# Your favorite obsolete computer program/utility. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717 "2010-02-04T21:09:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/21 "2010-02-05T05:00:07Z")
Speaking of “borrowing” disks NoKey- It tricked programs into thinking the copy protection scheme was present when using a copied disk. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/22 "2010-02-05T06:22:16Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Still, I’d say my favorite program was Qbasic. I even had it installed on my Win98 machine. I wish someone had figured out a way to extend its functionality into Windows programs. If it had, I’d probably be a program fiend today, instead of just now learning Javascript. [How about this?](http://www.qb64.net/) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/23 "2010-02-05T06:42:25Z")
Nothing fancy for me- I miss “Gorilla” (DOS) ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/24 "2010-02-05T06:48:43Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Bank Street Writer was my favorite word processor for years. I hated WP and DOSWord so much that I brought my 11 year old [Apple IIe](http://www.d123c.com/images/appleii-system.jpg) with me to college so I could use Bank Street Writer instead. My [Apple IIc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIc) was only 5 years old when I went to college but I took it along and used Bank Street Writer for all of my papers and projects, and it was so familiar to so many people that a lot of my dormmates would ask to use it too. I long for something that simple and straightforward now. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/25 "2010-02-05T06:54:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > For all I know, z/OS still has that utility for backwards compatiblity. Absolutely. Still there, still used frequently. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/26 "2010-02-05T08:50:19Z")
I used to write DOS applications using a compiler called ASIC (“It’s almost BASIC!”). It was, as the name and tagline suggests, like a dialect of BASIC, except that the structure was really more like assembler - for example: – To add three things together, you had to add B to A one one line, then add C to A on the next. – An IF condition could only execute one instruction on true, so implementing code blocks, AND conjunctions and ELSE conditions had to be done using jumps to other subroutines. It wasn’t designed to be elegant - it was just limited in a way that (for me, at least) aggressively promoted thoughtful code design. I’ve still got a copy - and it runs OK in an XP command prompt. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/27 "2010-02-05T15:27:29Z")
What, no votes for After Dark? I miss my flying toasters…and the Mowing Man…and Boris the kitten…and the Mowing Man running over Boris… ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/28 "2010-02-05T15:52:36Z")
ACDSee 2.4. A super fast image viewer that had just enough features and no more. ---
**Author:** ![Livardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Livardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Livardo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/29 "2010-02-05T16:13:51Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Me, too. But I mostly used it to multitask DOS programs without taking the time to run Windows. I also remember other programs that would open a DOS shell while leaving the other program running. I did that a lot. > > Another I remember is Trumpet Winsock. I had to use it because my ISP was actually a (freely provided from school) Unix shell. But they had some program you could run to simulate a SLIP account. It was the first time I had to learn how to script. > > Still, I’d say my favorite program was Qbasic. I even had it installed on my Win98 machine. I wish someone had figured out a way to extend its functionality into Windows programs. If it had, I’d probably be a program fiend today, instead of just now learning Javascript. VBScript is the Visual Basic equivalent of Javascript nowadays. I think IE understands it so you can do DOM on a webpage with it. It’s also used for system maintenance scripts. Some Antivirus programs will bitch when you try to run them though. ---
**Author:** ![Livardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Livardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Livardo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/30 "2010-02-05T16:15:51Z")
I’ve been using a shareware touch typing program since the early 90s called “Touch Type Tutor”. It was a Windows 3.1 app and I was able to run it through Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP. I couldn’t run it with Vista or 7 though. I’ll have to install a VMWare image to get it to run again. It still has my recorded WPM scores from 1993! Yes, I did try all the compatibility modes in Vista and Windows 7, but still didn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/31 "2010-02-05T16:22:16Z")
[ResEdit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ResEdit). That shit was awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/32 "2010-02-05T16:30:29Z")
Another vote for DRDOS. It was always a step or two ahead of MSDOS. And I liked WordStar. It was a good product until they started suffering from king-of-the-hill syndrome. My two favorite DOS programs, though, were little joke utilities. One would put up a fake DOS prompt and then as soon as a key was pressed, you got a horrible looking error message that told you the video card was installed backwards. It then turned the screen image upside down until you pressed Alt-Z. The other was Drip. It would lurk until it started seeing periods of inactivity. Every 15-20 seconds, it would cause a random character on the screen to slowly slide down to the bottom, like a raindrop on a window. Eventually, all the letters would be lying in a jumbled pile on the bottom of the screen. When you pressed a key, the screen would restore itself. Good times, good times. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/33 "2010-02-05T16:50:55Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > The “What was your first computer?” thread got me to thinking about the old programs that I used to love to use. My favorite was a utility called [Xtree.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xtree) As you can tell from the screenshot, it looked very much like Windows Explorer but it predated Windows by several years. I thought that Og himself had written it. Hah! That was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the thread title, even before I read the OP. I loved using XTree. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/34 "2010-02-05T18:21:40Z")
My first thought was Norton Commander, an Xtree-like file manager from back when Norton made good programs. Heck, I wish Windows Explorer did things that Norton Commander could. (Is there a file manager for XP with bulk rename?) Then I agreed with this: > [@BigT](#): > > Still, I’d say my favorite program was Qbasic. I even had it installed on my Win98 machine. I wish someone had figured out a way to extend its functionality into Windows programs. If it had, I’d probably be a program fiend today, instead of just now learning Javascript. Except I’m not sure it’s obsolete if I keep copying it to every new machine and using it for anything I need to do that’s too complex for a spreadsheet or search-and-replace in WordPerfect. It still runs in XP in a DOS Window. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/35 "2010-02-05T18:59:33Z")
AOL Press. It’s hopelessly outdated now, but for it’s time it was one of the best WYSIWYG HTML editors out there. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/36 "2010-02-05T19:04:28Z")
Von Buerg’s LIST program. Like many of my old favorites, it won’t even run under Windows 7. Ah, well, I guess it’s time to move on to that GUI stuff… ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/37 "2010-02-05T19:09:39Z")
In college I had to program in FORTRAN77. Sometimes I still think in that language. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/38 "2010-02-05T19:17:03Z")
Used to run ZYCOR on the VAX and submit SAS (Statistical Analysis) programs to the mainframe. I see SAS is still around, although I’m sure in a vastly different architecture. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/39 "2010-02-05T19:28:56Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > What, no votes for After Dark? I miss my flying toasters…and the Mowing Man…and Boris the kitten…and the Mowing Man running over Boris… Oh hell yeah. I loved my TOS one. Especially when the spores would shoot at Spock and he’d smile at you while that cheesy music from that episode played. (Low res version [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS7Sb4U-AmY#t=05m04s)) ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717/40 "2010-02-05T19:35:39Z")
Lightspeed C - owe my current career to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-obsolete-computer-program-utility/527717.md?page=3)