information file used by GRAPHICS.COM (ASCII text).

HELP.COM—. Keep. MS-DOS online hypertext help system. This file is actually a loader that runs QBASIC.EXE. If you delete QBASIC.EXE, you cannot use Help.

HELP.HLP—. Keep. MS-DOS online help system data file.

HIMEM.SYS—. 80286. Extended memory (XMS) manager. Required by EMM386 and by MS-DOS for loadhigh support. Required by Windows.

INTERLNK.EXE—. Interlnk network client control program/device driver.

INTERSVR.EXE—. Interlnk network server control program.

IO.SYS—. Vital. One of two files that form the core of the MS-DOS operating system. (The other is MSDOS.SYS.) It must be present in the root directory of the startup drive.

KEYB.COM—. International. Keyboard remapping utility with code page support. Uses the KEYBOARD.SYS file by default.

KEYBOARD.ICE—. International. (DOS 6.0 only) Code page information file for Icelandic keyboards. Loaded by KEYB.COM. See the README.TXT file for details.

KEYBOARD.SYS—. International. Code page information keyboard file. Loaded by KEYB.COM.

KEYBRD2.SYS—. International. (DOS 6.2 only) Alternative code page information keyboard file. Loaded by KEYB.COM. See the README.TXT file for details.

LABEL.EXE—. Disk volume label utility.

LOADFIX.COM—. 80286. Patch that fills the first 64KB segment so that programs loaded after it will be in the second 64KB segment of memory. Some programs display a Packed file corrupt message if they are run in the first 64KB segment of RAM.

MEM.EXE—. Keep. Display information on memory usage utility.

MEMMAKER.EXE—. 80386. Optimize RAM memory usage program.

MEMMAKER.HLP—. 80386. MemMaker help file.

MEMMAKER.INF—. 80386. MemMaker configuration file (ASCII text).

MEMMAKER.STS—. 80386. MemMaker statistics file (ASCII text). This file is created by MemMaker and can provide insight into the way your system is configured.

CHKSTATE.SYS—. 80386. Device driver used by MemMaker to monitor and help optimize memory usage on your system.

SIZER.EXE—. 80386. Utility to help MemMaker determine how much memory each device driver and TSR requires.

MODE.COM—. Utility that can control the settings for various standard ports and devices. In some cases, MODE remains resident in memory.

MONOUMB.386—. Windows. Device driver for Windows (SYSTEM.INI) that allows EMM386 to use the B000–B7FFh region of VGA memory as UMB space. See the README.TXT file for details.

MORE.COM—. MS-DOS. Filter (pipe) that enables you to view a text file or the screen output of a program one page at a time.

MOUSE.COM—. Microsoft Mouse Driver version 8.20. Installed by Setup only if an older version is present on the disk. If you use a Microsoft mouse, keep a close watch on the version you are using. Microsoft distributes updated drivers with most of its software packages, and you can easily end up using an older driver by mistake.

MOUSE.INI—. Microsoft Mouse configuration file (ASCII text). This file is created by MOUSE.COM in the subdirectory pointed to by the MOUSE environment variable if it is defined.

MOVE.EXE—. Keep. Move files or rename directories utility.

MSAV.EXE—. Microsoft Anti-Virus program.

MSAV.HLP—. Microsoft Anti-Virus online help file.

MSAV.INI—. Microsoft Anti-Virus configuration file (ASCII text). This file is created by MSAV in the same subdirectory as MSAV.EXE or in the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable if it is defined.

MSAVHELP.OVL—. Microsoft Anti-Virus overlay file.

MSAVIRUS.LST—. Microsoft Anti-Virus file that contains the list of known virus signatures that MSAV uses when scanning your disks.

CHKLST.MS—. Microsoft Anti-Virus checksum files. MSAV creates these files in every subdirectory it scans, unless you turn off this feature.

MSBACKUP.EXE—. Microsoft Backup program.

MSBACKUP.LOG—. Microsoft Backup log file. This file is created by MSBACKUP or MWBACKUP in the same subdirectory as the corresponding executable file or in the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable if it is defined. The Windows and DOS versions of Microsoft Backup share this file.

MSBACKDB.OVL—. Microsoft Backup overlay file.

MSBACKDR.OVL—. Microsoft Backup overlay file.

MSBACKFB.OVL—. Microsoft Backup overlay file.

MSBACKFR.OVL—. Microsoft Backup overlay file.

MSBACKUP.HLP—. Microsoft Backup configuration file (ASCII text). This file is created by MSBACKUP in the same subdirectory as MSBACKUP.EXE or in the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable if it is defined. The Windows version of MS Backup keeps a separate INI file in the Windows directory.

MSBACKUP.INI—. Microsoft Backup online help file.

MSBACKUP.OVL—. Microsoft Backup overlay file.

MSBCONFG.HLP—. Microsoft Backup configuration online help file.

MSBCONFG.OVL—. Microsoft Backup configuration overlay file.

DEFAULT.SET—. Microsoft Backup default setup file (ASCII text). This file is created by MSBACKUP or MWBACKUP in the same subdirectory as the corresponding executable file or in the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable if it is defined. The Windows and DOS versions of Microsoft Backup share this file.

DEFAULT.SLT—. Microsoft Backup default selection file. This file is created by MSBACKUP or MWBACKUP in the same subdirectory as the corresponding executable file or in the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable if it is defined. The Windows and DOS versions of Microsoft Backup share this file.

*.SET—. Microsoft Backup setup files (ASCII text). You create and name these files to save preferred settings for backup sets. These files are created by MSBACKUP or MWBACKUP in the same subdirectory as the corresponding executable file or in the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable if it is defined. The Windows and DOS versions of Microsoft Backup share these files.

*.SLT—. Microsoft Backup selection files. These files contain the file selection information that you've chosen for a particular backup set. These files are created by MSBACKUP or MWBACKUP in the same subdirectory as the corresponding executable file or in the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable if it is defined. The Windows and DOS versions of Microsoft Backup share these files.

*.FUL *.INC, *.DIF—,. Full, incremental, and differential backup catalog files. These files are created by MSBACKUP or MWBACKUP in the same subdirectory as the corresponding executable file or in the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable if it is defined. The Windows and DOS versions of Microsoft Backup share these files.

MSCDEX.EXE—. Utility that assigns drive letters to CD-ROM drives. Installed by Setup only if an older version is present on the disk.

MSD.EXE—. Keep. Microsoft system diagnostics. A handy utility that can tell you how your system is configured. Used by Microsoft Product Support when troubleshooting.

MSDOS.SYS—. Vital. One of two files that form the core of the MS-DOS operating system. (The other is IO.SYS.) It must be present in the root directory of the startup drive.

MSTOOLS.DLL—. Windows. Windows File Manager extension DLL. Provides the File Manager Tools menu.

MWAV.EXE—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows program.

MWAV.HLP—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows online help file.

MWAV.INI—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows configuration file (ASCII text). It is created by MWAV in the same subdirectory as MWAV.EXE or in the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable if it is defined. MSAV and MWAV keep separate configuration files, so options set in one do not affect the other.

MWAVABSI.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows absolute disk I/O library.

MWAVDLG.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows dialogs library.

MWAVDOSL.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows operating system library.

MWAVDRVL.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows drive list custom control library.

MWAVMGR.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows TSR manager library.

MWAVSCAN.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows virus scanning support library.

MWAVSOS.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows context-sensitive help library.

MWGRAFIC.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows graphics control library.

MWAVTSR.EXE—. Windows. VSAFE manager program for Windows. Enables VSAFE to display warning messages when Windows is running.

MWBACKUP.EXE—. Windows. Microsoft Backup for Windows program.

MWBACKF.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Backup for Windows DLL.

MWBACKR.DLL—. Windows. Microsoft Backup for Windows DLL.

MWBACKUP.HLP—. Windows. Microsoft Backup for Windows online help file.

MWBACKUP.INI—. Windows. Microsoft Backup for Windows configuration file (ASCII text). This file is created by MWBACKUP in the subdirectory pointed to by the WINDIR environment variable. MSBACKUP and MWBACKUP keep separate configuration files, so options set in one are set in the other.

VFINTD.386—. Windows. Windows device driver (SYSTEM.INI) that allows MWBACKUP to access your tape drive. Setup doesn't check for conflicts with other drivers in your SYSTEM.INI file when installing this file. See the README.TXT file for details.

MWUNDEL.EXE—. Windows. Microsoft Undelete for Windows program.

MWUNDEL.HLP—. Windows. Microsoft Undelete for Windows online help file.

NETWORKS.TXT—. Remove? ASCII text file containing information about installing and using MS-DOS 6 on various networks.

NLSFUNC.EXE—. International. National language support program (TSR). Required to enable code page switching functions in MODE and CHCP.

OS2.TXT—. Remove? ASCII text file describing how to install MS-DOS 6 if you are running OS/2.

PACKING.LST—. Remove? ASCII text file listing the contents of the MS-DOS 6 distribution disks. Each file's full name and compressed name are listed.

POWER.EXE—. Remove? Power management utility/device driver, with support for Advanced Power Management (APM) hardware.

PRINT.EXE—. MS-DOS background print spooler utility (TSR).

QBASIC.EXE—. Keep. QuickBasic programming environment. QBASIC.EXE is used by EDIT.COM and HELP.COM, so even if you never plan to do any BASIC programming, you probably should keep this file.

QBASIC.HLP—. QuickBasic online help file.

QBASIC.INI—. QuickBasic configuration file. QBASIC.INI is updated when you make changes to the way QuickBasic is configured on your computer.

RAMDRIVE.SYS—. RAM disk device driver.

README.TXT—. Remove? ASCII text file containing last-minute information about MS-DOS 6.22. You would be wise to look for this file in every software package you get and read it before you install the software.

REPLACE.EXE—. Update files utility. With this utility, you can keep two disks or directories full of files in sync.

RESTORE.EXE—. Remove? Restores backup disks created with the old BACKUP utility. If possible, make new backups with MSBACKUP, move RESTORE.EXE to a floppy disk, and forget that the old backup program ever existed.

SCANDISK.EXE—. Keep. ScanDisk disk analysis and repair program. Checks a disk's logical and physical integrity and repairs any errors.

SCANDISK.INI—. Keep. ScanDisk settings information file (ASCII text). Many ScanDisk settings can be customized and controlled from this file.

SETUP.EXE—. MS-DOS installation program.

BUSETUP.EXE—. Bootable upgrade setup utility. If you reboot your computer with distribution disk #1 in drive A, BUSETUP starts, checks whether your computer has an operating system installed, and refuses to continue if it does not. This is Microsoft's way of including a bootable disk in an upgrade-only package. BUSETUP can be run from drive A only.

DOSSETUP.INI—. DOS setup information file (binary).

SETUP.MSG—. DOS setup messages file (ASCII text).

AUTOEXEC.BAT—. DOS setup disk AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Runs BUSETUP.

CONFIG.SYS—. DOS setup disk CONFIG.SYS file.

UNINSTALL.EXE—. Uninstall utility. Placed on the UNINSTALL disk created by Setup during installation of MS-DOS 6.

SETVER.EXE—. DOS version alias program/device driver. This utility fools certain programs into believing they are running under a different version of MS-DOS. Setup installs this program on almost every computer; if you don't need this file, it's a waste of memory.

SHARE.EXE—. Keep. Utility that provides file sharing and locking support for MS-DOS (TSR). Most people need to run SHARE, especially if they use Microsoft Windows. It can save you from some nasty disk errors.

SMARTDRV.EXE—. 80286. Disk cache utility (TSR). SMARTDRV can provide a dramatic speedup for your computer.

SMARTMON.EXE—. Windows. Smart monitor, a control program for SMARTDRV that runs under MS Windows. Strangely, this program has no DOS counterpart.

SMARTMON.HLP—. Windows. Smart monitor online help file.

SMARTMON.LOG—. Windows. Smart monitor cache hit log file (ASCII text).

SORT.EXE—. Sort text filter utility. Useful in batch files.

SPATCH.BAT—. Batch file that can patch the Windows 3.0 SWAPFILE.EXE file to make it compatible with DOS 6. Not required if you are running Windows 3.1. This file is located on distribution disk #3. See the README.TXT file for details.

SSTOR.SYS—. SpeedStor hard disk device driver version 6.3.1. Installed by Setup only if an older version is on the disk.

SUBST.EXE—. Remove? Assign drive alias to a subdirectory utility. Use this utility only when you have to and turn it off when you are finished.

SYS.COM—. Keep. Transfer system files utility. Handy for making preformatted disks bootable.

TREE.COM—. Display directory structure utility.

UNDELETE.EXE—. Keep. Recover deleted files utility. Using the sentry or tracker modes of protection causes UNDELETE to stay resident in memory.

UNDELETE.INI—. UNDELETE and MWUNDEL configuration file (ASCII text). It should be located in either the same subdirectory as UNDELETE.EXE or the subdirectory pointed to by the MSDOSDATA environment variable.

UNFORMAT.COM—. Utility for restoring an accidentally formatted disk. Uses the information saved on the disk by FORMAT or MIRROR.

VSAFE.COM—. Memory-resident virus-protection program.

WINA20.386—. Windows. Windows A20 line support driver. Setup places this file in the root directory. You can move it, but you must update SYSTEM.INI and your CONFIG.SYS file if you do so. It is required if you are running Windows in enhanced mode and use any Windows 3.0 device drivers. (This includes most people running Windows and Windows for Workgroups 3.1 and higher.)

WNTOOLS.GRP—. Windows. Windows Program Manager group file. Installed by Setup into the Program Manager if you select to install any Windows version of DOS utilities.

AV.GRP BK.GRP, BKAV.GRP, BKUD.GRP, BKUDAV.GRP, UD.GRP, UDAV.GRP—,. Depending on which Windows utilities you ask Setup to install, one of these group files is copied and renamed WNTOOLS.GRP.

XCOPY.EXE—. Keep. Extended copy utility. Copies files and subdirectories.

ADOS.COM—. Access DOS program. Provides various utilities designed to assist people with disabilities in using a computer.

ADOS.CFG—. Access DOS configuration file.

ADOS.OVL—. Access DOS overlay file.

ADOS.TXT—. Access DOS instruction manual (ASCII text).

AREADME.TXT—. Access DOS last-minute information (ASCII text).

FAKEMOUS.COM—. IBM PS/2 “No Mouse” utility. See the description of use in ADOS.TXT.

ASSIGN.COM—. DOS 5 disk alias utility. Assigns an alias drive letter to an existing disk drive. Microsoft is encouraging people to use SUBST instead, but ASSIGN is still the best choice for fooling certain older programs.

BACKUP.EXE—. DOS 5 backup utility. Backs up files on your hard disk to a set of floppy disks. This old utility was replaced by the MSBACKUP utility. Avoid the continued use of BACKUP because it is not reliable.

COMMANDS.TXT—. Instructions on how to use the utilities on the DOS 6 Supplemental Disk (ASCII text). This is the manual for this Supplemental Disk.

COMP.EXE—. DOS 5 file compare utility. FC, which is distributed with DOS 6.22, is easier to use and more flexible than COMP.

CV.COM—. Replacement loader for Codeview versions 3.0 to 3.13. Using Codeview versions 3.0 to 3.13 without CV.COM might cause data loss if you are using an 80386 memory manager such as EMM386. See COMMANDS.TXT for details.

DBLBOOT.BAT—. Batch file to aid in creating a bootable DoubleSpace floppy disk.

DBLBOOT.INI—. Prototype INI file used by DBLBOOT.BAT (ASCII text).

DVORAK.SYS—. Alternative keyboard layout. Use with KEYB.COM.

DVORAK.TXT—. Instructions for using DVORAK.SYS (ASCII text).

EDLIN.EXE—. DOS 5 line-oriented text editor. This line editor is old-fashioned and awkward. Instructions on using EDLIN are included in the COMMANDS.TXT file.

EXE2BIN.EXE—. Converts EXE files to binary format. Useful only to programmers who are writing device drivers or COM format utilities and cannot get this service directly from their linker.

GRAFTABL.COM—. Supports international characters and code page switching on a CGA video adapter. Not needed for EGA or VGA.

JOIN.EXE—. DOS 5 utility that makes a disk drive appear to be a subdirectory of another drive. Many DOS commands fail, destroy data, or both when used on a joined drive, so run this utility only if you must.

KBDBUF.SYS—. A device driver that enables you to specify the size of the keyboard type ahead buffer. Cannot be run in high memory.

LCD.CPI—. Code page information file for the IBM PC Convertible's LCD display. Use with DISPLAY.SYS.

MIRROR.COM—. DOS 5 utility that saves information UNDELETE and UNFORMAT use when recovering files. Very useful, but it might interfere with creating DoubleSpace drives.

MSHERC.COM—. TSR that installs support for a Hercules graphics card. Required by some QBasic programs.

NET.TXT—. Supplemental network drivers instruction file (ASCII text). Contains information on when and how to use the following drivers provided on the MS-DOS 6.22 Supplemental Disk. Note that some files must be renamed before they can be used. Their “real” names (what you must rename them to before you can use them) are shown in parentheses.

SETNAME.EXE—. Microsoft MS-NET utility.

PRINTER.SYS—. Device driver that provides support for international characters and code page switching on certain printers.

4201.CPI—. Code page information file for IBM Proprinter II and III model 4201 and XL model 4202.

4208.CPI—. Code page information file for IBM Proprinter X24E model 4207 and XL24E model 4208.

5202.CPI—. Code page information file for IBM QuietWriter III printer.

PRINTFIX.COM—. Utility that prevents MS-DOS from checking the status of your printer. Use only if problems have developed with your printer since installing MS-DOS 6.

GORILLA.BAS—. QuickBasic sample program (game).

MONEY.BAS—. QuickBasic sample program (personal finance manager).

NIBBLES.BAS—. QuickBasic sample program (game).

REMLINE.BAS—. QuickBasic sample program (remove line numbers).