Also, many third-party developers created password crackers and trojan horses to get ahold of the people’s ICQ accounts. If hackers had control over someone's internet network, they'd have access to all their ICQ messages. Was the old ICQ anonymous? Well, not really. In 2010 Russian company Digital Sky Technologies (known today as Group) bought ICQ and still develops it today. Due to this, old-school messenger apps lost most of their users. It became easier to connect with people via Facebook than via the ICQ's hard-to-remember ID numbers. They had a friendlier user interface and provided a better experience. In the late 2000s, social networks, mostly Facebook, boomed.

The times went by, and internet technologies and trends developed fast. Microsoft followed with its AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! did with the Yahoo! Messenger, but surprisingly, ICQ outlasted all its competitors and reached 100 million registered users by the spring of 2001. Of course, the program's popularity meant other IT companies would try to create their messenger apps. When the convenient chats of ICQ arrived, they proved to be an instant success. Here's the ICQ Crash Course: in 1996, an Israeli company Mirabilis developed a computer program, ICQ ('I seek you.') It was one of the first messengers that worked over the Internet, and eventually, and before ICQ, people communicated mostly via emails. What's happened to ICQ, and why is it gaining popularity again right now? And what's more important, is ICQ safe, especially its newest versions? Let's figure it out together. ICQ was the first and the most popular messenger program in the 1990s and the early 2000s, before its decay in 2010s. To help you get the most of your online interactions, we’ve prepared some handy ideas and practices below. Whether you want to access more content in one tap, encrypt the connection, watch any streaming service or get full online privacy - ClearVPN is here for you.

So here’s a tip for you: Download ClearVPN, and try out ready-made shortcuts.

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