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Four Programs you didn’t know existed on your computer

Most of us are very familiar with Windows XP and have explored almost all the programs that come default with XP. Here are four programs you most probably didn’t know existed on your computer.

Private Character Editor
There is an accessory program called the Private Character Editor included with Windows XP that is quite obscure and little-known. It is used in conjunction with the Character Map and provides a way to create your own fonts or logos.

How to open
To open the program, go to Start-Run and enter eudcedit

iExpress

IExpress is a technology designed to simplify creation of a setup program. Using the step-by-step IExpress Wizard, you can create self-extracting files that automatically run the setup program contained inside. IExpress technology automatically removes the setup files after installation, saving the user time and frustration. So now you know how to create your own installers !

How to open
To open the program, go to Start-Run and enter iexpress


Dr. Watson

Dr. Watson for Windows is a program error debugger. The information obtained and logged by Dr. Watson is the information needed by technical support groups to diagnose a program error for a computer running Windows. A text file (Drwtsn32.log) is created whenever an error is detected or a program crashes, and can be delivered to support personnel by the method they prefer. You also have the option of creating a crash dump file, which is a binary file that a programmer can load into a debugger.

How to open
To open the program, go to Start-Run and enter drwtsn32


Media Player 5.1

Yes Media Player 5. You probably have Windows Media PLayer 10 or 11 installed but the fact is even if you upgrade your media player, version 5.1 will remain on your system.

How to open
To open the program, go to Start-Run and enter mplay32

43 Comments
  1. cool buddy, except for Watson I never knew other things existed , you might have done lots of digging to find them lol

  2. Its actually a much bigger list thought I’d keep the rest for later, btw visit my new blog techieportal.com

    This one gets updated one week after the posts appear on the new blog.

    Gratz on reaching top 4000 blogs on technorati :D

  3. I didn’t know of the first one that looks interesting…lemme try it…

  4. Yup, I didn’t realise the 3rd one.

    Good find.

  5. I didnt know abt the first 2 ones. Good post.

  6. Only one I didn’t know about was media player 5. Not that I want it but.. didn’t know it was there.

  7. knew all of them (or at least alternative programs to do the same)
    if i made such a list, my pics would probably be: visipics, autostitch, super (the one from erightsoft), wireshark, Security & Privacy Complete 3.0, EndItAll2, Sandboxie…..

  8. oh wait.. postet to fast.. diddn’t see that those should be included in winXP. i’m sorry, ignore last post.
    still knew 3/4 :P

  9. :grin:

    Nice post

    Nice post

    Really nice post…….

  10. meh I knew about them. But then again, I’m a geek.

  11. Thanks for iExpress!
    :)

  12. Thanx a lot. :cool:

  13. please hurry and up give me some more :twisted:

  14. A :lol: great post! Most helpful.
    MK Bowen [email protected]

  15. Great tool and yes it does work with Vista….nice.

  16. Nice post, works with vista too :cool:

  17. Knew about all of these.

  18. Neat.

    Why would ms still package wmp 5.1? I’m temped to say spiteful things but that wouldn’t be constructive now would it.

  19. :shock: All work in Vista 64bit except for mplay32 (no surprise since it has the 32 in the name)

  20. This article was written for Windows XP, thats the reason the mplay32 does not work on Vista

  21. Nice list…than :shock: :shock: ks.

  22. Media Player 5.1 is interesting one. Others I know. Good post.

  23. Last one doesn’t exists in Vista :)

  24. Very nice. I knew about the last two, but it’s nice to be reminded. The first two on your list are awesome. Thanks for the tip. Now to think of fun ways to use them.

  25. interesting post….to bad i have a MAC!! suckers haha, no but i do run paralells so i use XP for somethings

  26. Would love to know if there are any tricks on figuring out why VISTA boots so Slowly.

  27. you ‘ve done a good job there

  28. i think you should do more research and make your findings available to us

  29. Nice one i knew 2 of them

  30. Thanks !!! Didnt know about the media player.

  31. Hi its perfect …

  32. :mrgreen: the reason why ms still packages media player 5 is because so it can be used in web apps and in conjunction to streaming whatever over the internet. they figure its compatible with just about any software so its a universible media app. :idea: :lol:

  33. Interesting :D

  34. Well, actually i knew all of them and i’m just a student!!!

  35. Great list.
    I did not know about the first two.

  36. Very good selection.
    Please visit our site for a new transfer tool.

  37. Thank you for sharing!
    Very nice list :)

  38. Sadly mplay32 doesn’t work on Windows 7 :(

  39. you will also have Media player 6.4 available by start -> run mplayer2 -> enter

  40. drwtsn32 not on windows 7 :(

  41. Nice post! Thank you so much!

  42. I have installed Mplay32(media player 5.1 from Windows XP) on my Windows 7. And it is working on Windows 7 without any problems. I did this by copying the file from my Windows XP computer onto my Windows 7 computer.I have tried it on Windows 8,and Mplay32 is working on Windows 8.

    I have also installed the Windows XP Sound Recorder on both Windows 7 and Windows 8,the same way by copying the program files over from Windows XP. It is possible to run most Windows XP programs on Windows Vista,7 and 8 this way. But you must have a Windows XP computer in order to copy the files from. Andrea Borman.

  43. I have installed WMP5.1,Mplay32 from Windows XP on my Windows 7,windows Vista and now on Windows 8. I did this just by copying the Mplay32 program file found in Windows/system 32 on Windows XP onto Windows,system32folder on Windows7,Windows Vista and windows 8. And WMP5.1 is now running on Windows 7,Windows Vista and Windows 8. But WMP 6.4,Mplayer2 the other media player does not work on Windows 7,windows Vista or Windows 8,only on Windows XP. Andrea Borman