hai guize! this page is not done yet, plz GTFO!
i can haz not fixd spellin an gramur yet.
How to change the "unchangeable" system fonts:
download SysFont for Windows 3.1
run SysFont and use it to convert a .TTF font to a .FON font file and save it in %windir%\system. You may want to play with the sizes and attributes, they can have a big effect on how the system looks.
when you close SysFont and it asks to save changes, press no. You can press yes, but it won't do anything because the program is made for Windows 3.1.
After you do that, use Fonts in the Control Panel to install that font.
title bar and menu bar font:
open regedt32
go to hkey_local_machine\Software\microsoft\windows nt\gre_Initalize change to the font you just made, use it's filename not it's font name. (ex: Tahoma.fon)
dialog box fonts:
go tohkey_local_machine\Software\microsoft\windows nt\fontsubstitutions change to the font you just made Use it's font name, it should be "System Font: original name" (ex: System Font: Tahoma) You can use any font here, but I would not recommend a TrueType font, they can cause trouble with some programs.
icon font:
go to: hkey_current_user\control panel\desktop change to the font you just made Use it's font name. You can use any font on the computer for this, even TrueType fonts. They all work fine here.
More color schemes:
download this registry file, unzip it, and import it to the registry to install the following color schemes:
You will have to change the fonts yourself, following the directions above. You will note that the actual dialog box size changes depending on the fonts and font sizes.
getting more modern programs to work:
download this zip file of .DLLs:
contains:
copy them to %windir%\system32, if a file already exists, rename it to filename.old and then copy the new one.
restart the computer
fixing outlook 97 when it says "the ordinal 37 could not be found in mapi32.dll"
for some reason mapi32.dll keeps getting corrupted. This is easy to fix, just copy mapi32.dll from the original installation disks to %windir%/system32. I recommend keeping this file in an easy to find place on the hard drive because it has a tendency to get corrupted rather a lot.
full list of unsupported programs that work and how to get them to work
| Program Name | How to install/make functional | Problems when running program | Other required files (other than 351dll.zip) | Download Link: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audacity 1.2.6 | installer does not work, install from .zip | some dialog box fonts are too big and run off-screen | none | ... |
| Firefox 2.something | installer does not work, install from .zip, delete whatever | crashes when trying to import bookmarks, no java support | none | ... |
| Seamonkey 1.something | installer works, use it. | Email client does not support ssl. can be fixed, see below | to fix dialog boxes. extracted to | ... |
| Winamp 5 | installer works. Do not install visualizations, themes, video, or wma support, they don't work | Winamp library does not work. | none? | ... |
| Flash 7 plug-in | Installer does not work, copy to Firefox/Seamonkey plugins dir manually | none, but not much can use Flash 7 anymore. it slows down Firefox a lot, I recommend installing the FlashBlock plug-in. | Windows NT 3.51 version wininet.dll (installs with office 97) | ... |
| No-IP dynamic update client what.ever | installer works, use it? | it automatically minimizes to the System Tray, there is no system tray, use task manager to restore and then minimize program to an icon | none? | ... |
| RealVNC | installer does not work, use .zip | Everything works great, you can even run it as a system service! | none? | ... |
| WinImage what.ever | installer does not work, use .zip | none, it almost seems like it was designed to run on NT 3.51 | none | ... |
| 7-zip 3.13 | installer works, use it. | 7ZFM only lists files when in list or details mode, some menu bar icons don't show up. | none? | ... |
| Remote desktop connection client what.ever | installer does not work. | when connecting to XP or later, it will crash unless you disable drwtsn32. it will still display an error message, but as long as you don't click anything on it, the program works fine. click ok on the error when you get ready to exit. | none? | ... |
using ssl-enabled email servers (like Gmail) with Mozilla Seamonkey what.ever
Gmail's IMAP server uses ssl, nt3.51 only has Winsock 1 Seamonkey cant use ssl. on another computer on the same local network as the nt351 system, install [that program] and configure it thusly:
on the nt351 system in Seamonkey configure like this:
outgoing emails don't work, I don't know why. you cannot send, but you can still read emails, so that is something.
this also works in the 16-bit Outlook Express 5 on NT3.51 or Windows 3.1. I don't recommend, it is unstable and crashes a lot.