what other retro software do yall use

[flexorcist]

ive always been fascinated by old software this is an old video player for windows from apple

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 14/06/2026 at 16:17, flexorcist said:

ive always been fascinated by old software this is an old video player for windows from apple.

<Moved to software discussion and support>

I've got fond memories of Winamp. Changing the skins, the different visualisations etc. But now I just need a simple music player.

MSN messenger would be another one, MSN Messenger Plus (I think?) offered so many different plugins. But again, it probably wouldn't work for me these days.

And then there is miRC. i think it's still going these days, but lord i had fun with that back in the day. Now it's mostly stuff like Discord, WhatsApp group chats, Signal, Telegram... /me is showing his age...

[Som]

My father still uses a programme written in dbase3. Still manages to work with a little help from dosbox. 

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

I have a couple to mention, and they still run great on Windows 11

• Adobe Lightroom Version 2
• Alcohol 120%
• CLZ Book, Comic, Game, Movie, & Music Collector (PC - No longer sold / Grandfathered in - now mobile apps/online only)
• DVDDecrypter
• ISO Buster Pro version 1.9.1 (Still supports HD-DVD too)
• Nero Burning Rom 8 (Only the burning software, no backup, media converter, etc)  
• OpenAL (Runtime) - GuildWars 1 Reforged still uses it for 3d headphone audio
• PowerDVD 12 Ultra
• SPTD (SCSI Pass through Direct Driver)
• UltraISO
• Windows Media Encoder 9
• WinImage

You can tell I still sport an optical drive

 

 

[C:Amie]

Still using Microsoft Money 2005 in 2026 here!

[He's Dead Jim]

On my music making (non internet) PC

Sony Acid Pro 7.0

Adobe Audition 2015

Korg Legacy Collection

Windows 7 SP1

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

At work we still have a couple of people that use a version of AutoCAD LT purchased in 1994.

This predates Windows 95 and works fine on versions of Windows up to XP. Its long since run in an locked down isolated XP VM, accessible via RDP.

I did install LibreCAD for them, however they said it was just too different to get to grips with. In all fairness one of them is now 75 and the other is almost 60.

[Steven P. Administrators]

I still use HexChat!

Not really as ancient as the 1994 AutoCAD above my post, but I have never found anything better to replace it.

Yes we still operate an IRC server https://www.neowin.net/irc/ 😛 

[_neutrino Veteran]

On 15/06/2026 at 06:02, Steven P. said:

I still use HexChat!

Not really as ancient as the 1994 AutoCAD above my post, but I have never found anything better to replace it.

Yes we still operate an IRC server https://www.neowin.net/irc/ 😛 

Still using Hexchat every day but i would not consider it Retro 😛

[BoondockSaint]

On 15/06/2026 at 11:51, InsaneNutter said:

At work we still have a couple of people that use a version of AutoCAD LT purchased in 1994.

This predates Windows 95 and works fine on versions of Windows up to XP. Its long since run in an locked down isolated XP VM, accessible via RDP.

I did install LibreCAD for them, however they said it was just too different to get to grips with. In all fairness one of them is now 75 and the other is almost 60.

Oh man, the memories.

[fintechfooty]

On 14/06/2026 at 22:00, Eternal Tempest said:

I have a couple to mention, and they still run great on Windows 11

• Adobe Lightroom Version 2
• Alcohol 120%
• CLZ Book, Comic, Game, Movie, & Music Collector (PC - No longer sold / Grandfathered in - now mobile apps/online only)
• DVDDecrypter
• ISO Buster Pro version 1.9.1 (Still supports HD-DVD too)
• Nero Burning Rom 8 (Only the burning software, no backup, media converter, etc)  
• OpenAL (Runtime) - GuildWars 1 Reforged still uses it for 3d headphone audio
• PowerDVD 12 Ultra
• SPTD (SCSI Pass through Direct Driver)
• UltraISO
• Windows Media Encoder 9
• WinImage

You can tell I still sport an optical drive

 

 

memories! completely forgot about alcohol 120%!!!! man this list just makes me think of all the exciting times! everything's become so sterilized these days. 

[ThatGuyOnline]

On 14/06/2026 at 17:32, Nick H. said:

<Moved to software discussion and support>

I've got fond memories of Winamp. Changing the skins, the different visualisations etc. But now I just need a simple music player.

MSN messenger would be another one, MSN Messenger Plus (I think?) offered so many different plugins. But again, it probably wouldn't work for me these days.

And then there is miRC. i think it's still going these days, but lord i had fun with that back in the day. Now it's mostly stuff like Discord, WhatsApp group chats, Signal, Telegram... /me is showing his age...

I lived and breathed MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger. Going to the mess.be website (still online with no changes since 2013) to download display pictures etc. I was a beta tester for Messenger Plus! and spent quite a lot of time on the MsgPlus! forums (a read-only copy is still online at https://shoutbox.menthix.net)

Some old Neowin articles also https://www.neowin.net/news/messenger-plus-350/ good times but how time flies

The main developer of Messenger Plus!, Cyril aka. Patchou has released a game https://store.steampowered.com/app/3275440/Pluralys/

Edited June 15 by ThatGuyOnline

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 15/06/2026 at 20:08, ThatGuyOnline said:

The main developer of Messenger Plus!, Cyril aka. Patchou has released a game https://store.steampowered.com/app/3275440/Pluralys/

Yeah Patchou was an active member here, good ol' times indeed.

[C:Amie]

On 15/06/2026 at 11:03, goretsky said:

Hello,

Christian Maas' XVI32 is a nice (and very small) hex editor.

Speaking of hex editors, many years ago a colleague and I who both worked at Tribal Voice managed to edit a copy of the company's PowWow instant messaging client to make it behave better now that all of its lookup servers and other server-side tech was gone.  The program didn't support NAT (RFC-3022 was introduced in January 2001, the same time Tribal Voice was shuttered), but it still worked okay if you manually set up port-forwarding on your router.  The server at http://powwow.jazy.net/ hosts a copy (usual warnings about downloading and running untrusted code from random internet servers apply).

I occasionally use some tools like Funduc Software's Search and Replace and Application Mover when I need to make mass-edits to text-based files or move programs with a hard-coded installation directories, respectively. 

When I need to figure out the exact LCD panel inside of a laptop, EnTech Taiwan's Monitor Asset Manager is my go-to tool for that purpose.

JD Design's website (now hosted on github.io) has a number of interesting freeware and shareware utilities.  I used to use their TouchPro utility to set the file timestamps on software I was mastering to match its version number (e.g., version 3.00 of a program had all of its files dates set to 3:00AM, and so forth).

Karenware has a number of interesting freeware utilities, too.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

+1 on XVI. I still use it. 

[ThatGuyOnline]

On 15/06/2026 at 20:58, Steven P. said:

Yeah Patchou was an active member here, good ol' times indeed.

If you go to the game developer website you can see that indeed Cyril Paciullo is the game director and developer https://www.pluralys.ca/about-us/ and when clicking on his name it lists Messenger Plus! as part of his CV. In case you wondered what happened to Patchou

[binaryzero]

On 15/06/2026 at 20:02, Steven P. said:

I still use HexChat!

Not really as ancient as the 1994 AutoCAD above my post, but I have never found anything better to replace it.

Yes we still operate an IRC server https://www.neowin.net/irc/ 😛 

Weechat.

https://weechat.org/

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

On 15/06/2026 at 19:08, ThatGuyOnline said:

I lived and breathed MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger. Going to the mess.be website (still online with no changes since 2013) to download display pictures etc. I was a beta tester for Messenger Plus! and spent quite a lot of time on the MsgPlus! forums (a read-only copy is still online at https://shoutbox.menthix.net)

Some old Neowin articles also https://www.neowin.net/news/messenger-plus-350/ good times but how time flies

The main developer of Messenger Plus!, Cyril aka. Patchou has released a game https://store.steampowered.com/app/3275440/Pluralys/

MSN defined our generation in some ways, kind of like Snapchat and TikTok have done for future generations.

I have great memories of the MSN era in the late 90s / early 2000s. In the UK everyone seemed to come home from School and go on MSN for the evening. We didn't really have mobile phones then, so other than going and knocking on your friends door it was a totally new way of interacting with people. I also loved how I could talk to people I’d met playing online games from around the world.

Inviting people to NetMeeting and messing about with the shared white board and webcams was pretty fun, even if webcams only ran at a couple of fps over dial-up.

All the random things you could do with MsgPlus! were really fun - I suspect that made a few people jump with /shello randomly blasting Mr Hankey out their speakers!

Maybe I’m just nostalgic, however I do feel the internet and computers were more fun back then.

[goretsky Supervisor]

On 15/06/2026 at 12:58, Steven P. said:

Yeah Patchou was an active member here, good ol' times indeed.

Hello,

Also known for https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/jan/29/adware-internet.  

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

 

[Michael Scrip]

Winamp... 25+ years

😎

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

On 17/06/2026 at 08:16, goretsky said:

Also known for https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/jan/29/adware-internet.

Interesting read. I knew the adware was quite controversial at the time, however never realised to the point The Guardian wrote an article about Patchou.

I just said no and enjoyed his creation, I’d probably be a lot more wary of something like that today though.

[goretsky Supervisor]

On 17/06/2026 at 02:52, InsaneNutter said:

Interesting read. I knew the adware was quite controversial at the time, however never realised to the point The Guardian wrote an article about Patchou.

I just said no and enjoyed his creation, I’d probably be a lot more wary of something like that today though.

Hello,

There were some claims he was involved in the malware scene in Montréal in the 00's, but I don't think they were ever substantiated.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[energie10]

Digisecret 2.1.431 Pro and Wzipse 4.0. Both are encrypted self-extracting archives.

[remixedcat]

I still use speccy on windows systems as a quick sysinfo thing. I know there's better but really it was the first one I used of its type

[SidVicious]

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Christian Maas' XVI32 (2012) is a nice (and very small) hex editor.

Speaking of hex editors, many years ago a colleague and I who both worked at Tribal Voice managed to edit a copy of the company's PowWow (2001) instant messaging client to make it behave better now that all of its lookup servers and other server-side tech was gone.  The program didn't support NAT (RFC-3022 was introduced in January 2001, the same time Tribal Voice was shuttered), but it still worked okay if you manually set up port-forwarding on your router.  The server at http://powwow.jazy.net/ hosts a copy (usual warnings about downloading and running untrusted code from random internet servers apply).

I occasionally use some tools like Funduc Software's Search and Replace (2011) and Application Mover (2015) when I need to make mass-edits to text-based files or move programs with a hard-coded installation directories, respectively. 

When I need to figure out the exact LCD panel inside of a laptop, EnTech Taiwan's Monitor Asset Manager (2015) is my go-to tool for that purpose.

JD Design's website (now hosted on github.io) has a number of interesting freeware and shareware utilities.  I used to use their TouchPro (2010) utility to set the file timestamps on software I was mastering to match its version number (e.g., version 3.00 of a program had all of its files dates set to 3:00AM, and so forth).

Karenware has a number of interesting freeware utilities, too.  I used a lot of them in the early 2000's for backups, directory printing, etc.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

Edited June 18 by goretsky
added times

[C:Amie]

On 17/06/2026 at 09:52, InsaneNutter said:

Interesting read. I knew the adware was quite controversial at the time, however never realised to the point The Guardian wrote an article about Patchou.

I just said no and enjoyed his creation, I’d probably be a lot more wary of something like that today though.

These days we don't need adware. They call it Telemetry and steal everything that they want to sell anyway 🤷‍♂️

 

Oh, I also have a (fully paid for) version of Adobe CS4 running in a VM that I still use a lot still. I managed to get it installed into a VM before they disabled the activation servers. I cannot legally install something that I paid for now... and I'll never give another penny to Adobe because of it. Screw your subscriptions Adobe!