Old Programs You Still Use?

What old (Windows) programs, does everyone here still use?

Me: I still use Office 2007 because, it just works! Even the online functionality, like clip art, still functions perfectly!

Conversation 53 comments

  • txag

    24 February, 2020 - 11:06 pm

    <p>Well, yeah. Go Office 2007!</p><p><br></p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    24 February, 2020 - 11:13 pm

    <p>FWIW, I absolutely hate Office 2007. MSFT partially returned to their senses with Office 2010. The Orb was even stupider than the original Windows 8.0 desktop with no Start menu button.</p><p>That said, I still use Paint from Windows XP (it's worked in every more recent Windows version) mostly because its rectangle with rounded corners works differently and (for me) better than Paint from Windows 7 on. I don't believe I ever used the version in Windows Vista. Maybe it's OK too. I'd love to still have the Windows 8 Calculator applet in Windows 10, but MSFT added Windows version checking to the Windows 8 applet so it won't run under Windows 10.</p><p>The only significantly old software I still use is the viewer front-end for National Geographic. NG sold their archives by decade on CDs starting in the late 1990s, and I bought the 1930s through the 1980s. Turned out to be somewhat useful for my kids in primary and secondary school. I'd love it if the Time-Life book collections from the 1960s and 1970s were available on optical disks. Anyway, the NG viewer front-end had to be developed in the 1990s, and it definitely seems dated.</p>

    • kenneth_burns

      26 February, 2020 - 10:49 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#522922">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I also use old National Geographic software as well as the Bondi apps for the New Yorker and Rolling Stone archives. Installing this late 2000s software gets trickier the more time passes, but the content is wonderful. I installed the apps on a low-end 12" Windows tablet I bought recently, and the reading experience is great, all things considered.</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    25 February, 2020 - 12:39 am

    <p>DOS based sign printing software, because the sign printer (prints to metal or perspex shields). The old printer still works, but is on its last legs, we bought a second hand one, in case the original breaks, on eBay for a couple of hundred Euros, plus renting a 7.5 tonne truck to transport it.</p><p>A new version of the software / software for another brand of printer costs 5 figures, but, hey, it comes with a "free" printer… So long as the old printer keeps working and DOS will boot on an old PC, we'll keep using the software.</p>

  • Greg Green

    25 February, 2020 - 8:56 am

    <p>I’m still using Lotus WordPro (2002) for quick notes. Then PowerDesk (2015) file explorer replacement, and Civilization II (1998). On another Pc I’ve still got office 2010, which loses support this year, so I’ll have to upgrade that. Or not.</p>

  • crp0908

    25 February, 2020 - 9:07 am

    <p>Orca because nothing newer has ever replaced it.</p>

    • echorelay

      Premium Member
      25 February, 2020 - 11:29 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#522981">In reply to crp0908:</a></em></blockquote><p>InstEd doesn't provide the functionality you need?</p>

      • crp0908

        26 February, 2020 - 3:33 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#523010">In reply to echorelay:</a></em></blockquote><p>Never heard of InstEd. </p><p><br></p><p>In any case, Michael Niehaus still uses Orca. He mentioned it in a recent oofhours.com post to remove the desktop icon from the Edge Chromium installer. </p>

  • lwetzel

    Premium Member
    25 February, 2020 - 9:27 am

    <p>Paint Shop Pro 7 from Jasc Software Inc. Version 7.04. Vintage 1991-2001. Jasc was bought by Corel and they still make Paint Shop Pro but it is much more expensive and complicated. I use this where most people will use Paint. Simple little quick manipulations of graphics and screen prints. Still working fine.</p>

  • beckoningeagle

    Premium Member
    25 February, 2020 - 11:48 am

    <p>Notepad</p><p><br></p><p>:-)</p>

  • Daekar

    25 February, 2020 - 11:57 am

    <p>Been using Paint.NET for ages. I assume it's gotten some updates at some point, but it's more or less the same if I remember correctly.</p><p>I have some old games on disc that still run, amazingly. We give Microsoft crap for dragging around old baggage, but my God, the backwards compatibility work they've done is miraculous.</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      25 February, 2020 - 1:49 pm

      <p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/forums/general-discussion/microsoft/thread/old-programs-you-still-use#523013&quot; target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><em>In reply to Daekar:</em></a></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We give Microsoft crap for dragging around old baggage, but my God, the backwards compatibility work they've done is miraculous.</span></blockquote><p>Indeed, MSFT should be commended for this, especially since it's the main reason NOTHING new they try seems to stick. PC users would prefer running decades old software they've come to rely on rather than much of anything new or different.</p>

  • StevenLayton

    25 February, 2020 - 12:53 pm

    <p>I'm using Office 2016 on my work computer. In the current age of rapid release, that's ancient!</p>

  • Sprtfan

    25 February, 2020 - 2:00 pm

    <p>I'm still using SyncToy on one of my work computers. The computer is still running Windows XP though also. </p>

    • darkgrayknight

      Premium Member
      26 February, 2020 - 4:23 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#523041">In reply to Sprtfan:</a></em></blockquote><p>SyncToy is great, and Microsoft should make an updated version of it.</p>

    • jamJAR

      22 March, 2020 - 4:50 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#523041">In reply to Sprtfan:</a></em></blockquote><p>I use SyncToy to backup Java Minecraft cause of the daft place Minecraft saves its files.</p>

  • thumpnot

    25 February, 2020 - 3:16 pm

    <p>askSam, all day, every day, last release was in 2008. Company must've gone out of business at least 7-8 years ago. Actually works better in Win10 than Win7. The DOS version was largely responsible for getting Nixon to resign [well, that and Nixon himself – a commenter pointed out that the askSam-Watergate connection can't possibly be right so my apologies for that. I believed it 'til I read that (a bit late on 3-23-20) – old fake-news apparently]. I keep hoping someone will revive it.</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      25 February, 2020 - 6:52 pm

      <p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/forums/general-discussion/microsoft/thread/old-programs-you-still-use#523062&quot; target="_blank"><em>In reply to thumpnot:</em></a></p><p>Nixon resigned in summer 1974. The first commercial microcomputer, the Altair 8800, debuted in December 1974. If sarcasm was meant, your post needed /s tags.</p>

      • thumpnot

        23 March, 2020 - 2:49 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#523084"><em>In reply to hrlngrv: Hi, no sarcasm intended – I really did believe that, having originally read it in Byte magazine probably in the '80's, which caused me to actually buy it. Thanks very much for the correction, it's genuinely appreciated – here too, no sarcasm intended, I swear! – I corrected the original comment to avoid misleading anyone else too. Thanks again.</em></a></blockquote>

  • ErichK

    Premium Member
    25 February, 2020 - 5:29 pm

    <p>IrfanView. It's old in the sense that it's been around for a very long time, but it's kept up with the times in the form of a 64-bit version, etc. Such a reliable, rock-solid and well-rounded image viewer.</p><p><br></p><p>Trying to remember the names of the ones I used to use long, long ago … was it WinGIF? Can't even remember.</p>

  • rjordan

    26 February, 2020 - 1:32 am

    <p>I still use "Cardfile" from Windows Sever 3.x, and it works well on Win10 because it's a 32-bit app. I have dozens of large, old files in Cardfile format that I still use after 30-years. I only do this because I never found a viable conversion program, and didn't want to invest the time to write the code. If it ain't broke, …</p>

  • orlbuckye

    26 February, 2020 - 10:04 am

    <p>I use Visual Foxpro to print mailing labels.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      26 February, 2020 - 10:11 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#523211">In reply to orlbuckye:</a></em></blockquote><p>A friend of mine wrote a head-hunter system in Visual FoxPro, I believe it is still in use by many of his customers today!</p>

      • orlbuckye

        04 March, 2020 - 2:25 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#523212">In reply to wright_is:</a></em></blockquote><blockquote><em>I have it installed on my work PC it used to be good for MS SQL integrations.</em></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • anoldamigauser

    Premium Member
    26 February, 2020 - 10:18 am

    <p>I have a machine running Visual Studio 6 and Office 2007, to deal with some old code that needs to be maintained or ported, and older Access applications.</p><p>On my daily driver, I still have and use an old CADD package, MicroGDS, circa 2011 from the copyright.</p>

  • matthewitt

    Premium Member
    26 February, 2020 - 2:52 pm

    <p>I used to work for a small business that was running <span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Borland </span>Paradox for DOS. Once 64-bit Windows became popular they had to begin running it in Windows XP mode on Windows 7, Then when they migrated to Windows 8 they ran it inside Virtual Box. Around the Windows 10 timeframe we migrated it to VDOS. To my knowledge they're still running it.</p>

    • anoldamigauser

      Premium Member
      26 February, 2020 - 4:11 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#523347">In reply to MattHewitt:</a></em></blockquote><p>They win.</p>

      • matthewitt

        Premium Member
        05 March, 2020 - 2:18 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#523356">In reply to AnOldAmigaUser:</a></em></blockquote><p>Or they lose, depending on your perspective. :-D</p>

  • derek s

    26 February, 2020 - 6:36 pm

    <p>I still use Microsoft Money 2005 and use it every few days, for budgeting and managing my finances. It's like a trusted friend.</p>

    • matthewitt

      Premium Member
      05 March, 2020 - 2:19 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#523389">In reply to derek s:</a></em></blockquote><p>Man I loved that software. There is no modern replacement that does exactly what it did, in a straightforward way. YNAB is the closest thing I found, and it is miles away.</p>

  • Ensign Eddie

    Premium Member
    26 February, 2020 - 7:18 pm

    <p>I still use Windows Live Mail and Microsoft Money. They do what I need them to do in the way I want to do it.</p><p><br></p><p>And of course, I still cling to Windows 7 because it also does what I need it to do in the way I want to do it (plus I find the W10 UI to be, frankly, hideous).</p>

  • robincapper

    26 February, 2020 - 8:22 pm

    <p>I have current Office, use current versions of CAD which dates back to the 1980s but the oldest program I use regularly is Quicken. I only update if a platform change demands so, last time I changed was when Windows 10 arrived</p>

  • Jedi Dwight

    29 February, 2020 - 12:06 pm

    <p>Not that I'm that opinionated, but "I'm a PC".</p><p><br></p><p>Jasc, now Corel, Paint Shop Pro 6 (c) 2000 — it was somewhat crashy during a period of Windows XP but it's better I'd say Win 7 on to current time. I also have Paint Shop Pro X3 and just bought the 2020 version at a discount. I run them in a RAM drive and PSP 6 loads in a snap. Newer PSP and Photoshop take several seconds to load even in the RAM drive. Radeon RAMDisk lets you have up to a 4GB RAM drive for free.</p><p><br></p><p>Also: NoteTab Pro used since around 2000/2001, final update was 2014. It's lacking compared to Notepad++ these days (better line numbering with word wrap, and shift+Enter for searching backwards) but I use both. Due to habit, I make the Notepad++ keyboard shortcuts to be closer to NoteTab Pro.</p><p><br></p><p>Classic Shell for a usable Win7 style Start Menu. It's superior to Start 10.</p><p>WinAMP</p><p>AudioGrabber and LAME if you ever need to rip a CD.</p><p>GabNetStats for a network activity SysTray icon – stopped working correctly with some previous Windows 10 release, but works again.</p><p>IrfanView loads images in a snap compared to waiting for no reason for a stupid Modern UI Windows 10 Photos to load. IrfanView is in the Windows Store so you can even load it for free onto a locked down work PC.</p><p>I used LibreOffice before they stupidly changed their keyboard shortcuts to not be Office compatible.</p><p>Agent Ransack lets you search for files on your PC, and within those files for text strings, with the fastest searching.</p><p>Snipping Tool, I use a lot.</p><p><br></p>

    • Daekar

      02 March, 2020 - 9:12 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#524224">In reply to Jedi Dwight:</a></em></blockquote><p>You can still get WinAMP? Really? I had no idea, I loved that app, it's always been way better than iTunes.</p>

      • Jedi Dwight

        03 March, 2020 - 9:49 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#525086">In reply to Daekar:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, I just have an old download, but you can try winamp.com</p><p>On Android I also use an unrelated music player called PowerAmp.</p>

  • ErichK

    Premium Member
    29 February, 2020 - 1:21 pm

    <p>I don't suppose anybody STILL uses one of the Big 3 from the '80s: Lotus 123, WordPerfect, dBase?</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      01 March, 2020 - 4:08 am

      <p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/forums/general-discussion/microsoft/thread/old-programs-you-still-use#524254&quot; target="_blank"><em>In reply to ErichK:</em></a></p><p>Use? I have WordPerfect Office and Lotus Smartsuite from the turn of the millenium still installed on my Windows XP VM just in case I come across a file in one of the formats neither MS Office nor LibreOffice still support. My usage is limited to file conversion, however.</p>

    • kenneth_burns

      02 March, 2020 - 1:36 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#524254">In reply to ErichK:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>A few months ago the music critic Robert Christgau <a href="http://www.robertchristgau.com/xgausez.php?d=2019-09-17&quot; target="_blank">mentioned</a> he still uses WordPerfect: "everything post-1988 is on my home computers in the vintage-1991 WP51 I still work in."</p><p><br></p><p>!!!</p><p><br></p><p>That reminded me of Christopher Buckley <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/magazine/26buckley-t.html&quot; target="_blank">writing</a> that his father, political scribe William F. Buckley, still used WordStar in 2007:</p><p><br></p><p>"Pup still used the word-processing system he first learned in the early 1980s. Generations of his computer gurus had had to install this antiquated system in his increasingly sophisticated computers, which were like F-22 fighter jets with the controls of a Sopwith Camel."</p>

      • ErichK

        Premium Member
        02 March, 2020 - 3:59 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#525174">In reply to Kenneth_Burns:</a></em></blockquote><p>In an odd way I respect that.</p>

  • Lauren Glenn

    02 March, 2020 - 9:17 am

    <p>iTunes. Sure, it's still being released for PC, but it keeps my music in the cloud, stores my ratings, playlists, and it lets me sync my iPod Classic… which is a great thing to use while driving. I can control it while I drive without looking at it… just going off tactile feel and click sounds…. plus, when you configure a smart playlist right, it auto updates on the device which is perfect for Not Recently Played playlists when you're away from your home for a while. </p><p><br></p><p>So I guess Apple iPod Classic ROM 2.0.4 would be more vintage for me.</p><p><br></p><p>And if I still had my Zune HD (which I did last year), that would be on my list.</p>

  • PanamaVet

    02 March, 2020 - 11:12 am

    <p>SpinRite, currently being rewritten.</p>

    • PanamaVet

      02 March, 2020 - 11:16 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#525111">In reply to PanamaVet:</a></em></blockquote><p>Also Interstate '76 and Microsoft Pinball</p>

  • Brazbit

    02 March, 2020 - 4:42 pm

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Microsoft Windows based software? I still play SkiFree (Released: 1991) from time to time. In 2005 </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250);">Chris Pirih,</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> the original developer, rediscovered the original source code and recompiled it as a 32 bit program. So it runs exactly the same in Windows 10 as it did in Windows 3.0. </span></p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    02 March, 2020 - 6:30 pm

    <p>Old Windows? None really, but there’s a whole ton of other apps.</p><p><br></p><p>I still use Microsoft Word 5.1 on a circa 1997 Power Macintosh for personal writing. Started using it on an SE/30 in the early 90s, so decades of personal documents are in Word 5.1 format. </p><p><br></p><p>And once a year I run a Christmas light programming tool on the Commodore VIC20 to make sure the lights in the windows fade the way they have since I was a kid. </p>

  • yaddamaster

    03 March, 2020 - 8:24 pm

    <p>Microsoft Money. I wish MS would open source the app.</p>

    • jwpear

      Premium Member
      03 March, 2020 - 9:19 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#525638">In reply to yaddamaster:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm with ya. I just can't let it go. I've tried Quicken, Mint, and my bank's online tools, but they just don't cut it. It'll be a sad day for me when it stops working or my bank drops sync support (via PocketSense).</p>

    • jamJAR

      22 March, 2020 - 4:43 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#525638">In reply to yaddamaster:</a></em></blockquote><p>What version? I'm still using Money 97, the version before they added all the internet stuff.</p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    04 March, 2020 - 2:56 am

    <p>Nero Burning Rom 10. Work great for what I need. </p><p><br></p><p>WinAmp 5.8 because, it still whips the llama's ass.</p>

  • orlbuckye

    04 March, 2020 - 2:21 pm

    <p>I use Visual Foxpro 9 for printing mailing labels.</p><p><br></p>

  • EricWhite12

    20 March, 2020 - 7:44 pm

    <p>Minesweeper ;)</p>

  • dab2kab

    21 March, 2020 - 4:50 am

    <p>Does windows media center count? Still use that everyday as a dvr.</p>

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