Author: Anonymous
Welcome to another OEM review! This is the desktop for the eMachines eTower series of computers. It has Windows 98 FE pre-installed. Specifically, the models are the 366c, 333cs and the 350c. Similar to other reviewed models in terms of the model name but we're gonna check it out anyways.
Well I'd say this is a nice start. the ATI Video Player version 5.2. Looks like its existed since 1 year after 95's release and kind of went on from there. Most likely discontinued by the XP-era though.
Okay so this is new...this is apparently some networking software??? Its named Netcomplete and I've never seen this software in any other PC install in my life, not eMachines or any other OEM. If I find any other info on this or if you guys do I'll edit this message to add said info.
Well safe to say its definitely a service. Doesn't seem like an ISP though but it could be for all I know. This interface in general reminds me of like enterprise software where you'd have a login dialog to type in your credentials then you'd have access to sensitive information.
You know, without context or otherwise...this is kinda hilarious. Oh yeah you want to connect to Netcom? Just hit Connection Established and you're in. That's actually hilarious. Looks like it uses dial-up by default though.
Well this gives us more insight into the application. It looks like its got everything and by default email is selected as the default "startup application" but you also got FTP and IRC (oh boy, IRC). Who remembers IRC? Even a MOTD which is...intriguing.
Well hitting offline allows us to actually peruse the application to see what works and what info we can find. It looks like this is version 4.12 build 110 and has existed since at least Windows 95's release.
Hitting that little button up there by the file that looks like it makes a new document actually opens up this and a little thing that looks like a web browser inside of it with a custom IE-like GIF and some additional buttons and a URL bar. I guess we wont be using this then. This kind of leads me to believe its a paid service due to the forced login.
Possible usage of email addresses from today's world???
Well I finally found one thing you can use on here without logging in. I just need a working email to test it on lmao.
The logon servers still exist??? That is...very intriguing considering netcom.com doesn't even exist today lmfao
I'M CONNECTED SOMEHOW. Also like 5 seconds later I got a Winsock error. Somehow I'm fucking connected and Cloudflare blocked my request lmao.
This was my Winsock error. Hell if I understand it.
This has to be one of the most interesting pieces of software I've ever stumbled upon
When you click help and it tells you that the help doesn't exist™️ kek
I apologize for you not knowing what HTML is in 1998. The fuck is wrong with this application.
Trying one of our partners sites doesn't even work and it was fucking made for these things. Amazing.
This animation moves slower than any other one I've seen. Also the domain does look to exist but only on www (good job IT team, not fucking auto-redirecting).
Just found this neat windows feature. I actually like this. Netscape never had this lmao but then again its browser was actually fucking OPERABLE. Not to mention known...this shit is so unknown I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. This feature reminds me of the rebuilt and updated Windows 3.X file manager for Windows 10 and shit.
Well let's see if this works
F
Well the news is actually random bullshit. I have no fucking clue what this is but double clicking causes the application to "dispatch tasks".
This explains a lot. Its basically an ISP without them saying that they're an ISP.
Moving on from that huge mess of an application. We have WinDAT from Voyetra. Its a music playing application basically. Came with ATI oddly enough.
We have Microsoft Works version 4.5a for Windows 95 here. Typical of eMachines actually.
And the final highlight is Adobe Acrobat Reader version 3.01 (3.0). Again, this software is meant for reading the pre-installed PDF version of the manual.
Well that's all for this VERY unexpectedly long and somewhat exciting OEM review and I'll see you in the next one