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    What were the MS-DOS programs that the moricons.dll icons were intended for?

    (devblogs.microsoft.com)
    310 points rbanffy | 11 comments | 13 May 25 11:06 UTC | HN request time: 1.056s | source | bottom
    1. mmastrac ◴[16 May 25 14:34 UTC] No.44006007[source]▶
    Remember the good old days of editing PIF (Program Information Files) files [⁂]? Ah yeah.

    Googling a bit, it looks like a lot of this lore has just been lost. I don't know if there are modern explanations of PIF files kicking around.

    ⁂ I realize this is an ATM machine phrasing, but we called them PIF files in the day.

    replies(6): >>44006802 #>>44007670 #>>44008347 #>>44009953 #>>44010798 #>>44011336 #
    2. deaddodo ◴[16 May 25 15:43 UTC] No.44006802[source]▶
    There's still plenty of information on the file format kicking around:

    https://www.fileformat.info/format/pif/corion.htm

    https://web.archive.org/web/20220214185118/http://www.smsoft...

    As well as a basic explanation of the file's purpose:

    http://justsolve.archiveteam.org/wiki/Program_information_fi...

    replies(1): >>44008148 #
    3. hk1337 ◴[16 May 25 17:03 UTC] No.44007670[source]▶
    > PIF

    it's also an onomatopoeia for opening up a can of biscuits

    4. mmastrac ◴[16 May 25 17:55 UTC] No.44008148[source]▶
    The second link is exactly what I was hoping for, but only seems to exist on the archive. I wasn't able to locate it or other detailed information with my cursory searches. I'm glad it was preserved.
    replies(1): >>44012849 #
    5. GranPC ◴[16 May 25 18:15 UTC] No.44008347[source]▶
    Back in the day, sending the string ".pif" to any MSN Messenger group chat was enough to immediately disable it for everyone. Fun way of dealing with spam :)
    6. fredoralive ◴[16 May 25 21:29 UTC] No.44009953[source]▶
    It’s basically just configuration data for MS-DOS apps running under Windows (or some over MS-DOS multitaskers). Stuff like EMS and XMS memory amounts, various config options etc.

    Fun fact: under the hood, PIF files are sent to the same ShellExecute function as EXEs, and if you have an EXE with a PIF extension, it runs the EXE code as normal.

    Funnier fact: In Windows 95 and onwards, the UI presents PIFs as a special case of shortcuts, and as with LNK files, Windows always hides (hid?) the extension, even if you have “always show extensions” on. When I get home, I’ll have to check if Windows 11 still has this behaviour…

    Edit: Yeah, creating a copy of calc.exe in my ~/Documents folder and renaming it calc.docx.pif does result in a working calculator file that presents gives its name as "calc.docx", albeit with a "shortcut to generic file" icon and a type of "Shortcut to MS-DOS Program" despite the fact that I can't think of any legitimate reason to do anything with a real PIF file on Windows 11 (24H2).

    replies(2): >>44012403 #>>44015406 #
    7. layer8 ◴[16 May 25 23:44 UTC] No.44010798[source]▶
    Pretty unconventional to use an asterism as a footnote symbol.
    8. ◴[17 May 25 01:27 UTC] No.44011336[source]▶
    9. hulitu ◴[17 May 25 06:26 UTC] No.44012403[source]▶
    Even funier fact: the fact that Windows treated pif and lnk files as executable lead to a lot of exploits.
    10. kragen ◴[17 May 25 08:14 UTC] No.44012849{3}[source]▶
    For now, depending on how long the Archive survives.
    11. ranger_danger ◴[17 May 25 16:31 UTC] No.44015406[source]▶
    I just checked on a Win11 VM, with show extensions and show hidden turned on, I created a test.pif file on the desktop and the extension is NOT visible. It appears as a shortcut with the little arrow on the icon, and the properties list the file type as "Shortcut to MS-DOS Program (.pif)".