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I apologize if I sounded too "critical". I simply failed to comprehend why anyone would point out 6 (7?) "weak ciphers" in the browser that this thread is discussing but throw a blind eye to to the TWICE AS MANY "weak ciphers" in the other popular browsers discussed on this forum. If Roytam isn't striving for ZERO "weak ciphers", then why would we expect a repacked Chrome version targeting XP to strive for ZERO "weak ciphers"? But again, apologies if I didn't tackle this with a tad more "political correctness"

The FBI is warning about Windows 7. being used to hack into company systems and set up ransomware. Since MSFN provides information about using old operating systems online I think we need to change our security advice. Especially since Windows Update no longer works on many systems. I think older operating systems should now be used offline only or on airgapped local network at most. The situation will only get worse once ESUs expire. The security issue is much bigger now that serious amounts of money is involved.

Hey guys. I recently found my very old Netbook, while I was down in the basement. It was still running Windows XP Home and I think the last time I used it was 2014? Couldnt find any newer data than 04/2014 on it but anyways.. as you all know Windows XP was discontinued on that date and now I want to use that Netbook again for Word, OneDrive and maybe some research. However, I am very unsure to which OS I should upgrade that specific Netbook. The specs are: Dell Inspiron mini 1012 Intel Atom N450 - Single 1,66 GHz 2GB DDR2 - RAM 10,1 inch screen (1024x600) 140GB Crucial SSD 4400maH Battery (~3:30 hours SOT with XP) I am very unsure, as I think every OS has is Pro's and Con's which I listed down below: XP: Cannot use it anymore, no newer software support, I dont like it's design and think it is not modern enough for 2021. However, it is amazingly fast Vista: Same as XP. I would need the 64bit version to install Extended Kernel and get newer browsers, however I think Vista needs to be patched a lot before all of that and it is just not worth it on this Netbook. This single core doesnt allow 64bit 7: Seems to be the best version tbh., every major app still works, it looks so beatiful, doesnt consumes a lot of Ram.. 8/8.1: Tbh, I think Windows 8 is the fastest out of all of them BUUTT this Netbook isnt Win8 optimized at all, especially because Windows 8 Apps recuire a higher screen resultion than 1024x600 10: It is the slowest out of all of them and only works till 1607. Starting with 1703, Intel no longer provide Graphics Drivers for Intel GMA 3150. I think the only Windows 10 versions working on this netbook are 1507/1607 LTSB. However, I cannot buy LTSB licences anywhere for private usage. I also think 10 is way too heavy for a single core Processor. What do you guys think?

Hi all, I've followed MSFN on and off for a few years as a lurker, but finally decided to join as I'm building my first bare-bones old-school Windows/DOS system and wanted to share the experience and get some tips too I'm hoping to build a dual-boot DOS/Win3.11 and Windows 98SE system. Let's see how it goes! Stay safe everyone Jasmin

Here's the breakdown as far as "weak ciphers" go --

Hi ntoskrnl_extender compilable and usable on xp64 too, usb3/storage drivers works (but not tested widely) "OneCore API and XomPie" - read carefully what these and this projects do, they live in different words "ring3 vs ring0" and no way to say hello to companion :)

Welcome back again. I concluded that functionality was gone forever soon after your October 20, 2019 post and uninstalled my legacy iTunes, so I cannot confirm your very interesting report. (I used to prefer 11.1.5 because it did not crash with a DEP error when closing on Vista like 12.1.3.)...

Why don't you put in the solution that you found?

When i signed to iTunes 12.3.1.6 with two-factor authentication enabled on my account, it actually logged in to my account. Very weird.

I could only quote older threads regarding SSDs and Vista: Windows Vista with SSDs (2017) Vista is probably destroying my ssd (December 2020) Edit: Here’s another thread with very relevant answers: SSD for Vista (December 2019)

Welcome to MSFN :) Oh.. the memories of DOS/Win3.1 and my IBM Thinkpads. Have fun !

Apologies for what feels like spam posting... Further to my endeavors I have discovered the following: Address and search bar can be worked around using the above post or by installing Adobe Type Manager 4.1. I used this to install AwesomeFont 4.7 and after this coincidentally fixed the bars. I'm guessing this is down to it installing some required but not necessary files. The browsers do work in a Virtual Machine using the files I got from my extended Windows 2000. This leads me to think there is potentially an issue with one of the files from XP SP3? Anyhow, once again thankyou for all the work that has been put in to getting these working.

Welcome to this wonderful forum @Jasmin and hello from India

From Belgium, hello @Jasmin and welcome to MSFN! I wish you enjoy the forums! Have a nice day. hpwamr

new ArcticFox win32 test build is uploaded: http://o.rthost.win/gpc/files1.rt/arcticfox-27.11.0.win32-git-20210130.7z too many commits to be listed. https://github.com/rmottola/Arctic-Fox/compare/87fe13c8df953510e1a3382e5237be1bd45dd9e7...db3c2551f0a2185d344329e394d60b56401fa080

New build of BOC/UXP for XP! Test binary: MailNews Win32 https://o.rthost.win/boc-uxp/mailnews.win32-20210130-355db4de-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod.7z BNavigator Win32 https://o.rthost.win/boc-uxp/bnavigator.win32-20210130-355db4de-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod.7z source repo (excluding UXP): https://github.com/roytam1/boc-uxp/tree/custom-older * Notice: the profile prefix (i.e. parent folder names) are also changed since 2020-08-15 build, you may rename their names before using new binaries when updating from builds before 2020-08-15. -- New build of HBL-UXP for XP! Test binary: IceDove-UXP(mail) https://o.rthost.win/hbl-uxp/icedove.win32-20210130-id-eed0566-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod.7z IceApe-UXP(suite) https://o.rthost.win/hbl-uxp/iceape.win32-20210130-id-eed0566-ia-41157bf-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod.7z source repo (excluding UXP): https://github.com/roytam1/icedove-uxp/tree/winbuild https://github.com/roytam1/iceape-uxp/tree/winbuild for UXP changes please see above.

New build of Serpent/UXP for XP! Test binary: Win32 https://o.rthost.win/basilisk/basilisk52-g4.8.win32-git-20210130-5fdeb2a-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod.7z Win64 https://o.rthost.win/basilisk/basilisk52-g4.8.win64-git-20210130-5fdeb2a-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod.7z source code that is comparable to my current working tree is available here: https://github.com/roytam1/UXP/commits/custom IA32 Win32 https://o.rthost.win/basilisk/basilisk52-g4.8.win32-git-20210130-5fdeb2a-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod-ia32.7z source code that is comparable to my current working tree is available here: https://github.com/roytam1/UXP/commits/ia32 NM28XP build: Win32 https://o.rthost.win/palemoon/palemoon-28.10.2a1.win32-git-20210130-0fe3d520e-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod.7z Win32 SSE https://o.rthost.win/palemoon/palemoon-28.10.2a1.win32-git-20210130-0fe3d520e-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod-sse.7z Win64 https://o.rthost.win/palemoon/palemoon-28.10.2a1.win64-git-20210130-0fe3d520e-uxp-e1daeef18-xpmod.7z Official UXP changes since my last build: - Issue #1319 - Resolve RELEASE_OR_BETA questions in all.js (1126548de) - Issue #1390 - Clean up presentation api leftovers (7702d1f3f) - Issue #1719 - Make <menuitem> pref-controlled and disable by default. (874330d45) - Merge branch 'presentation-cleanup' (dd932e001) - [layout, XUL] Avoid accessing invalidated frame. (c1dd23bd8) - Fix rooting hazard in ImageBitmap::CreateInternal by avoiding movable data. (3a8b4ad00) - [js] Add AutoEnterOOMUnsafeRegion to JS_TransplantObject. (2f9e27a30) - [WebRTC] Improve SDP parser error handling. (3661ecee1) - [webaudio] Fix up ReverbInputBuffer's writeIndex. (2836e5146) - [DOM] Try to avoid slow shrinking GC during sync calls (8fd57ace2) - [DOM] Store weak pointer to next parents. (f77c7a36b) - [network] Hold mutex when accessing mSecurityInfo. (e1daeef18) Official Basilisk changes since my last build: - [pdf.js] Don't follow redirects on range requests for PDFs. (5fdeb2a) No official Pale-Moon changes since my last build. My changes since my last build: - import change from tenfourfox: #633: update TLDs, timezone data (7b437c98d) (2e836f2b3)

I kinda gave up waiting for it ....

here is the download to a .bat file i found that removes all the telemetry and get windows 10 updates from 7/8/8.1 all credit goes to xvitaly on git-hub here is the link to the original project page on github -------> https://gist.github.com/xvitaly. telemetry Fix.bat

(Edit: Updated to give the original creator credit and added this to the Tips n tweaks forum section)

Welcome.. lots of info here re XP and Visa; so you came to the right place. TC

Welcome to MSFN. Enjoy.

From Belgium, hello @WindowsLover2000 and welcome to MSFN! I wish you enjoy the forums! Have a nice day. hpwamr

Hi everyone, My name is Ricardo and I'm 25 years old. I am a big collector of vintage hardware and software and have been for about half of my life. My daily occupation is IT support for other companies and mainly with Windows client/server networks. Besides this I have always been a big fan of social events, tinkering, cars and I have a big general interest towards fascinating things.

Welcome to MSFN; Ricardo95.. Yeah, it is fun - isn't it to tinker. By far.. the very best investment in software was when I purchased acronis true image, so matter how many (countless) times I've botched my system (tinkering), I'm back in business in about 8 minutes with my 1 of several images I've created on removable storage - backups are soo important! See ya around the forum :)

From Belgium, hello @Ricardo95 and welcome to MSFN! I wish you enjoy the forums! Have a nice day. hpwamr

Welcome to this wonderful forum @Ricardo95 and hello from India

Once I've hunted every connection down, that had CDN in it's name and dared to enter my network. But what kind of content is the CDN server actually delivering? Could be some pictures, but could be a tracker or an advert, too. There is no easy solution for this. It always depends on the case. But to be honest, 95% of them are just garbage and slow your internet browsing down. I can say, that on the old Pentium 3 and on slow mobile connections, this saves a lot of bandwidth on plenty of "bigger" websites.

Well, Linux, quite frankly, sucks as a workstation OS in general. It's often impractical to use anything other than Windows for a variety of reasons. I love Windows in general, I just hate the most recent releases of it.

Is a spy , better to avoid it . Don't you think ?

It's about picking the right servers, where scripts should be allowed. addictive-ads.com spyonyou.info soundsfine.com soundslikeenglish.com soundslikespam.com a0a0202.cloudfront.com local-newspaper.com cdn-network.com Being presented with that kind of list, my users think: Now how do I have to decide? What is a "content delivery network"? I've read they offer me spyware! What is "Cloudfront"? The big numbers in front of it look like a hacker attacks me now! "Soundsfine.com", well that does sound fine, doesn't it? These quesitons are very dificult, I know. On a short-term, this configuration gives you headaches, having to configure NoScript for every site and look up every single thing, what it is and what it does. But on the long-term, once you have everything set up, browsing the web actually makes fun again. Of course some scripts are doing a fine job, like here on MSFN (from my point of view). It performs well on the old Pentium 3. It's true, that there are internet connections happening on a fresh Linux machine. Some distributions definetly do much more than giving you updates and syncing the time over the network. Especially if you look at what Ubuntu has done. The free software man Richard Stallman knows, why he points at them (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/ubuntu-spyware.en.html). But other Linux distributions are different. My Salix installation doesn't say a word by itself to the outside world (after I've configured it)! It's like with Windows XP basically, although I don't think that you can configure a Windows XP machine on it's own to block all connections, that you didn't ask for. For example the Hosts-file is being circumvented for Microsoft servers (https://www.blabley.org/windows-10-ignoring-the-hosts-file-for-specific-name-resolution/). That's why I use a "hardware" non-Microsoft firewall, the configurable router, which has filters for these cases. But not all web connections are bad! The users would have to update their system by themselves, which they don't want, they just want to use their computer. It's convenience.

Here - MSFN? Luckily I can, without JS, and grateful it's still possible. Or would probably have to leave. Uploading attachments does need scripts, but posting still works. Although only with the simplified box at page bottom. I'm not bothering with complicated stuff like NoScript either, and there's also an ongoing war by tricky page authors to circumvent it. Sneaky stuff like scripts inside noscript tags etc... My personal preference has always been to just block JS globally, and toggle shortly On/Off when needed. Just one button click away in K-Meleon. Also crucial for security: iframes can be blocked with a simple pref (permissions.default.subdocument=1/2/3) Have seen there are similar basic addons for FF too, guess "Content Block", PrefBar, QuickJava or similar.

Difficult topic! I support some users which simply aren't able to use a simple addon like NoScript. Making them understand, which servers they have to block (but only sometimes) is beyond their capabilities. These people are some crazy artists with fantastic ideas, but they would have been better off without computers at all to be honest! And you have to block scripts, because even on the most generic websites that millions of people visit, a hacked advert can compromise your computer all of a sudden! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvertising Not only through that, but these sunday drivers would destroy their online Windows 7 quickly. They use terrible webmail clients, loading spam mails full of adverts, code execution right away and they are screwed then. They need a user-friendly Linux instead (if it's just for browsing the web and no super-special software is needed). A lot less malware is possible then... I'm sorry, but I can't make any appropriate statements about Windows Vista! I haven't used it since 9 years. But it looks like, that there are a lot of current Vista users here. The question is: What did they do right to not get their old systems attacked? And what did they upgrade hardwarewise? Probably the hard drive, which has made big speed improvements in the last 15 years. Best luck with your computer setup for the next 10 years!

I agree with the person who said this was one of the best posts on the forum in a long time. I have used Windows for a long time and have NEVER gotten a virus except for the one time I actually tried, too, in a dev environment. If anyone else "accidentally" just rolls through a bunch of UAC prompts for unverified software from sketchy publishers, I guess they don't have brain.exe Eh, not really. Just FUD. I recommend people stay on Windows 7, the technically inclined and very-much-not-so alike. This actually speeds up web browsing a fair bit! Pro tip: if you see a sketchy email, and you don't already, switch to plain text mode for reading it. Sometimes it's obvious mail is phishing mail, but sometimes I like reading it in PT mode just to see what's up. And since it's PT mode, they can't exploit any security vulnerabilities, execute anything, load anything, or track anything. I wouldn't say XP is more secure... just less likely and less worthy of being exploited. Windows 7 gets security updates for 3 or 4 more years, anyways.

The difficulty about Windows PCs of all versions is, that you can't really trust them. They have a broken security by default (since years!). Backdoors open for the intelligence agencies can be used by the intelligent hackers, too. Therefore I wouldn't use a firewall running on my Windows PC. Please correct me, if this sounds irrational! However routers can have backdoors too... search for it online, there are plenty of cases. Even OpenWRT can't be trusted blindly, because they are dependant on the hardware manufacturers too: https://forum.openwrt.org/t/what-are-the-chances-theres-a-hardware-backdoor-exploit-in-many-of-these-routers/22909 I prefer the "hardware" firewall, because it saves RAM on my old machines and it's convenient to configure for all computers. But you are right, it's basically just another computer running vulnerable software. Not 100 % perfect.

A "hardware" firewall is a misnomer. What is usually meant by this is an embedded computer running some software for network routing, often linux. It's no more hardware than another PC. A shortcoming of such a device is that it can only differentiate between computers and port numbers, not applications. It is convenient for setting up filters that apply to all computers on the network where configuring a firewall would be impractical, fresh installations, guests, portable devices.

Well, for one, you can easily change the firewall rules from the OS. For example, in Windows you can create/modify/delete rules in the Windows Adv Firewall with netsh, or using an API call. Certainly a hardware firewall isn't some magic foolproof thing, but a virus or malicious actor is less likely to be able to change rules on a dedicated firewall vs the one that is just a program on your computer.

I'm intrigued by this hardware firewall thing — I just use the standard Windows Firewall, and I'm curious what the benefit of a physical one is!

on windows xp one can enable IPV6 support and generally I recommend using an ISP supporting IPV6 IPV4 is so crowded its easy for it to be exploited by fly by hackers. Vista and seven I got hacked over IPV4 and ISP's aren't angels they use tracking 3rd party corporations for revenue on their customers account portals they're sometimes abused by corporations and authorities but where do people think news comes from about celebrity hacks? theres one of several answers. Using browser extensions such as script filtering and ad blocking: surf facebook and others long enough they have scripts to inject that screw 'em up. Facebooks partners can get dirty and will script you a comma into your peerblock app's blocklist as well effectively voiding your blocklists ability to filter anything even when read only access. Peerblock has a backdoor too sends statistics and leaves a closed port on your firewall effectively making your stealth status ruined. Ever since XP Microsoft's share holders have been served revenue from its app store and yuou get video ads over your ad funded apps now. Through these ad serving corporations hackers are found and even rogue government employed hackers but china's hackers are ugly as hell just block china if your not Chinese. same as Russians. They use methods such as tricking kernels with simulated hardware errors to pry into the system security layers. Such crap causes hardware failures sometimes fatal and expensive. Don't go thinking meltdown and Spectre are anything new age. Older less depth style hacks have been emerging from government agencies since Cavalari core was invented only governments can craft that level of hack intelligence.

This is easily one of the best forum posts I have read in a long time, can I just say that now. WannaCrypt didn't even run on XP, remember: but all the ISPs and other tech sites just used it as an excuse to spread FUD about NT 5.x and 6.0 to scare people into upgrade to Windows 10. Also the whole thing of Microsoft trying to kill CPUs by lagging out Windows Update on Vista the day Win10 released (due to the free upgrade being exempt for Vista THANKFULLY, so let's try to make less smart users throw their devices away!)

I'd rather recommend than listening to the FBI but to upgrade your very unique Brain.exe instead. It's the best anti-virus out there. The only downside is, that Brain.exe can't be bought for money and downloading it is impossible, too. It must be fed proper knowledge to grow. And then one day, you will be capable of using the old operating systems online without running into a wall. Would I recommend to average users who use their brain on other things than computers to use Windows XP and Windows 7 for example? No, because that would put them easily in danger. But if you know, what you are doing, then you'll be able to avoid the problems. Use a hardware firewall, that you can configure. Block unwanted Javascripts. Block everything, you didn't ask for. Don't click on everything that sounds like a promising help to your problems. Learn to read links before clicking on them. These things. Also consider that something like Windows XP got more secure over time, as less and less people were using it. Windows 7 is still a very attractive target for mean hackers with circa 15% market share (2020).

Technically the original FBI advise it is not FUD in itself, it is much more standard, boiler plate warning: http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7013778-FBI-PIN-alert-on-Windows-7-End-of-Life.html What would you expect them to say? Brought to you by the same culture that produced: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objects_in_mirror_are_closer_than_they_appear and of course toothpick intructions. jaclaz

Who's "we"? MSFN's policy is simple: we do not propagate FUD. Period.

Hello everyone While waiting for the new version of AeroGlass from BigMuscle compatible with the last bluid 2004 Windows, I find a little software that produces a glass effect, meanwhile can help to wait. It's very easy to use, works with any Windows 10 Bluid. Lien DL : https://anonfiles.com/HdFcw19bo8/transparency_rar

Reading facebook messages about where to get your fix of toilet paper is not covered by any of the above buzzwords. I think that consists of 60% of Windows 10 usage, whilst 8% is for real productivity, and 32% is being hampered by OS bugs or forced updates. What a contradictory statement. There is an illusion of choice of 80 000 models, but: -the only difference between laptop models may be the colour of the lid -or the only difference between models could be that one is intended for Walmart (model ID is suffixed "wm") whilst one is intended for Lidl (suffixed "ld") et cetera. Overall, there are probably no more than a few hundred hardware configurations at a few price points and certainly little choice in OS. NVIDIA mobile graphics drivers for RTX don't even support Windows 7 so you can forget it on the newest of those so-called 80 000 models. Why do mobile graphics have less legacy support than their desktop counterparts? So people are always being forced to run Windows 10, even if it's not automatically downloaded to 7 and 8.1 machines anymore. There were a few steps in between 1.0 and 10 that went wayyyy above 10, but never mind.

Another option is to use the built-in WinXP VPN client. Create a new connection using free PPTP or L2TP servers. For example - http://www.nlfreevpn.com/ https://freevpn.me/accounts/ https://www.vpnbook.com/#pptpvpn

1) Windscribe VPN - https://windscribe.com/ Need registration on any email. 10Gb monthly limit on a free account. Add-on v.0.1.61 for FF52 - https://www.upload.ee/files/11196640/windscribe-0.1.61-fx.xpi.html (versions newer 0.1.61 do not work in FF52). Note: in about:config parameter "network.cookie.cookieBehavior" should be set to 0, 1 or 3. Also available client for WinXP - https://assets.windscribe.com/desktop/win/Windscribe_1.80.exe 2) Browsec VPN. Add-on v.3.16.16.2 for FF52 - https://www.upload.ee/files/11196624/browsec-3.16.16.2_unofficial.xpi.html No registration required. Four countries are available. Unoficial build - no banner, no google-analytics. Note: in about:config parameter "network.cookie.cookieBehavior" should be set to 0, 1 or 3.