Windows Chat
LAN-based text chatting program

Windows Chat (not to be confused with Microsoft Comic Chat) is a simple LAN-based text chatting program included in Windows for Workgroups and, later, the Windows NT-line of operating systems, including Windows NT 3.x, NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and also Windows 95. In later Windows versions, the Network DDE service may need to be enabled to receive calls. It utilizes the NetBIOS session service and NetDDE. Users can chat with each other over an IPX LAN. The shortcut to the executable is not present in the Start Menu in newer versions of Windows; it must instead be run by using Start > Run... > WinChat.exe.
Windows Chat utilizes a split screen user interface similar to UNIX talk. Windows Chat is real time text, with typing being transmitted immediately.
Microsoft removed the application from Windows versions from Vista on, with the removal of NetDDE, though the program and the DDE service it needs may be manually installed. However the application can still be used through programs such as virtual machines if earlier versions of Windows are installed on them.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Windows Chat” as lAN-based text chatting program. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 14, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q8024400. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2000 and 2003.
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This entry incorporates text from “Windows Chat” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.