What is most secure browser if you still use XP at times

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daddydean

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Feb 6, 2016
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Hi Group,
While I continue to try to get version of Win7 installed back on the laptop I resurrecting from the dead. The desktop with 7 dies so I am back to my two old laptops an HP I fixed up a year ago and put the original OS of XP back on as I have somethings that would not work on Win7 that I was not ready to retire yet! The other choice is my old Mac G4 Book which is running Leopard as that is the last Mac OS that would run on the old Mac processors. On the Mac for a browser I am using Tenfour fox which does OK. However when you search what is the best browser to use if you still run XP! You get articles from a few years back when MS was ending support of XP. Now I know I am not the only one who still has a PC with XP and would like a secure browser. Firefox would not install, Chrome did but keeps saying it will not update. Well I was tired of that message with in a few hours. I installed Opera and it least does not nag me that XP is old.
Before someone says again upgrade to Win10. Lets says been there, done that and will not go back. If I tired it when it was Free and I hated it more then Win7 which I can tolerate. FYI I was someone who upgraded their OS with in short time of Microsoft releasing a new OS. My first PC that could go online was an off the shelf Compaq came with Windows 98 which I upgraded to 98 Second Edition when it was released followed by ME. However by the time XP came out I ready for a new computer as it was end of 2001. I built my own and installed XP! In 2007 I needed a new laptop so I went out brought a new HP with Vista. A few months later that laptop was put up for sale as I felt Vista was a pig of an OS. All I could do was think how did the people who made XP come up with OS that is so! backwards IMHO I switched over Mac first a used laptop then an IMac and I would buy a Mac now if I could afford to get one, sadly that is not in the budget these days! It was when the IMac I brought used in 2008, when the logic board started to fail in 2014. I could not find a Mac I could afford so brought a custom built PC with Win 7 for the OS. To me Win7 is still a pig for an OS for the most part, in my opinion but it is a pig in lipstick. I do not think most of you would care to hear what I honestly think of Win8 and Win10 and I have tired them.
Thanks,
Dean
 
Solution
aoresteen
I'm still on XP and I use Firefox 52.3.0 ESR for most stuff. Opera 36.0.2130.80 is the last version for XP. Never use IE 8.0.xxx

Have Firefox block dangerous sites.

You MUST use a keylogger prevention tool if you browse the internet. I use Zemana Antilogger.

https://www.zemana.com/

You also must use anti-virus. AVG & Avast still support XP. I also run MalwareBytes.

https://www.avast.com/en-us/index

https://www.avg.com/en-us/homepage

https://www.malwarebytes.com/

If you have your own router/WiFi router, most likely it has a firewall built in. Use it and set it to high security.

Most importantly NEVER click on a link in an email unless you personally know the sender. And even then be cautious as there are programs that...
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If you care about security you should use an up-to-date browser.

Firefox has just discontinued support for XP, so the current Firefox 52.3ESR will be the last one ever. It's dated Aug 7, 2017. Many things have been broken for a long time like the ability to sleep when the browser is open + WebGL, which demonstrates the general neglect the Firefox team gave to XP. Note the ESR branch is different from the regular branch which ended XP support earlier in March.

Slimbrowser uses iE6's Trident Engine, which should be kept reasonably up-to-date if you are using the POSReady 2009 registry hack to get Windowsupdates for XP until Jan. 8, 2019. The latest browser version is dated Jul 19,2017

Out-of-date browsers:
Firefox-based Pale Moon for Atom/Windows XP dropped support after 26.5.0 Sept 28, 2016.

Opera 36.0.2130.65 was the last one for XP, updated Apr 11, 2016

Chrome dropped XP after v49 from Mar 2, 2016, and no Chrome-based Slimjet either.

Midori should still work but has been v5.11 for a long time (Aug 30, 2015) so not sure it's actually "supported." It runs Chrome's former Webkit engine (used until v27)


While some people maintain forks that still "support" XP, you have to remember they are probably sticking to older engines and just trying to fiddle with a few settings to try and get them to match updates in newer browsers, which will obviously not always be possible so over time more and more stuff will just not work. And it's usually just one guy doing everything so you'd have to trust some random guy. Thanks but no thanks. Note that Windows 9x/ME died too for online use after its last supported browser, Firefox 2.0.0.20 from Dec 18, 2008, went out of date.


It probably doesn't matter much which browser you use as long as you aren't doing any shopping or banking on it. For that I would recommend using a bootable, browser-only operating system like Webconverger (for Firefox) or Instant Webkiosk (for Chrome). You simply boot from optical disc or USB and it runs entirely in RAM without mounting any of your hard disks, and simply opens the browser without any type of desktop GUI. When you are done and shut down or reboot, everything is erased because it was only ever in RAM, so you can't get more secure than that. Simply remove the disc or USB and reboot right into XP.
 
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advanced chrome is chrome 54 on xp.
http://browser.taokaizen.com/
use the custom build

Also, BFG-9000 where does it say 52.3 is the last? can't find a reference to that online or in the browser.
And opera was the last to end support for 98/ME, with the last 'official' version for 9x being in 2009(i think)
 
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As I said, the fork is just one man's work, so you will have to trust that guy in Mexico to use it. He does post the source and build instructions though so it's not that he might be malicious, it's just that one man could miss some big security holes.

Firefox has claimed since last year that XP support was ending on September 2017 and the Release Calendar showed August's 52.3 would be the last ESR based on 52 and thus the last one compatible with XP. However in the forums they have relented (probably due to overwhelming demand) and apparently will now reconsider this month-by-month, probably so long as it's not too difficult. The Release Calendar now shows 52.4 through 52.8 and the next ESR will be based on 59. So it looks like XP users have a reprieve for now, perhaps all the way to June 2018.

As you say, the last Opera supporting 9x was 9.64 (02.03.2009) so you could consider 9x a dead OS shortly after that with the next release. The use of 9x online dropped so rapidly afterwards that every major antivirus manufacturer stopped releasing compatible engines and definitions.
 
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Yes, i haven't had problems with advanced chrome, but you do have a point. It isn't used by millions of people and thus not as many bugs/holes are reported.

Thanks for the clarification on firefox.

Like you said, 9x is too far gone, ( even with unofficial kernel extensions)
 
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I'm still on XP and I use Firefox 52.3.0 ESR for most stuff. Opera 36.0.2130.80 is the last version for XP. Never use IE 8.0.xxx

Have Firefox block dangerous sites.

You MUST use a keylogger prevention tool if you browse the internet. I use Zemana Antilogger.

https://www.zemana.com/

You also must use anti-virus. AVG & Avast still support XP. I also run MalwareBytes.

https://www.avast.com/en-us/index

https://www.avg.com/en-us/homepage

https://www.malwarebytes.com/

If you have your own router/WiFi router, most likely it has a firewall built in. Use it and set it to high security.

Most importantly NEVER click on a link in an email unless you personally know the sender. And even then be cautious as there are programs that spoof a users contact list. The vast majority of virus infections are cause by the user sitting inside their firewalls clicking on an email link.


If your ISP has an upstream spam filter, set it to high security and ask to get a daily spam report. 99% of the emails on my daily spam report are spam or email attacks - they they get blacklisted & killed.

The last patch that I got for XP from Microsoft was May 2017 "WannaCry" ransomware:

http://download.windowsupdate.com/d/csa/csa/secu/2017/02/windowsxp-kb4012598-x86-custom enu_eceb7d5023bbb23c0dc633e46b9c2f14fa6ee9dd.exe

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4012598/title

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/msrc/2017/05/12/customer-guidance-for-wannacrypt-attacks/

I still use XP because I have older recording hardware and film scanners that do not function beyond XP. I'm testing a dual-booting setup for XP and Windows 7 or 10 and will soon migrate to it. Win 7 will dual boot fine. I am waiting for my Win10 DVD to arrive and I will test it and decide which one I will use. Then it's Win7 or 10 for browsing/internet and XP when I need to use old hardware/software that will not run on Win 7/10.

It's a lot of work to stay safe using XP but it can be done.

 
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Solution


Since getting my XP Pro rig up and running, about a week ago, I have given the old test drive to quite a few browsers, and dumped quite a few. To date, only Comodo Ice Dragon, Slimjet, Whitehat Aviator, and SRWare Iron remain. By the way, Firefox will install on XP Pro. I had, in succession, Firefox 21, 3.5 and 2.? All got dumped within a few days of install. Anyway, all four of my current browsers are considered by most secure.
 
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I know the Slimjet devs promised to keep Slimjet 10 going for XP as long as possible but the current build is 9 months old (as is Comodo) and doesn't look like it will be updated again. And as I pointed out in this thread I would hardly call any project fork maintained by a single person to be "secure" whether that is a custom ROM for a phone or a browser.

Firefox esr is the last major browser for XP that is actually kept up-to-date. The current 52.4.1 is less than a month old.
 
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Everything that works in XP works in Windows 7. Check your settings, use compatibility mode for old programs so it runs in XP & W98 language, & set the desktop display to classic so you don't miss the proper display & buttons on old programs to install them properly. I've converted dozens of W98, W98SE, W2000, XP & Vista machines to W7 without a hitch or problem.

You can install most of the best free Linux OS's alongside of Windows, so you don't have to give up XP at all, but you boot to Linux to surf the internet with a modern secure browser. When Linux installs alongside windows, on boot up, it will offer a choice to boot to windows or Linux.

You may want to Google your computer model with the word "Linux" in the search to see which Linux would be best & easiest to use on your machine or for your needs.

Yep. I didn't like W8 & W8.1 either. I don't want them turning my desktops & laptops into something that looks & works like buggy a giant phone. I already have reliable phones & android tablets that work well. Why would I want a windows machine that poorly imitates them? W10 is even worse, & I could fill up several pages on what's wrong with W10.

The day W7 is no longer useful to me, if Microsoft hasn't come out with something much better than W8 or W10 by then, I'll either go all Linux, or get a used Mac, & maybe use android more for some portable & simple tasks. I have no use for a Windows OS that's just a poor, invasive, & problematic imitation of an Android phone.

I can get a slick, fast, quad core new android under full warranty from a respected brand for $26-$70. Why would I get an expensive poor imitation of it with Windows that's chock full of problems, bugs, spyware, & adware? Yeah, Google android & Apple have adware & tracking too, but not to this extreme, plus android is cheaper, works better, & is more reliable than W10.

If Mac & Linux didn't exist (technically Android is also Linux). If my only choices were W10 or android, I wouldn't hesitate to go to android rather than W10.
 
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BTW, FireFox ESR is now up to 52.4.0 (I am using it right now) and I have been told there will be another update this coming spring.

I have Win7 setup in dual boot but also put a Linux box with Linux Mint 18.2 on a KVM switch.

Also, the TOR browser still works on Window XP. Slow but very secure.
 
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Nope. I've got lots of hardware drivers that work fine in XP but will not run in Win7. That is why I still use XP.

Also, as long as you banking app uses end-to-end internal encryption you are fine on XP. Also, set up a DMZ with TWO firewalls. My XP environment is far more secure that most home Win7 desktops.

As I've said before, most breaches behind firewalls are caused by clicking on links in emails.

No environment is perfectly secure when it is connected to the internet. My main recording computer rarely has the CAT5 cable connected. It is very secure.

 
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BTW FireFox ESR is at 52.9.0 and will go no further. Be VERY carful where you use it. Make sure you have a current anti-virus on it. I would not use it to connect to an open WiFi network like the fast food chains/coffee bars. I still use it behind my own firewalls. I upgraded a laptop to Win7 for traveling.
 
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