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It did go up slightly, from .25% to .27%, since January 2021? Probably well within any error margin, though. c

It seems to me that the last Windows that was truly free of this stuff (in it's original, RTM form, not after subsequent updates) was Windows 95 and NT 3.51/4.0. The "webification" movement, which began with Windows 98 (really, 95 OSR 2.5, aka 95 C) is probably where this all started. To that point, in my opinion, the "telemetry" (or whatever one wants to call it) is relatively benign in Windows versions before 7, so I don't really feel too concerned by it. And besides, with the TLS 1.0/1.1 apocalypse, most such services in XP/Vista probably don't even work anymore anyway (and the few that still do can be disabled fairly easily for the most part). In my opinion, therefore, the main reason to block them all is primarily to increase efficiency and decrease wasteful use of system resources (which tend to be more scarce on most XP-era hardware) and internet bandwidth, not to protect privacy per se (quite frankly, staying away from Google, Facebook and Amazon (basically, staying off the Internet altogether, if possible) will do more to protect one's privacy than blocking XP's telemetry services). c

Lots to catch up on here! Firstly, I don't know what was up with Dixel's, um, fervent fixation on the intertwining of KGB-type things in almost every aspect of the modern Internet, but I'm glad it's over. For now, anyway; it was getting pretty close to violating the no-politics rules, I think. I wasn't really following any of it, so I can't say for sure. Secondly, I'm really glad these browsers are still being released regularly, despite repeated attempts by MAT, et. al. to thwart @roytam1's efforts via FUD and other underhanded methods. It's my go-to browser for XP, 2000 (with the Extended Core), and, before win32's marvelous Extended Kernel project came into being, Vista. It would be nice to eventually see it cleaned up a bit, maybe like have a milestone release every 4-6 weeks like Mozilla (or, better yet, proper branding!) Of course, things as they are are perfectly fine for most of the few people left using XP (most of whom are likely to be power users who know their way around this stuff), but I've observed that the frequent release of many different developmental versions can be pretty confusing for those who simply want a browser that works, as they can't decide which one they want, nor do they fully understand how to "install" them. This has been discussed at length off-and-on, so I'm not saying anything new, I don't think. Be that as it may, I'm simply glad this project exists! Keep up the good work! c

@Dave-H Agreed! c

@Dave-H Well, Vista is mentioned parenthetically in the thread title, so it oughtn't be completely off topic, yes? That being said, a separate, Vista-specific thread would be much more appropriate, as too much of it here tends to distract from all the XP-specific information, thereby causing confusion. c

@Dave-H Interesting problem. When you do a manual update check/install, are you able to use the traditional IE-based WU interface to do it, or must you use another software's UI, such as Windows Update MiniTool or some such, to accomplish the task? c

I tried to set up WSUS on a Server 2008 R2 VM, and all I keep getting is this: Anyone know why? Windows is fully updated, minus .NET Framework 4.x, as I'd read that it can cause WSUS to fail to install. c

So, this WSUS update system can be set up, perhaps as a VM on a server or other primary system, properly connect to and download updates from the WU servers, and then "feed" those updates to any appropriately configured 2000, XP and Vista machines? I'll have to give it a try! Is it free? c

Has anyone tried running Vista's explorer.exe in 7? That might reintroduce the classic start menu in a way that could work somewhat natively on 7 (not third-party, like ClassicShell). c

I have to agree with this! A few years ago, I needed to install Visual Studio for a class I was taking, and since my daily driver laptop was (and still is) a 2012 MacBook Pro (Ivy Bridge i7-based), I figured I'd install it to a VM for convenience. Well, that was a mistake, as it took over three hours to install, and it was so slow it was worthless. So instead, I used an older version of Visual Studio on my Dell Latitude D630 running Windows 2000 or XP (or maybe it was Notepad++ with a standalone compiler?); the instructor kept looking at me funny for doing this, as he was a big fan of Windows 10, and was of the mindset that all other versions must be immediately and completely forgotten, so almost to spite him (and prove that just because it's old doesn't mean it won't work), I kept using my then 12 year old laptop with a then 17 year old OS I mean, if it does the job and lets me do the assignments properly, what's the problem? I'll probably never use XP as my daily driver OS full time, since there's software I like to use which requires at least Windows 7, but that doesn't mean I won't use it for casual web browsing and other things that don't require new software, particularly on hardware which can't run any newer Windows versions very well. c

If I may play devil's advocate for a moment: out of fairness to Windows 10, it has gotten a bit better than the RTM release. And I'd also like to point out that XP wasn't always the "gleaming pinnacle of perfection" that many see it as nowadays; In fact, back in 2003-2004, I recall it was actively despised, and often criticized as being slower than the versions it replaced, namely 2000 and 98 SE (which was still pretty much 100% usable back then). It did improve with time, however, and once SP2 came out and multi core PCs became more commonplace, XP matured quite nicely. It would be nice if 10 would follow the same progression and actually become a mature, decent product, but so far, it hasn't.... Be that as it may, even after almost six years, I still don't like 10, and I won't use it (I actually did try for awhile, but it broke on me, and rather than going through the effort to reinstall, I decided to wipe it and install Linux in its place). Fortunately, because my primary is Mac OS, I don't really have a need for everything to work 100% on any older Windows, thus having the luxury to tinker with and hack up any Windows of my choosing ad infinitum . c

I use Vista in a VM, so the host hardware doesn't matter so much (it runs fine on my i5-6700K this way). If I want to use it on real hardware, I have a 2.8 GHz P4 and a Dell Latitude D630 I can install it on, as well as numerous other machines. If there were an easy way to patch it so it runs trouble-free on newer hardware, that would be neat, if only so I can do it "because I can". c

Unless, of course, you can track down a physical copy. c

Better late than never, I suppose! Nevertheless, given all the renewed interest in Vista due to the new extended kernel project, this could be potentially useful for installing it on newer PCs wherein the stock Vista installer won't function correctly (there is of course no reason to use FAT32 on a boot volume anymore, but whatever). c

@Jaguarek62 That's an *extremely* clever desktop! c

Well, not really, I guess. I just like the layout and aesthetics better. c

Yes! c

I found that Windows Update with the patch broke at one point (I'm not sure why, but it happened after I tried switching the patch from stock Vista to Server 2008, so that might've had something to do with it), and I had to remove the patch, reboot, reinstall the patch, and reboot again before I could get it to work again. So, maybe try that? c

I wish someone could bring back the old toolbar-style interface from XP and older. This is something no one seems to have been able to do yet, but I'm sure it's possible. c

I have been using my twice rebuilt P4 machine (2.8 GHz Northwood, 2 GB RAM, quad boot Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 7), off and on, for the past couple of summers while I packed the good stuff in a safe place (because I live in hot and dry California never know if/when our house, and everything contained therein, will be damaged or destroyed by a fire or earthquake). Browsing is remarkably pokey compared to a modern machine, but surprisingly, everything works more or less fine, just slower (not 5 minutes slow, more like a few seconds here and there, which do add up and require some patience, but not so much that it becomes unbearable). Aside from that, it's as fast (slow?) as it has ever been, and as long as I use period-appropriate software on it (basically, anything up to about 2008 or so), it can do pretty much anything I want (about the only thing it can't do well is Youtube, but I don't care because I usually use it mostly for streaming music, thus making video quality more or less irrelevant). I have a PC with one of these in it that I recently rebuilt, and it runs XP really well (much better than my P4). It's good to know that I can run 8.1+ on it if I *really* wanted to (I don't), but I want to keep it as is because it works. c

Well, OK. I think I'm misremembering, and it did come with 1 GB, not 512 MB. Nevertheless, it *should've* been fast, but for some reason, it wasn't, and I never could figure out why. All I knew was that XP performed much better on it, so that's what I used. Maybe it was because it was SP0? c

Hopefully this is relevant enough My experiences with Vista over the years have been mixed. My first experience was with an eMachines/Walmart special, with 512 MB of RAM and 3.0 GHz Pentium D, running Vista RTM (SP0); back in early 2007, these specs were considered modest, but decent enough for a budget machine (not woefully inadequate as they seem nowadays ) It was a pretty pokey Vista machine, and actually crashed quite often (including right out of the box the first time we'd ever used it, as I recall!). Once I downgraded it to XP, though, it was much better. My second experience was about a year or so later, when I got a Dell Studio 1737. Same deal, even though Vista was at either SP1 or SP2 by then, and thus much improved, it still didn't run right. It took some doing, but I managed to downgrade that to XP as well, although it still actually didn't help much. I ended up trying Ubuntu on it, and when that ended up being slow and broken too, I wrote off the laptop as being somehow defective and put it away. I still have it somewhere, so I may revisit it at some point and see if I can figure out why it was so flaky. Anyway, so my first experiences with Vista were thus, to put it mildly, lousy. And needless to say, this biased me against it for some time, and I never really wanted to accept it as a viable replacement for XP, which was still quite popular then (I wasn't alone, as many others simply skipped Vista altogether and waited for 7). However, not eager to give up on it completely, I decided to try once again, this time on the nice, speedy Mac Pro I had gotten for my birthday in 2009, and you know what? It was actually pretty good for once! Of course, by then, I had moved on to 7 (and, of course, Mac OS) as my main OS, but still, I could nevertheless say with confidence that I used Vista and it didn't stink because I finally had a machine that was powerful enough to run it well Fast forward to a few years ago when I got two older Dell laptops, a Latitude D620 and a D630, both of which would've been considered decent midrange machines in the late XP and Vista eras, and I decided to try Vista on one of them. The experience wasn't quite as good as it was on the Mac Pro, but it was still extremely decent. Anyway, the TL;DR of this is that my earliest experiences with Vista were lousy, but as hardware improved (along with my ability to upgrade it), my experiences became much better. I've never really felt the need to use it as my daily driver Windows version, primarily because I like XP's UI better, and 7 can run more modern programs that Vista can't, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it. c

@Dylan Cruz Interesting. I wonder if someone could do something similar with v49 (the last Chrome to run unmodified on XP)? c

I dunno. I'm kind of neutral on this particular topic of file hosting sites. However, I will agree that there's lots wrong with the modern internet, particularly the (in my opinion) overemphasis on security. I can understand the need for good security for important things like online shopping, banking, and other such things. But why does every single website need to be forced to use protocols and cipher suites that only a few of the newest browsers (namely Chrome and its derivatives) support?! It's not like they're ALL dealing in sensitive info! For example, I don't see the point in Wikipedia using strict TLS1.2 and 1.3 (at least for the public side); for users logging in to create/edit pages, I suppose it's fine. c

I have installed the extended kernel on a Vista x64 VM last night, and I tried running the latest Firefox ESR (78.5), and I got the same error as @jns629 at first. Looking at @tamarindojuice's response, I decided to follow his advice to jns629 and patch firefox.exe. And it worked! However, I'm a little concerned that firefox.exe needs to be patched like this with every update, which can get annoying. So, with that in mind, is there a way I can automate the process somehow? I mean, it's of course not hard to do manually, but I'm nevertheless curious. c