With a history as long as Windows has, it'southward no surprise that the operating system (OS) has adopted and dropped many features over fourth dimension. We've looked at ancient programs still in use today as well every bit longtime Windows tools that new features superseded. But did you know that Windows withal hides some outdated functions?

Allow's take a wait at some quondam, archaic features Windows x can nonetheless exercise that most people haven't used for years.

1. Floppy Disks

Floppy disks illustrate the growth of storage media quite well. The nearly recent form of floppy deejay, which measures 3.5 inches, only holds a measly 1.44 MB. That'southward not even enough to agree an average song in MP3 format!

Indeed, even with merely 16 GB of storage in your phone, you're carrying around the equivalent of 11,111 floppy disks. While 99 pct of users have moved onto solid state drives, USB wink drives, and fifty-fifty CD-ROMs to store their data, Windows 10 tin notwithstanding handle floppy disks.

Of course, y'all won't find a brand-new computer with a floppy bulldoze. Instead, y'all can use floppy disks with an external reader that plugs into a USB port. If it'south a recent model, Plug and Play should enable it as soon every bit y'all connect it to your PC. Older ones might require you to notice updated drivers to make them work with Windows 10. You can buy a USB floppy disk reader from Amazon for fairly inexpensive if you don't have one.

Why would y'all bother with this? Perhaps you want to play an ancient DOS game that uses floppy disks, or just want to try it to say y'all did. If y'all accept old floppies that you lot but use for drink coasters, cheque out amend artistic uses for them.

2. Punch-Up Net Connection

Think yous've got a slow net connection? Be thankful you don't connect via dial-upwards, which Windows 10 still supports. Open up up the Settings app and head to the Network & internet section, and you'll come across a whole tab dedicated to Dial-up. You'll need a modem that connects to a jack on the wall via a phone cable to use information technology. Windows ten will walk you lot through adding your credentials to connect via dial-up on that menu.

If you're not familiar, this ancient form of internet access uses a modem to dial a telephone number that connects your reckoner to an internet service provider (ISP). In its time this was a revolutionary style to get online, as many folks who used America Online (now AOL) equally their Isp know. It's hideously irksome past modernistic standards, though. Dial-up connections provide effectually 56 Kbps, while a decently fast broadband connection today is 10 Mbps.

Using a comparison tool, we tin run into that downloading a 10 MB file (like a software installer) would take about 25 minutes on dial-up only only eight seconds on a 10 Mbps connexion. Up this to 100 MB (the size of a brusque video) and yous'd be waiting iv hours and 9 minutes on dial-upwards. That same download would have nigh a infinitesimal and 20 seconds on a modernistic connection.

In areas with poor coverage, punch-up is however the only method of internet connexion bachelor. Thus, millions of people yet pay for AOL's inexpensive dial-up internet. But if you want to relive the glory days of dial-up without the pathetic speeds, this Chrome extension will play the iconic sound of a modem dialing every fourth dimension you open your browser.

3. Windows 95 Compatibility Mode

Whenever a new version of Windows arrives, people expect it to work with all their old devices and programs. Because of this, Windows includes some special modes to aid go erstwhile software working. If you right-click on whatsoever program installed on your computer and choose Properties, then striking the Compatibility tab, y'all'll observe these options.

Checking Run this programme in compatibility style for: lets you cull a previous edition of Windows to run it under. When you lot do this, Windows applies settings for that particular Windows version to try to make it work. Most modern software works fine with current versions of Windows, but you can use this feature if older games aren't working, for case.

What'south funny (and aboriginal) is that Windows 95 is included as an pick here. The thought that someone would need to run software designed for a 22-twelvemonth-old operating system is comical, but could be the example for business organisation applications. Still, it'south neat to see this leftover from the past in Windows 10. It won't work for ancient 16-bit Windows three.1 programs though, since even software for Windows 95 was 32-bit.

iv. Windows Faxing

When was the concluding time you sent a fax? Aside from some business sectors and government usage, fax machines take largely died off. Due to the ease of email and deject storage, sharing files via fax isn't efficient anymore. Thus, for most people, it'southward not worth the wasted space to go on a fax machine effectually when y'all can send faxes from your figurer for free if needed.

But if you practice accept a physical fax motorcar and a modem for connecting to a telephone line effectually, you lot'll be happy to know that Windows supports faxing natively. Type Fax into the Start Menu, and you'll run across the Windows Fax and Scan entry. Click that to take a look. You lot might have used this same utility to browse pictures or documents into your computer, but information technology doubles as a faxing tool as well.

Click New Fax and you'll be prompted to connect a fax modem to your computer. Once that'south done, Windows will walk y'all through sending the fax. Once again, for most people faxing is obsolete and surpassed long ago with email. But this has hung effectually in Windows for several versions.

Holding Onto the Past

Windows 10 has dropped a lot of features that aren't relevant anymore and fifty-fifty introduced some that made people upset. Merely information technology'south interesting to run into that Microsoft kept these four ancient functions and didn't require you to work to resurrect them. Of course, if they worked in prior Windows versions it'due south not hard to port them over, but we wonder how long these features will persist.

Will the side by side version of Windows feature a compatibility style for Windows 95 and born support for faxing and punch-up internet connections? We'll find out in time.

For more Windows feature fun, bank check out bygone features nosotros don't miss or mostly forgotten Windows programs that are still kicking.

Take you plant any other aboriginal functions that Windows 10 all the same supports? Do you use any of the in a higher place iv utilities? Tell us what you think by leaving a comment!

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Ben Stegner (1801 Articles Published)

Ben is the Editor in Chief at MakeUseOf. He left his Information technology job to write full-time in 2016 and has never looked dorsum. He'southward been covering tech tutorials, video game recommendations, and more as a professional writer for over 8 years.

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