Mathwiz

My concern, though, is that once Jan. 2020 arrives, M$ will change the "ApplicabilityInfo" string for newer updates to just read "Windows 7.0 Embedded;" etc. and they will no longer install on our Windows 7 Client systems without patching. Edit: OTOH M$ didn't do that with Windows Server 2012 updates; they still install on Windows 8 Client, so maybe there's nothing to worry about. I guess we'll all find out in 2020.

Well, it isn't really used for DRM content decryption anymore, and Vista users have the Windows Media Framework to fall back on if ffvpx fails them in some way (like the Twitter audio bug). So if you're on Vista, I can't see why you would need or want it. But it is useful on XP. Since the same browser is used by users of both OSes, it probably makes sense to keep it separate. That way XP users can install it if they need it, without bloating the package for Vista users. Besides, like any add-on it gets installed in your profile folder, not the main program folder, so it would be tricky to include in the browser package anyway.

Good. I didn't think you would have any problems, but it's always good to hear that everything still works.

I'm pretty sure the Twitter audio bug was narrowed down to the ffvpx library. Go to about:config, search for media.ffvpx.enabled and switch it to false. If you're using XP you'll also need to download and install the Adobe Primetime CDM as described in the next sticky. Edit: Aaand, I just remembered, that only works in Serpent, not NM 28. :(

Slightly OT, but I tried Basilisk on both Win 7 and XP. Both have Primetime version 17 installed, but only the Win 7 version has Widevine (v1.4.8.903). On Win 7, Bitmovin detects both plugins and tries to use Widevine. Unfortunately the stream stalls after 0:43 seconds have downloaded and won't play. If I disable Widevine, it detects Primetime but plays a non-DRM version of the video. Looking at the Javascript, it appears only Widevine and Playready DRM are supported. On XP, Bitmovin doesn't detect Primetime, even though it's installed and usable for non-DRM content. Castlabs won't play DRM versions on either platform. When a DRM stream is used, on Win 7 the "Stream Info" shows DRM Used: Loading... and stalls. On XP it stalls without the "Stream Info" box appearing at all. Both browers are set to spoof FF 52.9 on Win 7, so it can't be a user agent difference.

One small note: on the Serpent (Basilisk) browser, you click "What's New?" vs. "Release Notes" on NM.

You should also uncheck "Use SSL 2.0" and "Use SSL 3.0" in Internet Options / Advanced under Security. Nobody uses those anymore (unless they're trying an exploit).

He has a precompiled version. Everything is built into the .exe. No need to install Python or OpenSSL. But if you'd prefer to try the updates, they are: KB3055973 (adds AES to the base OS); KB4019276 (download / info; adds TLS 1.2 to the base OS); and the latest IE8 cumulative update (KB4462949; updates IE8 to use the support added by 1 & 2). All are POSReady '09 updates. I think there's a way to install them without putting the POSReady entry in the registry, but it's probably more complicated than just going with POSReady. Also, those updates may not be enough. There is still no support for Elliptic Curve Cryptography, so any sites that use it won't work even with all the POSReady updates. ProxHTTPSProxy replaces native support completely, so it supports ECC and can be updated to support any other new security requirements, such as TLS 1.3. But I agree with @siria. There's no "simple" update for IE8. If you want simple, just use Firefox 52.9 ESR and be done with it.

PM @heinoganda and ask for his latest version of ProxHTTPSProxy. I believe he also has instructions on setting it up. I just tried https://mobile.twitter.com in an IE tab, and with ProxHTTPSProxy it came up fine, images and all. Edit: BTW if you enable the POSReady '09 updates, there are updates to IE8 that let it support some of what you need (specifically TLS 1.2 and the AES cipher) without ProxHTTPSProxy. But ProxHTTPSProxy supports all that whether or not you enable the POSReady '09 updates.

Free download at SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/naraeon-ssd/

Probably need to benchmark decoding. If ffmpeg 4 is faster at that, then it'd be worth patching it for XP; but otherwise just leave it at the current version.

Thanks! I saw those preferences but wasn't sure what they did, so I didn't mention them. It may be better to just ignore the whole mess and put your preferred user-agent string in general.useragent.override. That way you can spoof the Windows version as well as the FF version of your choice. Some sites are starting to balk at NT versions less than 6.1 (Win 7).

Calling @FranceBB; your Avast expertise is needed

There are a number of preferences that affect the user agent in the about:config page. general.useragent.compatMode.firefox is a Boolean preference, which tells PM/NM and Basilisk/Serpent to spoof Firefox. It defaults to "false" in PM/NM and "true" in Basilisk/Serpent. You could set that to "false," and these browsers would then identify themselves more accurately, but few Web sites recognize PM specifically, so this may just confuse them even more. general.useragent.compatMode.version is a string preference that defaults to 52.9 and tells PM/NM (and Basilisk/Serpent) which Firefox version to spoof. So the simplest answer to your question is to change this to the FF version you want NM to spoof, say, 60.2. general.useragent.override is a string preference you can create to send whatever string you assign as the user agent. Using this you can pretend to be an iPhone using Safari or any other platform/browser combo you want. You'd need to know the user agent string for the combo you wanted to be, of course. general.useragent.site_specific_overrides is a Boolean preference that defaults to "true." You could set this to false to temporarily turn this feature off to test/debug specific Web sites, but the default of "true" allows NM to recognize additional preferences of the form.... general.useragent.override.facebook.com = "<custom user agent string to be sent to facebook.com>" The idea behind those last two is that you don't have to send every Web site the same user agent; helpful if spoofing FF 60.2 (or whatever) causes some websites to send content NM doesn't handle properly.

Confirmed, sort of; at least with the latest build of New Moon (28.2.0.a1 dated 2018-09-28). I had to add all the required preferences manually; after that, my gmp-adobe-eme\17 folder didn't get deleted, but Primetime still wouldn't show up in about:addons or about:plugins. Looks like the PM team did more to disable EME than just removing those preferences. Don't know if Primetime will work with MyPal but I sort of doubt it at this point. Primetime does work with Basilisk, and I suspect it will also work with @roytam1's FF 45 build for pre-SSE2 machines. And of course it works with FF 52.9.

A lot of folks still are, and it continues to work well. But some of us are concerned about the lack of further development and are exploring alternatives based on the same platform (FF 52), like MyPal, New Moon, and Basilisk (Serpent). The good news is Primetime works with those browsers too edit: Basilisk, so at least we have one modern browser build that still works with Primetime.

Getting back to the original question (improving XP performance), the following link should be of interest: http://www.prime-expert.com/articles/a06/performance-tuning-of-windows-xp-on-ssd-based-netbooks.php It was written for the specific case of improving XP performance on SSDs, but since its focus is on reducing disk writes, its suggestions should improve performance even with plain-old HDDs too.

Same procedure should work for New Moon 28. (A few add-ons may not work the same due to the different UI.)

Here's how I did it: First, I started Basilisk and went to about:support. Next to "Profile folder," I clicked the button labeled "Open folder." Then I closed Basilisk. Next, I went to FF 52.9 and did the same thing. Then I copied everything from my FF profile folder into my Basilisk profile folder. That took care of most of it, but upon reopening Basilisk and going to the about:addons page, some of my add-ons were listed as "Incompatible with Basilisk." To fix those, I had to open the "extensions" subfolder in my FF profile folder and drag the .xpi files for the "incompatible" add-ons from the extensions folder (some were in subfolders) and drop them on the about:addons page. This reinstalled and fixed the "incompatible" add-ons.

I'm not so sure - Opera uses schannel.dll to communicate to the proxy server, but the proxy doesn't use schannel.dll to communicate to the outside world. (That's sort of the point.) So unless Opera is bypassing the proxy for some site, the only way you should be getting certificate validation errors from schannel.dll is if the proxy server's own CA.crt certificate isn't installed or trusted.

Let us all know how it works for you! And if you like to watch long Youtube videos, install Primetime CDM, disable ffvpx and let us know if Primetime happens to fix the 23 min. bug. Edit: Just discovered Primetime doesn't work with NM 28, so @obstinateXP will have to stick with native support (ffvpx) for modern videos.

Did you install KB4134651? If so was it from MU or WU, or was it Heinoganda's patched version? I believe 5.1.2600.7248 is the version from KB4018556-v2 (last known good version). 5.1.2600.7494 is probably the one from KB4134651-v2, but it could be either the bad version from Microsoft, or heinoganda's modded copy of the above good version.

Sorry it turned out to be more involved than I first thought, but at least it's all working now. Computers do seem to have a way of making simple things complicated....

Life is too short to watch long YouTube videos ... but I guess that means someone still needs to try this and let us know if it makes a difference!

It was @dencorso who reported better audio with native support disabled and installing/using the Adobe Primetime CDM instead. I wonder if he's observed whether this also fixes the 23min bug?