These PC programs were crazy in their time!

Applications come and go. In most cases, they are updated and adapted. However, many may end up being completely discontinued. Looking at how old Windows is, it’s no surprise that there are several famous programs that later disappeared or became less used. In a kind of time travel let’s look at the PC programs that were crazy in their time!

Windows: these famous programs have disappeared!

mIRC

Internet relay chat, or IRC for short, is an Internet conversation protocol that first appeared in 1988. It works using a series of servers, in which users chat in channels. It’s not much different from a modern chat solution like Discord. However, unlike this, the conversation history is not saved on the server and cannot be retrieved later.

mIRC was many users’ preferred Windows IRC client. Like GameSpy, IRC was an invaluable tool in the early days of online gaming, where users could join channels, organize matches, advertise servers, and follow each other in games. Many server vendors offered support through IRC as it was the quickest way to resolve issues at the time.

mIRC still exists, as do many of the IRC servers that made the protocol so popular in the first place.

Flash

I still remember very well the time when Flash dominated the Internet and was part of the essential PC programs. Even if it was just the reader. In fact, you could make very interesting websites. This is in addition to feeding many games that existed at the time. However Flash was deprecated in 2017 and officially saw its discontinuation in 2020. Since then, Adobe has offered a replacement called Adobe Animate. Despite being an interesting app, it still hasn’t reached half the popularity of Flash.

In fact, Flash was so popular that some people still found ways to install the necessary components just to be able to play some titles.

MSN Messenger

Talking to random people online might not seem like a great idea these days, but at one point it was all the rage. The popularity of early instant messaging applications such as MSN Messenger (later Windows Live Messenger), AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and ICQ was truly enormous. It was easy to spend hours talking to people just for the novelty factor. The one that has stood the test of time the most is Messenger.

This service was born in 1999 and was very similar to WhatsApp and other apps of its kind. It emerged in the wake of ICQ, another application of its kind, and helped us maintain contact with several people.

It gained a lot of popularity because it was integrated with Windows XP and because it managed to win over a young audience. In 2012 we found out that this program would be discontinued and a year later it came to an end.

Napster

Napster represented a kind of revolution for its time and as such was at the top of the must-have computer programs for a long time. In fact, an example of its success was the fact that it has around 80 million registered users. In practice, it allowed people to use the Internet to do what they had done for years in neighborhoods, at school and much more. Swap songs. Months after its launch, Napster dominated the Internet.

It ended up not being able to survive due to legal issues and closed its doors in 2001.

Nero Burning Rom

Back when Leak.pt was still CDRW.co.pt, it was one of the PC programs we talked about a lot. In fact, it was one of the best-known recording applications that we received every year from Germany to test.

It was at the height of CD and DVD recorders that Nero shone. Above all because it was a very complete and simple to use program.

In practice, the application still exists. However, it has practically ceased to be used.

Daemon Tools

Daemon Tools was another program that achieved popularity mainly due to its free version. In practice, they allowed the user to mount and interact with virtual disk files. For many this was a crucial program, since Windows previously could not mount virtual disk files.

Like other programs on this list, it lost relevance when Windows started offering this function.

Winamp

Winamp was once the “coolest” way to listen to MP3s of dubious origin. Originally released in 1997, sold to AOL in 1999 and acquired by what is now known as Grupo Llama in 2014, Winamp was perhaps best remembered for its immensely customizable interface and very attractive skins. Many of them are available for consultation at the official Winamp skin museum.

The media player also had a huge variety of plug-ins, helped popularize SHOUTcast radio, and supported features like a media library, album art, and remote applications for streaming your library to another location. Surprisingly, Winamp returned in 2022 with the release of Winamp 5.9 for Windows and has since transformed into a service designed to bring artists and listeners together.