Dinosaurs on Your Hard Disk: Historical Files in Windows 7 Everybody Seems to Have Forgotten About

Everybody knows that Windows installations become bigger with every version. But Windows’ hard disk footprint grows not only because Microsoft adds new files, but also because some files seem to be delete-proof and are not removed, even though they have been obsolete for ages. This is a compilation of some of these files along with images of their 1990’s style icons.

Grpconv.exe

The description says it all: “Windows Progman Group Converter”. Wow! Might be useful in an upcoming migration to Windows 8.

Regedt32.exe

This used to be the big boys’ registry editor. Now it is just a launcher for Regedit.exe which in turn got Regedt32’s functionality. But is it not nice how Microsoft kept the original icon? It contrasts nicely with the UAC overlay icon Explorer puts on it.

Regtrace.exe

The only documents still publicly available about this tool mention Commerce Server 2000 and Site Server 3.0. Did anyone ever use those?

Twunk_32.exe

According to KB178577 from 1999 “this program allows 32-bit TWAIN client software to communicate with the 16-bit Twain.dll.” So what does it do in my 64-bit Windows 7 installation?

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If you find any other dinosaur files please let me know by commenting below.