Old famous Windows apps that have not stood the test of time

Those of you over the age of 40 surely have many memories of old popular Windows applications that, while they were popular decades ago, are now obsolete. Let's take a trip back in time to remember them.

Windows,Winamp,Daemon,CCleaner,Norton,burning,LimeWire,Fraps,MSN,Flash

Most old users have spent their history on the internet working with timeless programs, such as Acrobat Reader, Office, mIRC, Putty, Team Viewer, etc. And they certainly remember some forgotten programs that were top of the line in their time.

Programs are nothing more than support. The more their manufacturers release new versions, the more they will always be in the spotlight.

Let's take a quick look at the other side of the internet, that is, Windows programs that once shone and are now forgotten.

Flash

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Flash really dominated the web. It was everywhere. Inside websites, in games, in videos. But it was at the same time a powerful one animation πολλαπλών χρήσεων, που πρόσφερε στους καλλιτέχνες ένα ισχυρό production of short films, which could then be integrated into other pieces of software.

After major security failures, Flash was deprecated in 2017 and officially discontinued in 2020 by Adobe. The company has since offered a replacement in the form of Adobe Animate CC.

Although in addition to Adobe, a bunch of software appeared for it Flash replacement, the increase in computer capabilities and internet speed pushed Flash technology aside and replaced it with regular videos.

MSN

msn1

MSN was the premier program for communicating with other users in the 90s. The Microsoft Network (MSN) was originally a subscription online dial-up connection that later became an Internet service provider called MSN Dial-up.

Now, it's a simple website. The program still exists, but it's just a host for that website.

Microsoft has used the name 'MSN' for a wide variety of products and services, most notably: Hotmail (later Outlook.com), Messenger (which was once synonymous with 'MSN' in internet slang and has now been replaced from Skype), and its web search engine, which is now Bing, and many other revamped and retired services.

Fraps

Fraps (named after “frames per second”) is a benchmarking, screen capture and screen recording utility for Windows developed by Beepa.

It saw its glory days with frequent use in recording games and other software from users' screens. The availability of the free trial version meant that every new player of the time was sure to seek out this program.

The Fraps still exists to a large extent and serves as an excellent benchmarking tool.

Fraps records video in high resolution if the computer is powerful enough. The maximum supported resolution is 7680×4800, and because it uses a proprietary codec, playing Fraps video output requires Fraps or ffdshow to be installed.

However, its prominence as a recording tool has mostly fallen by the wayside. Native GPU recording options have largely taken their place. It's very rare to see those bright yellow Fraps digits anymore.

Norton

norton commander dos

From the very old days, when Windows still ran on DOS, there was a program that tried to bring order to the sprawling folders of computers.

It was Norton Commander, an original orthodox file manager written by John Socha and released by Peter Norton Computing (later acquired in 1990 by Symantec).

NC provided a text-based user interface for managing files on top of MS-DOS. It was officially produced between 1986 and 1998. The latest MS-DOS version of Norton Commander, 5.51, was released on July 1, 1998.

Since then, Windows graphics and the concept of windows have relegated NC to the background, but legacy users continue to work with the logic of two identically weighted windows today, through its replacement, Total Commander.

LimeWire

LimeWire simplified the process of peer-to-peer use and made it accessible to everyone. It was one of the first p2p clients based on the bittorrent protocol, along with Napster, eDonkey2000, eMule (with their own networks), etc.

Basically back in 2000, it introduced users to the concept of torrenting, a time when everyone was searching through file servers to download songs and programs. But LimeWire quickly became notorious for infecting the family computer with viruses.

Regardless of what the program was used for, it fell out of popularity fairly quickly after modern torrent programs became more widely available.

LimeWire still exists today, having undergone many transformations, protections and possibilities. Very different from what it once stood for, but potentially relevant again.

Nero Burning

In a world full of flash drives, or ssd drives, burning DVD discs is still a relatively popular function. To say that no one does it anymore would be inaccurate, but the general need to burn media to discs has seen a significant decline over the years.

In addition, access to music and videos via streaming and other media is now in first demand, not requiring high storage capabilities, even temporary.

Burning media to disc is not a very desirable feature for the average consumer, and this is reflected by many computer versions (especially laptops) abandoning the disc drive altogether.

Nero Burning ROM, was then available with a trial version, and the most necessary software for every computer.

Now it's a rare thing to see, as people use native alternatives for the times they want to burn something to a CD. Besides, it is now also given as a Windows feature.

CCleaner

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CCleaner was definitely an essential tool. Its intention was to clean temporary and junk files from your system, hoping to optimize computer performance. It can also deal with damaged registry entries.

All of this is now built into Windows. The Disk Cleanup tool already scans and suggests removing unrelated junk files, with the advantage of not touching the increasingly sensitive Windows registry files.

daemon Tools

Daemon Tools was another program that became popular mainly because of its free version. It allowed the user to create virtual disks and link them with virtual disk files. For die-hard users of the 2000s, this was a crucial program, as previously Windows could not mount virtual disk files natively.

Like other programs on this list, Daemon Tools has fallen into disuse mainly because Windows offers the above functionality by default.

Today, it's as easy as double-clicking an ISO file to mount it. Daemon Tools is now a tool only for those who want to manage multiple virtual drives.

Winamp

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It was the most popular music player, mainly for the psychedelic display it offered and literally hypnotized anyone who watched it for more than a minute.

It played music songs in mp3 format, a time when users simply ripped official CDs and had a maximum capacity of 10-15 tracks. The advent of mp3s and the ability to fit 100 tracks on a single CD made Winamp an essential tool for every computer.

Today in a multitude of players who play almost everything, Winamp tries again to regain its lost glory, with its developers promising constant upgrades.

For the old to remember

Programs come and go, but due to the nature of the internet, they never go away. You can still access and use many of these programs today, and much of this list still sees a little active development.

Every user over 50 has surely used many of the above and maybe some of you still use them, stubbornly refusing to change them even with a pre-installed Windows feature

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Written by Dimitris

Dimitris hates on Mondays .....

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