5 retro Home windows apps which can be nonetheless alive and properly in 2025

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

Windows
was nonetheless a extremely crash-prone affair, and when packages have 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 developed with the occasions. The

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

Listed below 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 shortly skyrocketed in reputation, 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 way of and taking part in again domestically saved music information. At the moment, this system stays out there underneath a freemium (free however with paid extra options) distribution mannequin, and a dedicated Android version can also be out there 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 fashionable system cleaner utilities for Home windows, able to eradicating junk information, clearing cookies, and extra.

CCleaner, initially often known as Crap Cleaner in 2003, is among the most well-known system cleaner apps for Home windows. This system was notably fashionable again within the Home windows XP, Vista, and seven days, with a reasonably easy interface for clearing browser cookies, short-term information, cache information, 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 relating to 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 also be out there with extra superior instruments on the helm. Today, the app can 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 permits you to view, edit, arrange, and convert your picture information 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 device, 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 lot of plug-ins out there to complement the bottom expertise of the app.

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4

WinRAR (1995)

Your free trial has expired

WinRAR

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

There are a variety of iconic compression tools out there 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 device that’s appropriate with RAT and ZIP codecs.

Except for 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 may proceed to make use of the app in perpetuity with out paying a dime. Today, a separate Android version of the app merely often known as RAR, can also be out there for obtain from the Google Play Retailer.

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5

μTorrent (2005)

An notorious BitTorrent shopper for PC

μTorrent

μTorrent is maybe essentially the most iconic BitTorrent shopper out there on PC, proving notably fashionable throughout the torrent increase of the mid-2000s.

Again within the early-to-mid-2000s, peer-to-peer file sharing (often known as torrenting) grew to become a well-liked 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.

At the moment, μTorrent continues to be prepared out there for obtain, and it may be had without cost. A separate μTorrent Basic version can also be out there on the product’s official web site, which affords a basic interface for followers of the nice previous days of Home windows software program design. μTorrent can also be available for Android devices by way of the Google Play Retailer.

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