When Internet Explorer 4 dropped in 1997, it didn’t just update your browser—it basically hijacked the whole Windows 95 experience (in a good way, depending on who you ask). If you checked the box for “Windows Desktop Update” during install, it transformed the UI: the boring old desktop became way more dynamic, with web-style Active Desktop that let you pin live content like news and weather right on your screen. It also added things like single-click navigation, web-style folders, and the Quick Launch bar—stuff that would later show up in Windows 98 by default. IE4 blurred the line between local and web, and even though not everyone loved it, it set the stage for how we’d interact with PCs going into the 2000s.