giobicom
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Jun 18, 2025 7:41 AM
giobicom
42271
1320
11
abtei
omfg RealPlayer.... i have flashes of rage to THIS day thinking about it....
tokerator
The good old days
pezzle
Even though it's text and no obvious context - my brain still read this as Roy/Rutger
pikopikopikopikopiko
Read what?
SCP1504
Unregistered Hypercam 2… and we never even learned what happened to the supposed unregistered hypercam 1, or if it ever really existed to begin with.
laserfrog
have to go back to those, just to get software that is not sub based. Put excel on an offline 95 tower and have a linux mini as live phone.
JohnWickdidnothingwrong
I miss the culture the most. There was no money in it, most of what you saw was put up by somebody very smart who was *very* into whatever the subject is. It was beautiful.
SavageDrums
Back before the internet's only purpose was to separate you from your money
Vladraconis
I remember when 16bit graphics hit and we were in awe. And had our minds blown at 32. I remember putting a pillow or 5 on the router to keep it somewhat quiet while dialing. And the thing is, I am not even that old. Technological progress has been so exponential the last 35 years that it sounds like ancient history even if those things are only around 35 years old at most.
GravyEducation
I've seen crab battles
EstellaOsoka
Mutha fucka pleeze! I remember having to park the hard drive before turning off the computer.
Bojovnik84
I used to use the AOL disks that came in the mail as a ninja star and throw it all over the house.
adamsonpaul5772
ICQ
NaughtyGod1
USENET & BBS'
rihani3
rfc1918block
I have this whole monologue tattooed on my back
Dissipo
VinnyVeritas
I'm not sure many here even got the reference. Nice !
komradekristoph
ICQ
Technomage13
DOS 1.0
DeanSledgehammer
Searching for keygens with astalavista...
brickkpunchley
Navigating Astalavista was akin to sailing around the cape of lights
asimovcascade
Gamez warez
Shawnofavitch
Limewire giving the computers AIDS...
MySushi
Fucking RealPlayer could go to hell. I hope everyone involved in its design has been on the receiving end of a Indian telemarketer scam or broken an arm after a fall that was not the least bit fun
cosonfused
realplayer was legit spyware. people found out and it legit imploded in popularity. Nobody wanted anything to do with them anymore. The internet was smaller then.
Alurkerforcedtologin
Well, it was basically the only streaming media player client that existed back in the day. So if you were going to play any media file from the Internet, real player was your best and only option. Browsers couldn't do it yet. Hell, the real player was included with windows 98 because Microsoft didn't even have an alternative yet.
4vie
For a while there, Realplayer could be used to straight-up download youtube videos. Kinda handy for that
BillyM00n
Punch the monkey!
alluro2
The rush when you're downloading a 3MB MP3 file for ~30 min already and suddenly you hear modem screeching from the other room because your parents picked up the phone - "GET OFF THE INTERNET ALREADY, PEOPLE CAN'T CALL US!!!"
Telemapus
Hashbrown123
yasariel
I miss Altavista's Boolean searches. Google may have been faster, and more aggresively indexing(i.e for quite a while they clearly ignored robots.txt, while DIGITAL honoured it), but Altavista's Boolean searches were far more accurate. Then again, Google always was a marketing company, even from the start. And now Google is so enshitified that it's borderline unusable.
YesButMaybe
give https://duckduckgo.com/ a try.
yasariel
Sadly, it's suffering from similar limitations to Google, in that they limit how many Booleans they effectively permit. On top of that, they do have indexing issues.
arajad
In between AltaVista and Google I used a search engine called Northern Light, which not only used Boolean operators but returned results categorized by topic, with a tree structure (like a file manager's directory tree) that let you prune results you didn't want. So if you searched "Paris Hilton" you could easily find the hotel results. They went subscription-only after being bought in 2002; I still miss them.
yasariel
I tried Northern Light, and while the tree structure was nice, like with Google Booleans deliberately broke after you'd used 2 or 3 conditionals, altavista chugged along even with 20-30 AND or NOT conditionals.
Telemapus
Google is a classified-advertising company... subtly different. Very basic ads pushed out to millions of people. That's what hurt the newspapers the most. Classifieds used to be the rump of newspaper revenue. Then the internet came lone. First, Craigslist was like Merry with the dagger to the calf, then Google was Eowyn with the sword right in the face.
HisBubbliness
Downloading your 800th skin for WinAmp. Or was that just me?
ConfederacyOfDunces
I used to make skins for Winamp and then Sonique.
theskirrid
Flashback to my mother installing Bonzi Buddy every two weeks, by 'accident'. God that was annoying.
Yoganmahew
Four virus scanners. 4!
HopeInTheSoulOrSoapInTheHole
DefaOmega
Where did people get that? Forgot all about that damn thing and honestly I was happier
obijan
That's when you use a "software restriction policy" to inoculate the PC.
JustAnotherRabidToaster
I had a client who liked it because he thought it was funny. I'd uninstall it, he'd put it back. Eventually I gave up trying to educate him on BB.
VodkaReindeer
BonziBuddy - The Internet Spyware That Plagued Windows (Demonstration): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCGD92DDsvc
teknrd
I worked in AOL tech support. The number of people that would call us about "the annoying purple monkey" was astounding. I hated Bonzi Buddy with a passion
skipweasel
usenet
IThinkALot
e ..
cptunderpants
Still use it for... other things. 🏴☠️
PaperinoVB
I sometime look at some group still alive, but my preferred server close some time ago because the owner died. I've been on Usenet almost from its beginning.
zombiejedediah
Stitching multipart uue files together & decoding them for science
skipweasel
If I remember correctly, SuperGravity eventually learned to automate that via various pluguns.
duktayp
The sounds of a 56k modem logging on to AOL...
imjustabill495
Paying by the minute for the internet
filid
Don't forget the 28.8 and the 14.4- aka the extended remixes!
gesel
I never had my own acoustic coupler, but I do have, somewhere, a 2400 baud modem.
AstrophysicsDork
At age 11 - the sounds of a 300 baud modem dialing into a bulletin board service out of Arlington, which, years later - *became* AOL.
A very, very long time ago :'-(
DukePhelan
I guess this is my daily reminder of my advancing age.
LivingDeadX
Like robots screaming.
SCP1504
It built character, and made us who we are.
PaperinoVB
...and google search actually working.
HOLAKOOO
Google is an advertising company
EmeRgencyDrD
And you advertise for them for free.
Nofoxlefttogive
By not working, do you mean ignoring every key word, even though you put angry quotation marks? And, if you type -something, now it doubles down on delivering +something. Nope, don't know what you mean \s.
McMasterx
Bruh, not only did I use quotation marks, but when I looked at the search bar history an hour later, it didnt say what I typed, but the bullshit "did you mean to type x" word
Nofoxlefttogive
Now Google is gaslighting us.
LarvaLamp
So much so that if you Google "gaslighting," it comes back with zero results.
Misteree8
Oh its working. Just the way the google over lords want it.
CatEyebrows
I miss that the most
YesButMaybe
give https://duckduckgo.com/ a try.
i quite like the search shortcuts https://duckduckgo.com/bangs
AbelardSnazz
the 'bubble search'; function on YouTube
hannibalbarcalounger
Pro tip: add &udm=56 to the end of the url for a cleaner results page. Like this:
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=search%20with%20less%20fluff&udm=56
Nofoxlefttogive
Thank you!
PaperinoVB
Yep. There is also another trick, use before:2023 as an added parameter. By the way, there is a handy list of udm parameters: https://x.com/RichTatum/status/1930102578030784931
AimingForAdorkable
Why / how / what black techno magic makes that work?
PaperinoVB
SHH! It's a Schrödinger trick, if the users knows how it works, it won't work anymore.
AyatollahBahloni
, pop-unders, million-dollar pixels, YTMND, and stealth software installs. (Just 𝑡𝑟𝑦 to uninstall Ask!, I dare you.)
DarkParn
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1dTU1cWR2Ymhmb3VwMjlmMnJ2ZTI0a2k0eWh4eG5vMTdiZjYyNHkyNiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/8OlT82jKm6Ugg/200w.webp
thatwoodguy
Begun, the Browser Wars have.
apairofpetducks
God I loved ytmnd... our home still echoes with far too many references from there (I am part of the problem).
Bobbobbobobbananafanafobob
How old are you? I was well out of diapers when was invented
AyatollahBahloni
74, since you asked.
ImNotActuallyEvilAfterAll
You may not like it but this is what peak internet looks like
reverendmalerik
Why do you have a screenshot from my uncle's pc? Oh wait, that isn't porn. Never mind, carry on.
fivefrozenfishfingers
You had to clean that up on your parents' computer but eventually gave up.
Sebastopol140
Magnivore
You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.
mikeatike
Back in 2002 we had a computer in the office only connected to anything via a dial up modem. It was for testing our website from the outside on dialup speeds.
We installed every toolbar possible to try to get it to explode. Justified to management as "this is what our customers computers are probably like". It removed the disk drive from it as a precaution, lol.
Looked a lot like this, except for the 5 or 6 layers of vertical toolbars on each aise. And the screen was 800x600.
technofiend
My buddy bubba would install anything that promised a coupon or a discount and then replace his computer every couple of years because it was too slow to use.
arajad
What was that company with the talking ads, with the creepy-looking CG woman, just about everywhere around 2000-2002? Those turned my stomach.
hipifreq
Somehow, 20 years and three computers later I still have Jeeves pop up occasionally
mohavewolfpup
Don’t forget also
IceWeaselX
You mean Marquee.
mohavewolfpup
Yes, sorry. Been a long time since I used it
Justboredtobehere
Wow, I'd forgotten all the unwanted toolbar installs!
Calistrasza
I genuinely think this is why I have a visceral response to screen clutter. I panic and go into overdrive in an attempt to delete everything that isn't "relevant" in an effort to make it look neat and streamlined.
AbelardSnazz
I once tried to declutter and free up space by uninstalling pretty much anything I didn't recognise - naturally I ended up crippling windows completely.
ImNotActuallyEvilAfterAll
So you didn't really make much of a difference.
DontKnowTheSource
Don't forget when Skype was a malware that you couldn't fully inunstall for the better part of a decade (I'm sure its still alive somewhere on my mother's PC)
ThisUserNameMightBeTaken
It's okay, believe it's been/being euthanised.
alittleglassvial
Where’d you find a screenshot of my mums computer
LiarLiarPantsUntier
By visiting her. We all have screenshots of her “computer”.
veesee
I'd ask who hurt you but it was clearly IE and win95
thetaxpayer
https://jurassicparkwtf.ytmnd.com/
MrIndubitably101
It was always the Vader Nooooooooo that got me
AyatollahBahloni
Quizz25S
That browser has cancer https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlN2g5a2lnZWtzbDRnMnd6ZWFndjVzdnQzbnR2Ymg5YXo3MmQzcGFqcSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/pDsCoECKh1Pa/giphy.mp4
obijan
Hey, I made a career writing spyware removal software, so it was good for something.
JustAnotherRabidToaster
Which one(s)?
ReallyNotSure
it's so beautiful.gif
Revelant
I was there, still have the emotional scars!
CuteLukePatoot
Reminds me of the time I was asked to go over to my aunt’s house to remove malware from her computer. I had to teach her a few things about Internet safety that day…
thinkybrainpains
LimeWire
Soggybathroomsock
The humble beginnings of our girl Alexa.
JerryTheBold
I saw that... was wondering if it was the same
Vergenbuurg
YTMND is still alive. Admittedly, many of its most famous (infamous?) sites have aged like milk. https://wdstw.ytmnd.com/
Tardis1217
Honestly mind blowing that they're still going.
Vergenbuurg
They had to rebuild the entire site and database from recovered backups after a massive server crash a few years back.
MarkWatneysVicodinPotato
I used to make a ton of money as a kid "fixing" computers in the 90s, which most of the time, were either uninstalls of crap software, telling someone they didn't need 9 anti-virus programs, or the infamous "I clicked it accidentally, make sure it's clean before my wife gets home" sort of thing.
AyatollahBahloni
"No, sir, it was a virus that put all that pr0n on your computer. Happens to a lot of people."\
MarkWatneysVicodinPotato
This guy gets it.
obijan
I started a software company for that. It was good business for about 6 years.
MarkWatneysVicodinPotato
Based on how many jobs I did I totally believe you. It was fun times, people would throw PCs out that worked perfectly fine with easy fixes. I would ride my bike around on garbage day, take them, fix them, and sell them.
JollyOrc
lordfwahfnah
thatunpleasantfeeling
I was coming to post this too.
TheDaharMaster
“I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT ONE SINCE THE NINETIES!!!”
MySushi
Lmfao, a whole page of toolbars you don't remember ever giving authorization for. At least, this nonsense made us discover alternatives like Firefox though. Far fewer problems there and have been very satisfied with the experience since
PerrinAybara564
Early IT meant helping people remove their toolbars and then getting SO MAD about it - this is why your browser runs so slowly Debra, please - you have FIVE of the same toolbar installed?!
DoctorWookie
And the different mouse cursors. And the fucking little animated things that danced on top of the task bar. That was my first experience with learning to soften my speech to a higher up about their stupid habits that were destroying their computers. Had to explain to the owner of the company that his little stripper girl was actually a Trojan that got his bank information stolen, and that was why he had to get a new checking account. Oh, and the six toolbars he had were doing the same thing.
ThatHurts
Firefox is just Netscape in overalls.
ViperMD
Hah, I tend to use that. "I've been using Firefox since it was Netscape." Very few people get it.
RubberChickenGoD
I miss the Netscape theme.
aguacatedeldiablo
I don't get it... Netscape sucked, at the end. Explorer was genuinely the better product by the time Firefox came around and actually reignited the browser wars.
ThatHurts
Don't get it as in don't understand how it happened, or dont get the joke? Netscape Communicator, the browser/email client was turned into an open source project at the end of its development cycle when AOL bought the company and shut it down. The Mozilla foundation, who created Netscape and was a legal entity separate form the Netscape corporation, continued to develop Netscape, separating the components and rebranding it as Firefox and Thunderbird.
HeadJamistan
I absolutely loved netscape, but I still called it "nutscrape". Am I the only one?
ImNotActuallyEvilAfterAll
netrape for the rest of us
RogueCorp
Yes.