5 retro Home windows apps which are nonetheless alive and effectively in 2025

When you’re wherever close to as outdated as I’m, then you definitely’ll recall the PC period of the Nineties and the early 2000s: a time when cumbersome beige bins dominated the roost, when

Windows
was nonetheless a extremely crash-prone affair, and when applications had been downloaded from the online versus the Microsoft Retailer.

A lot has changed over the years
, with each first-party and third-party Home windows software program having advanced with the occasions. The

modern PC app ecosystem
is bustling with power, however for each revolutionary new expertise on the market, there is a legacy program nonetheless prospering on nostalgia, advantage, or typically a mix of each.

Listed here are 5 retro Home windows apps particularly that I all the time had put in on my

PC
again within the day, and that proceed to outlive (and to an extent, thrive) even within the yr 2025.

1

Winamp (1997)

It actually whips the llama

Winamp

Winamp is a basic media participant program for Home windows, providing customizable interface skins, music visualization, and an iconic slogan.

Winamp is a well-liked media participant program for Home windows that was first launched in 1997. The app rapidly skyrocketed in recognition, partially owing to its versatile plug-in system, its ecosystem of interface skins, its mesmerizing music visualization function, and its iconic “it actually whips the llama’s ass” slogan.

In comparison with the built-in Home windows Media Participant of the time, Winamp was edgier, extra customizable, and simply plain enjoyable to make use of for sifting by and taking part in again regionally saved music recordsdata. In the present day, this system stays accessible below a freemium (free however with paid extra options) distribution mannequin, and a dedicated Android version can be accessible on the Google Play Retailer.

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2

CCleaner (2003)

A storied system cleaner utility

CCleaner

In its heyday, CCleaner was some of the in style system cleaner utilities for Home windows, able to eradicating junk recordsdata, clearing cookies, and extra.

CCleaner, initially referred to as Crap Cleaner in 2003, is among the most well-known system cleaner apps for Home windows. This system was significantly in style again within the Home windows XP, Vista, and seven days, with a reasonably easy interface for clearing browser cookies, momentary recordsdata, cache recordsdata, and different junk knowledge.

Personally, I have never put in a devoted cleaner utility like CCleaner onto my PC in years. Fashionable variations of Home windows are greater than able to cleansing up after themselves, and it is not all the time a good suggestion to let third-party apps sweep across the Home windows Registry. I discover CCleaner’s pop-ups incessant, and it has a little bit of a doubtful historical past on the subject of knowledge assortment, software program bundling, and safety vulnerabilities.

The desktop model of CCleaner is free to obtain and set up, and a paid Professional tier can be accessible with extra superior instruments on the helm. Nowadays, the app will also be downloaded on macOS and Android.

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3

IrfanView (1996)

A basic picture viewing program

IrfanView

IrfanView is a basic photograph program for Home windows that allows you to view, edit, manage, and convert your picture recordsdata with ease.

IrfanView is a photograph supervisor software that first hit the Home windows scene in 1996. This system serves as an all-in-one picture viewer, editor, organizer, and converter instrument, providing extra performance than Microsoft’s default Home windows Photograph Viewer did on the time.

As with the opposite entries on this record, IrfanView stays actively supported, and may be downloaded and put in on the most recent launch of Home windows 11. IrfanView is free for private use, with a variety of plug-ins accessible to complement the bottom expertise of the app.

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4

WinRAR (1995)

Your free trial has expired

WinRAR

A well known compression instrument that gives loads of archival and extractor choices not discovered natively in Microsoft’s File Explorer app.

There are a selection of iconic compression tools accessible for Home windows, together with 7-Zip, WinZip, and NanaZip, however none fairly ring my very own nostalgia bells to the identical extent as WinRAR. First launched in 1995, WinRAR is a full-featured file archiver instrument that’s suitable with RAT and ZIP codecs.

Other than being a extremely helpful utility, WinRAR has entered popular culture meme standing as a consequence of its notorious trialware distribution mannequin. The trial model of the app has an on-paper expiration date, however you’ll be able to proceed to make use of the app in perpetuity with out paying a dime. Nowadays, a separate Android version of the app merely referred to as RAR, can be accessible for obtain from the Google Play Retailer.

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5

μTorrent (2005)

An notorious BitTorrent shopper for PC

μTorrent

μTorrent is maybe probably the most iconic BitTorrent shopper accessible on PC, proving significantly in style through the torrent increase of the mid-2000s.

Again within the early-to-mid-2000s, peer-to-peer file sharing (also referred to as torrenting) grew to become a preferred internet-connected PC phenomenon. 2005’s μTorrent was (and stays) a go-to BitTorrent shopper for facilitating torrents — the μ prefix represents ‘micro,’ alluding to this system’s light-weight under-the-hood code.

In the present day, μTorrent remains to be prepared accessible for obtain, and it may be had at no cost. A separate μTorrent Basic version can be accessible on the product’s official web site, which presents a basic interface for followers of the nice outdated days of Home windows software program design. μTorrent can be available for Android devices by way of the Google Play Retailer.

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