Some examples are
https://i.imgur.com/r5aQNyJ.png - Smalltalk Express
https://i.imgur.com/W9ES2fg.png - Delphi 1
https://i.imgur.com/VLSglAK.png - Windows 1.0 port of WineMine
https://i.imgur.com/OLq2gLm.jpg - The Exile series of RPGs
https://i.imgur.com/e26mqWP.png - MicroLathe (though that one does a segfault every time it renders... but it catches it and allows continuing use of the program)
While these programs are fun to play around with (especially Smalltalk Express), another use for this is to run the setup of older (32bit) applications that used a 16bit stub (Microsoft does have a few replacement stubs for some very popular installers but there are many other - and other versions - that are not there... and funny enough, AFAIK this project relies on the code Microsoft added to check for 16bit installers to run any 16bit program :-P).
This made me curious, so I did a bit of digging, and found https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/memory/physic... (quoted out of order for simplicity):
> Windows automatically enables PAE if DEP is enabled on a computer that supports hardware-enabled DEP, or if the computer is configured for hot-add memory devices in memory ranges beyond 4 GB. If the computer does not support hardware-enabled DEP or is not configured for hot-add memory devices in memory ranges beyond 4 GB, PAE must be explicitly enabled.
> PAE does not change the amount of virtual address space available to a process. Each process running in 32-bit Windows is still limited to a 4 GB virtual address space.
So, TL;DR, what you said :). But I'm glad I checked!
Unfortunately, PAE on Windows is a sad story. Unlike what the knowledge base said, in practice, you cannot use PAE for this purpose on Windows. Officially, PAE is only supported on Windows Server, and unusable on desktops.
Technically it's supported and almost always activated by Windows (since PAE is needed for the NX bit / DEP). But on desktop systems, Microsoft intentionally crippled PAE by locking the maximum memory to 4 GiB by a software license restriction [0]. Microsoft didn't do it because it wanted to force you to buy licenses, but due to compatibility problems, especially, all types of device drivers are problematic. Using more memory requires patching the kernel to bypass this license restriction, with unpredictable consequences due to incompatibilities.
TL;DR: PAE on Windows is practically useless.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension#Mic...
* PAE is technically enabled on most machines, but only for side effects like DEP, and there's a software lock on using more than 4GB memory.
* Via either spending lots of money or patching some files, you can get a 32-bit version of windows to use 64GB of memory. As long as your drivers don't explode.
* "4GB virtual address space" is a bit misleading. A normal 32-bit process can only use 2GB on 32-bit windows. (or 3GB if you change some settings) The upper part of the address space has to be reserved for the kernel. If you want the entire 4GB for your process, you have to run it on 64-bit windows.
As long as you can make it work, getting windows to recognize more memory despite per-process caps is a massive improvement and "limited to 4GB RAM" really undersells it.