Encarta 95 was Microsoft’s big swing at digitizing the encyclopedia, and honestly, it hit hard for its time. Dropping in late 1994, it ran on Windows 95 and came packed on a shiny CD-ROM—back when loading stuff from a disc felt futuristic. Compared to flipping through 20 volumes of Britannica, Encarta gave you thousands of articles, photos, maps, and even video clips right on your screen. No internet needed. Microsoft kept updating it every year—Encarta 96, 97, 98—until the internet (and Wikipedia) basically made it obsolete. But in the mid-'90s, firing up Encarta to do your homework—or just mess around with the “MindMaze” trivia game—felt like having the entire library in your bedroom.