Retro PC: Windows 95 in Your Browser

Retro PC lets you use Windows 95 online, right in your browser. Built by Mind Theory, it recreates a 1990s home computer down to the small details: the Start button, the dial-up modem, Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, and a folder of documents left behind by a teenager in 1996.

Step back into 1996

Ask anyone who grew up in the 90s about dial-up and you will hear the sound before the story. That long screech, then the wait, then someone shouting to get off the phone line.

Retro PC brings that moment back. Open Internet Explorer and the 33.6k modem dials up before the page loads. Double-click an icon to open a program, drag the blue title bar to move a window, or click Start, then Programs, to see everything on the machine.

There is a Documents folder that belonged to a teenager in 1996, with homework on how to build artificial intelligence and a to-do list that includes taping a Nirvana song off MTV.

20 retro games made using AI

There are 20 games to try, from Snake and Minesweeper to Chess and Space Invaders. The line-up also includes 3D Snake, Breakout, Centipede, Reversi, Blackjack and Battleship, and every one of them was made by either the Mind Theory team or its students.

To play, open a game and click inside it once so it picks up your keyboard. Closing the window ends the game.

Find the virus with real MS-DOS commands

The part kids enjoy most is the virus. VirusScan finds one hiding somewhere on the computer but cannot say where. To track it down, they open the Terminal and learn real MS-DOS commands:

• DIR lists the files in a folder
• CD moves between folders
• TYPE shows what is inside a file

Find it, and your name goes on the Detectives list.

A good Friday-night screen session

It makes for a good Friday-night screen session with the family. Parents get the nostalgia, kids learn how a computer is actually organised underneath the icons.

That second part matters more than it looks. Most children today meet computers through apps and touchscreens, where files and folders stay out of sight. Typing DIR and CD shows them that everything on a computer lives somewhere, in folders inside folders, and that a few typed words can move them around it. The same idea sits underneath the AI coding tools they meet later in our courses.

Try Retro PC

Retro PC runs in any modern browser with nothing to install. It works best on a laptop or desktop, since the games and the Terminal need a keyboard. Open it here: Retro PC by Mind Theory.

Established in March 2023, Mind Theory is Singapore’s pioneering AI education provider, offering Gen AI holiday camps for children, teens, and secondary school programs. To find out more, visit our Courses page.

Students build web apps through vibe coding. design animations and Roblox games using AI-powered tools. These aren’t just projects. they are a practice in creative problem-solving, technical fluency, and experimentation.

Contact us to book a class by email or Whatsapp..