sdfox7

@dencorso @jumper I stand corrected. I think I might have been thinking of MMX support, which was first seen with the later 1996 Pentiums. So, I think this means that Firefox 3.6.28 was the final version for the Pentium and Pentium II: (https://web.archive.org/web/20120525091229/http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/3.6/system-requirements/)

I happened to stumble across some links in Mozilla's FTP, and came across some Firefox builds that were never officially released. For example, I downloaded the ZIP file for US English Firefox 45.9.1; I believe the final public release was 45.9.0 because I couldn't find the release notes for 45.9.1. I wonder why 45.9.1 wasn't officially released. Firefox ESR 45.x is unique as it is the final ESR to run on SSE only processors such as the Pentium/Pentium II/Pentium III. http://bucketlister-delivery.prod.mozaws.net/pub/firefox/tinderbox-builds/mozilla-esr45-win32/ In there, the very first build is 45.0: http://bucketlister-delivery.prod.mozaws.net/pub/firefox/tinderbox-builds/mozilla-esr45-win32/1456425508/ The last build: http://bucketlister-delivery.prod.mozaws.net/pub/firefox/tinderbox-builds/mozilla-esr45-win32/1497368434/ You can find the other earlier/later builds here: http://bucketlister-delivery.prod.mozaws.net/pub/firefox/tinderbox-builds/ You'll notice I have deliberately spoofed the user agent for Firefox 52, so I don't get silly messages that my browser is out of date.

@r3muxd For the most up to date browser, I would also recommend Firefox ESR 45.8.0 Portable. I tested it a few months ago on Windows 2000, and it worked. It was released in March 2017, and will also work with an ancient SSE only processor such as Pentium III. However, I believe it requires the UURollup. You can get the entire standalone installer from SourceForge, or from my FTP: http://sdfox7.com/2000/Important_EOL_Updates/FirefoxPortableESR_45.8.0_English.paf.exe

@Dibya WidevineCDM - "DRM: Unable to instantiate a key system supporting the required combinations": https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/4519

@Dibya Of course! I'll be busy out and about most of the day Saturday. I'll look at it tomorrow night if you have it ready by then, or Sunday.

@heinoganda I am thinking there must be a way to make it work. Chrome 61 32-bit is compatible with Windows 7 32-bit, which is the reason I chose that version. Windows 7, in my opinion, is not all THAT different from XP. There must be an API that can be changed, modified, or copied from Windows 7. Unfortunately, I am not a programmer, but maybe @Dibya or @~♥Aiko♥Chan♥~ can make it work.

Beta channel was updated to 27.0.0.151 today September 21, and is confirmed working with Google Chrome on Windows XP. Chrome 45 and newer PPAPI: https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashruntimes/flashplayer/install_flash_player_ppapi.exe Chrome 44 and older NPAPI: https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashruntimes/flashplayer/install_flash_player.exe

@bluebolt I do remember that. Every time a new Flash Player is released it is necessary to update the folder's version number, otherwise chrome://plugins and chrome://components detects it as the default 21.0.0.213, the version Chrome 49 shipped with in April 2016. My response and acknowledgement came right after your post: The directory for my flash plugin is the standard Program Files one: C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\49.0.2623.112\PepperFlash in addition to the Documents and Settings one: C:\Documents and Settings\Stephen Fox\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\PepperFlash\27.0.0.130

I have successfully manually updated WideVine on Chrome and XP, but Netflix is not detecting it as so. I replaced the two .dlls from Chrome 49 with those from Chrome Portable 61.0.3163.91 32-bit (direct download). Chrome detects the updated versions, but Netflix doesn't seem to. It wants me to download them from Google which will give me the old 1.4.8.903 (direct download) instead of the updated 1.4.8.1008 (direct download). What am I missing here? The method seems like it should be the same for updating Flash on Chrome and XP.

@Dibya Once you've released your compiled Firefox 55 build, I'd like to mirror it in my XP end of life directory. I am trying to keep this directory specifically for the most recent version of software available for XP.

A lot has been said here. For me at least, XP is still a stable and worthy work environment, and probably has had the widest hardware and software compatibility of any modern Microsoft operating system. While I would argue that XP SP3 is much different than XP SP0 / RTM, at its core it is still NT 5.x. There aren't too many operating systems that can still be used on a daily basis after 16 years, and many third-party software and hardware manufacturers are still supporting XP, as long as it is SP3. Some examples are HP (any printer you pick up will support XP SP3), Norton/Symantec antivirus/security products, Linksys and Netgear wireless devices, Logitech keyboard/mouse products, etc. There are many other manufacturers continuing support but I have made my point. In my opinion, if the system still does what it was designed to do, it is not obsolete, and continuing operation is not an issue.

@jaclaz The Silverlight article does indeed load on Windows XP with Internet Explorer 8. I think the reason I received the message the first time was due to a combination of user agent sniffing and possibly even IP address. Wikipedia logs IP addresses when article edits are made to prevent vandalism, so they may also log IP address from machines that perform searches. Since I already received the message, it's likely my computer now has a cookie that will prevent it from reappearing; or at least Wikipedia will not serve the notice again since they have logged my IP as already receiving the message.

I still use Office XP (wide compatibility, and the last for Windows 98 and NT 4.0), but I am surprised to see Office 2003 listed as a supported system by Microsoft, since they dropped support for it on the same day as XP.

@heinoganda Good points. As I said in my post, I use it to test for legacy compatibility. But IE 8 has probably been dead for the last five years or so, and no one should be using it for banking, etc. Many pages now have a block if you attempt to use it. For example: https://services.secure.bankofamerica.com/home-equity/status/browser-upgrade.go https://www.capitalone.com/misc/browser/block.html https://online.citi.com/US/JPS/portal/BrowserExclude.do https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=%2F

I occasionally use Internet Explorer 8 to test what sites still work with it. Today I was researching Silverlight history, and was greeted with a recommendation/advice to discontinue using Internet Explorer 8. Wikipedia is advising all Windows XP users to migrate to Firefox 52 ESR. It displays the warning in over 15 different languages. "We are removing support for the legacy 3DES cryptographic cipher, which your browser software relies on to connect to our sites. This is usually caused by using Internet Explorer on Windows XP, but could also be caused by other ancient browsers or user agents, or could be interference from corporate or personal "Web Security" software which actually downgrades connection security. For now, you can try reloading the page again to continue, but we'll be removing support for these insecure connections completely by October 17, 2017 (2017-10-17), which will block your access to our sites if you haven't upgraded in time. See also the HTTPS Browser Recommendations page on Wikitech for more-detailed information." There is no direct link for the page Wikipedia redirected me to, but I pasted it into MS Word so you can view the graphics/text as they appeared on the page: http://sdfox7.com/xp/files/Your Browser.doc Also see: Wikipedia: HTTPS/Browser Recommendations

...because it was too d@mn fast with Windows 2000 and you wanted to slow it down a tad bit, right? @jaclaz I thought I replied to this topic earlier, but it seems to have gone missing or there was a submission failure. I chose to install XP for a few reasons. The first is that I wanted to take advantage of 802.11 n Wireless N technology. I am not familiar of any adapters that work on Windows 2000 with drivers available. The second reason was that I wanted to be able to consume media content. I tried unsuccessfully, to use Netflix on Windows 2000 and was not able to, Silverlight 5 was never made available for Windows 2000, and with Silverlight 4 I got an error similar to "the hardware or software is not supported". The final reason is that XP SP3 is compatible with a huge amount of software out of the box, and is proven to be extremely stable, at least for me. By the way, this ThinkPad has the Tualatin Pentium III-M processor. This was Intel's flagship at the time, and in tests has been faster than the Pentium 4 instructions per cycle / instructions per second. It isn't as slow as you may think. I don't use antivirus, which also keeps things moving briskly.

The Fox Hollow resort I stay at during winter vacation in Great Barrington has XP machines (no photos). By the way, I added another XP machine to the interwebs this weekend. Yay for market share. I am from CT, on Saturday I took delivery of a ThinkPad T23 2647-4MU in New Jersey. It was worth the trip. The machine is in MINT physical and working condition, unusual for a 16-year-old machine. It is also original, except that the original owner had upgraded the RAM to 512MB from the stock 128MB. Anyway, it shipped with Windows 2000 but I installed the XP recovery CDs, along with SP3 for good measure. IBM shipped the T23 July 2001 - October 2002, a time when both Windows 2000 and XP were available for recovery media. Stephen Fox's IBM ThinkPad T23

I took the Java 9 JDK and attempted to install it. Surprisingly, it doesn't reject XP right away. It gives the same message as Java 8, but after clicking ok, nothing happens. I am guessing that with the right updates, Java 9 will run on XP. Is there a way to find out why it it is stalling during setup?

@kdg When you create a thread to debate the quality of operating systems, you are opening a [endless] can of worms, because debating quality is subjective, based solely on the requirements of the person who will be using it. Every person on the planet has different wants and needs. Trying to prove one OS is better than another is known as a Pyrrhic victory. This is when you think you have won an argument, but you really may have lost, because one person's standards may not align with yours, and they may have different priorities than you do. Do you want a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit OS with ultimate MS-DOS compatibility? Use Windows 95/98. Do you want a very old but stable OS? Use Windows NT 4.0. Do you want a old but but still somewhat modern OS? Use Windows 2000. Do you want a old but still mostly serviceable/software-compatible OS? Use Windows XP. Do you want a modern OS that still has near-100% compatibility with modern software? Use Windows 7. Do you want the latest up to date OS available from Microsoft? Use Windows 10. Of course, this list only addresses Microsoft Windows, not the numerous other operating systems available such as Linux, Mac, etc.

Beta channel was updated to 27.0.0.117 on August 23, and is confirmed working with Google Chrome on Windows XP. Chrome 45 and newer PPAPI: https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashruntimes/flashplayer/install_flash_player_ppapi.exe Chrome 44 and older NPAPI: https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashruntimes/flashplayer/install_flash_player.exe

With Microsoft no longer supporting XP, it's likely that they will eventually (or already have) introduced function or code that will break compatibility with XP. They no longer support it, so they will no longer test it against XP for compatibility. Have you tried the Vista/7 installer? Will they install or run on XP 64? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14210/security-essentials-download

The Microsoft support article says to uninstall MSE, then install latest version: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2635095/error-0x80070645-appears-when-you-try-to-upgrade-microsoft-security-es The latest version for Windows XP is 4.4.304. You'll either need to try the 32-bit or 64-bit version: http://sdfox7.com/xp/sp3/EOL/mse/ At this point Microsoft doesn't really support XP anymore for MSE, I would recommend Avast Free if you can't get this working. Avast is highly reputable: https://www.avast.com/windows-antivirus

Just to prove another point about artifical web requirements, I was on LinkedIn today and I noticed that the site will redirect you to https://www.linkedin.com/error_pages/unsupported-browser.html if you are using an "unsupported" browser. However, at the bottom of the page it also gives you the choice to continue on: https://www.linkedin.com/?allowUnsupportedBrowser=true Continuing on does not provide a stripped down version of the site, it loads just as it would in a "supported browser".

I just wanted to bring this back from the dead. The original untouched files can be accessed from the Internet Archive (WayBack Machine) from the original Microsoft pages: Office 2000 Service Release 1a (SR-1a) (archived June 9, 2001): https://web.archive.org/web/20010609215357/http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/o2ksr1ddl.aspx Office 2000 Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 (archive December 17, 2004): https://web.archive.org/web/20041217013553/https://www.microsoft.com/office/orkarchive/2000ddl.htm I highly recommend the administrative updates; these are larger files but should prevent you from being prompted to find your CD!

There is a lot of information here: Easily Download and Install DirectX 10 for Windows XP