OLD PROGRAMS YOU MUST REPLACE
1 Windows Essentials 2012 Microsoft’s free package of handy tools includes several standalone programs – including Movie Maker, Photo Gallery, Windows Live Mail, and Windows Messenger.
Essentials has been incredibly popular over the years, but also somewhat neglected by Microsoft. Many of its tools were never officially supported in Windows 8 and 10, for example, and key functions, such as Photo Gallery’s Facebook integration, remained unfixed after they stopped working.
Despite the fact that Essentials remained popular with users, Microsoft called time on it in January, ending its support without offering any replacements. You can still use it, of course, but any vulnerabilities that come to light will remain unfixed. Windows Live Mail, in particular, now represents a serious security risk.
What you should replace it with
Some Essentials tools don’t need replacing – Onedrive, for example, is now fully integrated into Windows 10 and Windows Messenger has effectively transformed into Skype. As for the other tools in the package, Microsoft encourages users to switch to Windows 10’s equivalent built-in apps – Photos and Mail, for example.
But if you don’t fancy that, there are some great desktop programs you can try. Live Mail users should switch to the free em Client ( www.emclient.com), which is regularly updated. You can replace Photo Gallery with Irfanview ( www.irfanview. com, see screenshot left), which was updated to version 4.50 in mid-october.
For editing home movies, we recommend waiting for Microsoft’s new Story Remix tool, which will appear soon in the Photos app (we’ll have a Workshop on it in our next issue). Also, try Shotcut ( www.shotcut.org, see screenshot below far left), a simple open-source videoediting tool that’s regularly updated.
2 Picasa Google’s brilliant photo manager and editor was loved by millions for its simplicity and its integration with the Picasa Web Albums online photo-storage and sharing service. Sadly, in February 2016 year Google announced it was axing Picasa, giving users only a month’s notice.
Google stated in its Photos blog ( www.snipca.com/25842) that the Picasa desktop tool would “continue to work as it does today” for those who kept it installed, but admitted that “we will not be developing it further, and there will be no future updates”. Google is a big target for hackers, so any outdated software could be hazardous. If you’re still using Picasa, we strongly suggest switching to an alternative as soon as possible.
What you should replace it with
If you’re looking for a straightforward desktop photo manager, you could opt for Irfanview (see above). But if you used Picasa for its online features, the most seamless transition is to move to its successor, Google Photos ( https:// photos.google.com, see screenshot above left).
Google’s online tool lets you manage, edit and share your photos. Its editing tools aren’t as comprehensive as Picasa’s but it’s easy to sync photos across all your devices – phones, tablets and PCS. Download the new Google Backup and Sync tool from www.snipca.com/25844 to upload photos from your PC.
3 WINAMP In its heyday, the WINAMP media player was many people’s preferred way to manage and listen to their music. This was mainly because it managed to be everything itunes wasn’t – fast, adaptable and reliable. Launched in 1997, WINAMP supported a wide range of audio formats, as well as playlists, podcasts, streaming and a decent array of plug-ins.
WINAMP was essentially killed off in December 2013, when parent company AOL shut down the WINAMP website – apparently for good. However, the WINAMP brand has survived under new ownership (Amsterdam-based company Radionomy), and you can even download the program from www.winamp.com. But any development seems to have ceased and the last version (5.666) was released way back in 2013.
What you should replace it with
Windows 10 comes with a couple of built-in music players. But the Groove Music app is fairly limited and probably won’t be around much longer anyway. Microsoft recently announced that it will kill off its Spotify-like Groove Music service at the end of this year (see Make Windows Better, page 46).
Windows Media Player is still there, but it’s starting to look and feel a bit tired. Instead, try foobar2000 ( www. foobar2000.org), which has also been around for a while (15 years), but remains in active development. Alternatively, switch to the more modern-looking Musicbee ( www.getmusicbee.com). Both are free and, like WINAMP, support plug-ins and have a customisable interface.
4 Microsoft Office 2007 As we reported in Issue 509 (see page 58), Microsoft ended support for Office 2007 in October. This effectively renders its suite of tools – including Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook – unsafe to use. Microsoft’s tools – and Office in particular – are prime targets for hackers, so continuing to use Office 2007 is a high-risk strategy.
What you should replace it with
Of course, Microsoft would like you to replace Office 2007 with the latest version of its office suite. And you can oblige, as long as you’re prepared to pay £60-£80 per year for an Office 365 subscription. Alternatively, you could switch to Libreoffice ( www.libreoffice.org, see screenshot below), a free open-source office suite that has equivalents for all the main Office 2007 tools and works in very similar ways (see page 19 for more on the latest version).
Online office suites, such as Google Docs ( www.google.com/docs) and Microsoft’s Office Online web apps ( www.snipca.com/25850, see Excel below) are more basic than desktop office programs, but are easy to use and free.
5 AIM In an era before text messaging and Skype, AIM – or AOL Instant Messenger to give it its full name – was a huge leap forward in communication and a
surprise hit. Initially part of AOL’S email software, AIM took on a life of its own when it was released as a free standalone tool and, for a while, became the most widely used instant-messaging tool. But AOL was never able to capitalise on AIM’S success and, despite releasing phone and tablet versions, failed to keep up with developments made in rival software, leading to people abandoning it.
AIM is still around today, but development has all but ground to a halt – the current version (8.0.8.1) was released in April 2015. So it came as little surprise when, in October, AOL announced plans to discontinue the tool from 15 December. Also, AIM has a history of being plagued by security problems, including a number of vulnerabilities that let hackers run malware on PCS. If you still have AIM installed, we suggest you remove it now.
What you should replace it with
With over 1 billion users every day, and compatible with IOS, Android, Windows Phone and Windows PCS, Whatsapp (see screenshot below) is the current king of messaging services. It recently implemented end-to-end encryption ( E2EE), meaning it’s one of the most private messaging tools around. Free to use, it can be downloaded from www. snipca.com/25852.
6 Apple Quicktime In the early days of online video, the Windows version of Apple’s Quicktime movie player was one of those tools – like Shockwave and Realplayer – that everybody needed to install if they wanted to play the wide range of video formats used on websites. Because of this, it’s likely you have a version installed on one of your PCS.
But Apple stopped supporting Quicktime for Windows last year. Since then, at least two major zero-day vulnerabilities have been identified, prompting security firm Trend Micro to make an urgent plea for users to uninstall the software from their PCS ( www.snipca. com/25853). The vulnerabilities, which let attackers install malware on your PC, remain unfixed to this day, making Quicktime a good example of just how dangerous old software can become.
What you should replace it with
The web has changed and, these days, you don’t need Quicktime or any other plug-ins to watch videos online. If you need a media player to play any Quicktime (MOV) format files, we’d recommend using VLC ( www.videolan. org, see screenshot above). It supports dozens of formats and is regularly updated to fix bugs and security flaws.
7Soluto
Described by its makers as “anti-frustration” software, Soluto was designed as a free Pc-maintenance tool that lets you disable startup programs, control background processes, monitor hardware performance and troubleshoot problems, all via a simple, easy-tounderstand interface. It was a big hit with users and tech experts alike. But after being bought by UK company Asurion in 2013, Soluto was wound down and support was eventually dropped for good in 2016.
Ironically, if you still have Soluto installed, it’ll do nothing but slow your PC’S startup – part of it still runs every time you start your PC. But the dashboard is no longer accessible, and clicking View My PC from the Soluto notification area icon now just displays an error message.
What you should replace it with
Normally we’d recommend Ccleaner Free for all your Pc-optimisation needs. However, Ccleaner itself recently fell foul of a severe security breach, when hackers injected the tool with malware (see Issue 512’s Protect Your Tech for more details). Ccleaner’s new owner, Avast, says it has fixed the vulnerability, and claims the software is once again safe to use. But many users are understandably still concerned about their security, so if you’d prefer an alternative try Wise Program Uninstaller ( www.snipca.com/24368), which won Gold in our uninstaller group test in Issue 504.
8Adobe Photoshop
Adobe’s powerful image-editing tool remains the industry-standard program for improving photos. But in 2013 Adobe moved Photoshop, along with most of its other software, to its Creative Cloud subscription-based service and the last standalone version of Photoshop (CS6) reached its official end of life back in 2014. This means if you’re running a pre-subscription version of Photoshop on your PC, Adobe no longer supports it, so you’ll never receive security fixes. And, as with Google and Microsoft, Adobe’s big name means that its software is often a key target for hackers.
What you should replace it with
Photoshop Elements is one of the few Adobe programs that you can still buy without having to subscribe. Version 15 is the latest and it costs about £70 ( www.snipca.com/25916). Elements isn’t quite as powerful as the full-version Photoshop, though, with greater focus on quick fixes and organisation of your photo library.
A more fitting replacement is GIMP ( www.gimp.org), which is free and offers equivalents for Photoshop’s advanced colour-adjustment tools, filters, layers and masks (see screenshot above right). GIMP is still very much in active development and received a fresh update (2.8.22) earlier this year.
9Microsoft Money Plus Sunset Deluxe
When Microsoft Money was discontinued in 2008, people who’d been using the software to manage their finances were understandably disappointed. In response, Microsoft released a free replacement – Microsoft Money Plus Sunset Deluxe – which is still available from www.snipca.com/25862. However, the software hasn’t been updated since 2010. No tech support is available for it and it lacks many modern features, such as integration with online banking.
What you should replace it with
A version of the program has resurfaced in recent years in the shape of Microsoft’s Money app. It’s free, but effectively little more than a glorified stocks-and-shares monitor. If you want a free tool that helps you take control of your personal finances, try Ontrees ( www.ontrees.com), owned by Moneysupermarket.com. It’s webbased, so there’s no software to install (though an accompanying IOS app is available from www.snipca.com/25863). Create an account, then link all your bank accounts to manage your budgets, and view your incomings and outgoings.