this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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Microsoft's ancient icon library still lurks deep within Windows 11 (www.theregister.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by cm0002@lemmy.zip to c/windows@sopuli.xyz
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The pifmgr.dll still lingers in modern Windows installations - a throwback to a simpler and blockier time, according to veteran Microsoft engineer Raymond Chen.

As with the icons found in moricons.dll and progman.exe, pifmgr.dll contains a set of icons designed in an era when color and pixels were considerably more limited than the artistic endeavors of today. This author remembers squinting at a 16 x 16 grid to create something the user might recognize, using just 16 colors.

Microsoft filled pifmgr.dll with a selection of icons that a user might find handy to represent an MS-DOS application on the Windows desktop.

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[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Windows dialog box displaying pifmgr.dll icons.

[–] Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I get feel good, happy vibes when I see those icons.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Backwards compatibility has gone TOO FAR