Monroe

I thought this article about the internet past and present was a good read. A warning ahead on 'language' ... maybe not for the 'faint of heart'. Most people might use the word 'crap' in their article. It goes up a notch in this article but it gets to the point. I myself miss the old internet from when a person didn't have to prove they were a human, had to solve a puzzle by moving pieces around, check all the squares with butterflies or whatever. Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish Cory Doctorow Sun 5 Oct 2025 ...

I assume that you are talking about the version of Supermium in the 'Web Browsers / Browsers working on Older NT-Family OSes' section. That version does not seem to be portable or am I wrong? I am using Win XP and would like a portable version that is Google free for Win XP. I found a version at Major Geeks: Download Supermium Portable - MajorGeeks / Supermium Portable 132.0.6834.226_R5.02 Date: 08/26/2025 Size: 192 MB License: Open Source Requires: 11|10|8|7|Vista|XP https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/supermium_portable.html Then at PortableApps.com: Supermium Portable 126.0.6478.261 R7 (web browser with legacy support) Released A new version of Supermium Portable has been released. Supermium is a web browser based on Chrome with legacy Windows support (XP/vista/7/8). https://portableapps.com/news/2025-01-27--supermium-portable-126.0.6478.261-R7-released and there appear to be at least a couple versions at Github ... but they seem to be only for Windows 7 and 8. I've been wanting to try Supermium for a year or so but just not sure which version to work with and if a portable version would work. In the Supermium topic in 'Web Browsers' there is never any talk of a portable version. Would that portable version at Major Geeks be OK to go with? ... I've read the talk about using only an 'ungoogled' version. Thanks ...

Thanks AstroSkipper ... got the link and it installed with no problem. I don't know why I had problems earlier ... just kept saying it was 'corrupt'. All is well again. ...

I have decided to try this new version of mypal just released a few days ago. I had not used it for awhile. I can't find the right version of uBlock to use with this new version. Have tried a couple downloads and it won't install ... message say ' was not installed, appears to be corrupt.' Also, some websites have ads popping up that never happened before. Is there anything else or another program also to wipe out ads. I've always read (I think) that uBlock should be all that is really needed on a browser. Does everyone agree with this or is there also another program that could be added for ads to also work with uBlock? I had a version of uBlock working on an older version of mypal but I lost all that information. thanks

Yes, I'm sure there might still be some things hanging around. However, I had never gone after any Windows 7 telemetry in my setup. I was looking for an easy way to get rid of whatever I could since I did not want to spend a lot of time hunting each item down from a list. So the 'script removal' tool and Blackbird looked OK to me to start with. I ran Blackbird without removing anything and was amazed at what was found ... so I ran it again letting it remove everything and also ran the script download in case it found anything additional. Hopefully I have a better system now but as you mentioned there are probably some items still there. With Windows 7 no longer getting updates I guess in one way is good since no new telemetry will be installed. Not sure about Windows 10 and 11. Probably Blackbird and other telemetry tools will have to be run again with any downloads from M$. ...

Having finally got Windows 7 to my liking, I decided to look into any telemetry that the OS has installed. From what I read it's not as bad as Windows 10 and 11. I found this article discussing '11 Free Tools' to use. 11 Free Tools To Disable and Stop Windows from Spying and Tracking You https://www.geckoandfly.com/25083/free-tools-disable-stop-windows-spying-tracking-you/ Number 2 on the list is a tool called Blackbird ... Blackbird v6 (64bit). It works on Windows 7 as well as higher, they do also list Vista. Nice write-up about it here and other places. It will make a backup before removing anything. I also have my own backup on a flash drive before using it. It seemed to work really good and appears to be safe to use and run. MajorGeeks has it listed to work on Windows 11|10|8|7 but I can't be sure how accurate that information is. Just wondering about any thoughts on Blackbird? It seems to be really safe to use. I used it almost two weeks ago before I posted about it here and have not noticed any problems. It does remove a lot of items and all the items changed or removed are posted. Information from the link above does not list it working on Windows 11 as MajorGeeks does. I put their information below: Blocks Telemetry Completely – Block Windows spyware, on both the application and network level, without editing the HOSTS file or firewall settings and remove all Windows telemetry updates. Supports Wireless and Ethernet connections, IPv4/IPv6. Removes Windows Ads – Remove all Windows built-in advertising and any pre-installed app you want. Stop your PC from downloading and installing sponsored software in the background. Restores Privacy – Prevent diagnostic data, passwords, contacts, URL, SMS, handwriting, location, and P2P-update sharing. Remove all unique ID tracking tokens. Disable 60+ data collection tasks and consequently speed up your PC. Portable, Restorable, Flexible – No installation, with a focus on leaving the smallest possible footprint, Blackbird is a single, portable exe with granular switches available. Want to restore everything back? They got you covered. Works on Windows Vista, 7, 8/8.1, 10 (Home/Pro/Ent/Edu) How Blackbird Works Without going into too much detail, Blackbird employs some known and less-known techniques to fully disarm Windows while leaving the smallest possible footprint. For instance, Blackbird does not edit the HOSTS file in any way, nor does it mess with your firewall settings. It does not run in the background, instead relying on persistent routes and resolving hostnames to IP addresses each time Blackbird is applied by the user. After usage no new files are left behind on your computer and you can safely delete blackbird.exe. Blackbird has succeded when you forget it was ever there. Everything our software does can be restored using the software itself or manually by hand. *Dev.notice: Please don't do this manually, it will take forever and is confusing. There are other tools that claim to block Windows spying but they are cumbersome to use and not as powerful or are limited in scope. So we took Windows apart, piece by piece, analyzed web traffic, system calls, file changes, etc, compared different configurations, designed and built a stand-alone tool and spent hundreds of hours on beta testing so anyone can use it and it gets the job done right. What Blackbird Does > Disables OneDrive > Disables Cortana > Disables Bing-integration > Disables all AutoLoggers > Disables Wi-Fi Sense > Disables system-wide telemetry (on all editions of Windows 10 and older) > Disables all OS advertising (tips, pop-ups, suggested apps, etc.) > Disables all Xbox Live services > Disables web content evaluation ("SmartScreen") and prevents URL check-in > Disables Windows Media online DRM > Disables Windows P2P Update sharing > Disables hidden Windows metric startup tasks > Disables all diagnostic tracking services > Disables all application metric-data collection agents > Prevents system read access to already collected diagnostic data > Prevents any location/contacts/messages/handwritting/password sharing > Prevents cross-device synchronization (ie; Windows Phone auto-syncing with PC account data) > Removes GWX and Windows 10 upgrade pop-ups > Removes Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) > Removes your unique ad-tracking ID token > Removes a bunch of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 telemetry updates (View full list here) > Removes Superfish, eDellRoot, HP Touchpoint Analytics, VisualDiscovery and other security risks > Removes all pre-install Windows 10 Upgrade files/folders on Windows 7, 8, 8.1 > Blocks 500+ different tracking/telemetry/ad servers (View full list here) > Patches various data leaks (IE/Edge, Explorer, Defender, MRT, SMB) > Applies various network tweaks (enables RSS,ctcp,tcp-offload,ECN) INCLUDES: > Blackbird App Manager (Windows 10 only) : Block any system application the easy & user-friendly way. > Blackbird STD : Force removal of stubborn spy tasks. > Backup & Restore : Save current system settings to an external file restorable at any time. Try Blackbird Windows Privacy and Security ... Blackbird is THE BEST! *** I also found a 'ready to use' script at this link discussion. Remove ALL telemetry updates from Windows 7 & 8 and 8.1 https://windowsforum.com/threads/remove-all-telemetry-updates-from-windows-7-8-and-8-1.228360/ ... there is a list of items removed and at the bottom is a link to get the script ready to download and use. I also ran this script after running Blackbird and so far everything seems to be OK on my computer. I'm many years late getting involved with Windows 7 but with Windows XP ... which I still like, the web pages are really becoming a problem with daily use. It can be OK with Javascript disabled but I'm sure it will only get worse and not better with XP. So maybe there are others here that can use these tools and script on Windows 7. I'm sure it's not 100% but it has to be better than what I had before after running Blackbird and the script download. ...

Just my 'two cents' ... www.rt.com has no problem on my Win XP setup with the New Moon release of 26/Jul/2025 ... however, over the last month or so I do seem to be having problems with New Moon at some sites and I get the message: "Palemoon.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." I can't pinpoint any problem or web site because it just seems to be random and those web sites seem to work just fine the next time. Just something I am noticing over the last several weeks. Have no idea what's going on ... just a fluke or these web sites making more changes. I almost have to have 'javascript' disabled most of the time with most web sites with my computer running very hot from the strain of opening these sites. Javascript being disabled most of the time except when needed does still let me use Windows XP online in 2025.

Windows is getting rid of the Blue Screen of Death after 40 years. Microsoft is saying hello to the Black Screen of Death error message instead. https://www.theverge.com/news/692648/microsoft-bsod-black-screen-of-death-color-change-official ...

This is from her site yesterday, 14 February 2025. It's about a company that had a massive 1.17TB database online for anyone to see. There was no encryption and no password required. The database contained 2,734,819,501 sensitive records. https://www.komando.com/news/devices/your-wi-fi-was-part-of-2-7-billion-records-leaked/ The location of this company is interesting and they specialize in LED lights and hydroponics equipment. ...

Thanks feodor2 for the additional link and information. With AstroSkipper and your help, I can see why I had a problem. ...

Thanks AS for the detailed explanation of the steps in setting up a new profile that you use. I will do the same ... it sounds like the way to go after reading your post. ...

Today on my Win XP notebook I put a backup on to have a clean Win XP setup installed. Some things seemed a little sluggish. I put the newer version of Mypal68 on and copied the Mypal68 profile folder that goes with this version into the \Application Data folder. However, nothing worked. I ended up having to install Mypal68 and redo all my settings and extensions again. I had saved the Mypal68 profile folder earlier to a flashdrive. This is all that needs to be saved ... am I correct or am I missing another step? Just wanted ask if this is what everyone else does? I am wondering why the profile transfer didn't work or maybe it was just a fluke of some sort. Thanks ...

I had never heard of Uniextract till mentioned in your post. It's listed as working on Win7 and called 'Universal Extractor 2' at MajorGeeks.com. Is this the same program that you were referring to in your earlier post? Universal Extractor 2.0.0 RC3 / Requires: Windows 10/8/7 (58.6 MB) https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/universal_extractor_2.html I also found a portable version at PortableApps listed. It seems to indicate it will work on Windows 7, maybe even Win XP. Universal Extractor 2 (UniExtract2) https://github.com/Bioruebe/UniExtract2 System requirements: In short: Windows XP or newer. However, outdated version of Windows only have limited support: Windows 7: sending feedback requires you to follow this guide by Microsoft, otherwise it will fail Windows XP: any online functionality, such as the updater or the feedback dialog, is disabled for security reasons. Also some extractors might not work. Anything to further add about what version ... hoping to be able to go with the 'portable version' ... I hate to install anything on my computer if I don't have to. Again, thanks for the mention of this program. Sometimes 'this question or that question' leads to more information about 'something new'. Thanks to NotHereToPlayGames and the information on 7zip also working. I have that installed but it won't hurt to also have a version of Extractor available for something 'unusual'. ...

OK ... I think I have everything fixed. I just had no idea auto-updates were happening till yesterday. The latest version uBlock 1.62 seemed to be OK but I decided to remove that version and either go with the two versions that were mentioned by Karla Sleutel and NotHereToPlayGames earlier. Karla Sleutel - I'm sticking with 1.49 Developer version, later ones give me headaches, slow start with a yellow exclamation mark. NotHereToPlayGames - I use uBlock 1.52.2. I do notice that 1.52.2 'seems to be' a little faster. So for now I will give version 1.52.2 a try and see how that works for a few months. This is the site where I am finding these (and other) versions ... if others are interested. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/versions/ Thanks to all for the assistance. ...

vinifera ... I just replaced r3dfox - ESR v132.0.0 for Vista+ with a slightly older version that had uBlock Origin 1.61.0 installed. I am sure I had an older uBlock version installed. After about 30 minutes I went and checked the r3dfox - ESR v132.0.0 for Vista+ browser and uBlock was now updated to version 1.62.0. So this is happening on it's own in some way. I am not sure how this is happening ... I may want to stay with an older uBlock version and not want a newer version installed. I may not want to use this browser in the future but I am going to see if I can figure anything out about why these updates are happening. ... In Tools / Add-ons / uBlock ... I reset a change for updates. I thought I had that all set in December, so I don't know for sure how it changed. I think all is OK for now. Will watch this browser for future use.