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For people who enjoy testing. I would like to express my thanks for the work. Jumper, I know you've spent endless hours with the further development of KernelEX. I'm able to run Firefox 35 and even 52.9 and see almost the whole contents of the web on Windows Millennium again. Versions 24 up to 35.0.1 are still usable for some or maybe many websites. However, these versions are increasingly no longer up to today's requirements. There is a workaround to run higher versions up to 52.9 - see below. ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases Firefox Portable: sourceforge.net - FirefoxPortable Improved version 31.8 for ME/98: Details: Download: Firefox 31.8esr portable Requirements: KernelEx: KernelEx.dll 4.5.2016.25, Kexbasen.dll 4.5.2016.25, Kexbases.dll 25, Core.ini 25h with Kexcom.dll 18, Sheet.dll 19, verify.exe 18 and VKrnlEx.vxd of 18 Set Firefox.exe, Xul.dll and furthermore for portables the FirefoxPortable.exe to Windows XP SP2 or higher. Otherwise you get an error "Couldn't load XPCOM". Explanation: Xul.dll is set to 2k in the Registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\KernelEx\AppSettings\Configs). This string entry *\XUL.DLL="NT2K" can be deleted to get the file in follower mode (default). Reboot required. 2k mode was set on Xul for older FF versions like 9.0.1. Don't choose Legacy WinXPSP2! Firefox will be very unstable. Recommended Hardware: Pentium 4 or newer processor that supports SSE2 512MB of RAM 200MB of hard drive space After version 48, SSE2 CPU extensions are going to be required on Windows. Extensions: Compatibility PlainOldFavorites 1.3.1 Firefox 3.0 - 56.* QuickJava 2.0.5 Firefox 20.0 - 36.* QuickJava 2.0.6 Firefox 33.0 - 36.* ClassicThemeRestorer 1.5.3 CTR Firefox 29.0 - 50.0 Newer Versions and Forks: Firefox 42.0 - 48.0.2 You can run 31.8 portable above first to make sure that the updated KernelEX is installed properly. You will need some dll files. With latest KernelEx core updates 25 Kext isn't needed anymore to run these versions. Additional requirements: SeaMonkey Thunderbird Cyberfox, GNU IceCat Light Browser Firefox 49 - 52.9, Mypal 28/29, Centaury and SeaMonkey 2.46 - 2.49.5 , IceDragon - Testers are welcome. Requirements for Firefox 49 - 52.9 and SeaMonkey 2.46 - 2.49.5: Extensions: Classic Add-ons Archive (Firefox 45 - 53). It is a very large collection of extensions and is almost indispensable. Screenshot Firefox with add-on PlainOldFavorites: Note: There is still no known workaround to run FF 36 - 41 (crash on start) and the corresponding forks with the exception IceCat 38. Versions 12 - 23 are freezing after some seconds and are useless in today's internet anyway. These are therefore no longer of priority interest. Limitations, issues, solutions, other settings and recommendations: Limitations: WebGL and Direct2D! Blocked for graphics card because of unresolved driver issues. Limited WebGL support with adequate graphics driver and graphics card: WebGL 1.0 based on OpenGL ES 2.0 and requires OpenGL 2.0 graphics driver support. 1. Nvidia Geforce 7 (full support OpenGL 2.0) or quite likely 6 (not testet) series cards 2. Drivers NV81.85 and higher 3. Settings: webgl.force-enabled => true and webgl.disable-angle => true Browser crashes or freezings are possible and are probably caused by graphics drivers infirmities. So turn it on only when necessary. WebGL-Renderer ANGLE: 1. It needs at least hardware providing DirectX VertexShader 2_0 and PixelShader 3.0 (vs_2_0 ps_3_0), i.e. DirectX10 or 9. (graphics cards Nvidia GF6xxx or 7xxx) 2.Setting: webgl.force-enabled => true It doesn't cause any crashes or freezings. It can be switched on permanently. Direct2D requires Direct3D 11 compositing. There is no workaround yet. Common issues: It is becoming more and more common that some web pages no longer open. For this reason an user agent switcher addon like User-Agent Switcher 0.7.3.1 (Firefox 1.0 - 56*) is increasingly important. First certificates may also have expired. The cert file is nssckbi.dll (NSS Builtin Trusted Root CAs). Replace the file by a newer one of Firefox 52 or higher. Issues on ME/98SE: * Adding bookmarks doesn't work (also the popup - dialog window doesn't occur). Recently visited addresses aren't saved. Partial solution > the bookmark extension PlainOldFavorites 1.3.1. Portable version: The History and the Bookmarks created on XP can be used on ME/98. * Firefox crashes with Adobe Flash plug-in activated. Make sure that this plugin is disabled. If it is still needed, deactivate the plugin container: dom.ipc.plugins.enabled;false and dom.ipc.plugins.timeoutSecs;-1. The boolean "dom.ipc.plugins.enabled" has been removed with version 43. * Own fonts of pages can be blurred or unreadable. Recommended: Uncheck "Allow pages to choose their own fonts". Tools > Options > Content > Advanced * The popups for installing addons, saving passwords and such have big black lines around them. * The button on the download popup "open containing folder" has no function. * Printing doesn't work. * Squares and boxes instead of icons: Install suitable fonts - Awesomefont (version 4.7 tested) for this Site and and see Workaround Possible setting (You can even see the "search magnifier" and the "Rate stars"): browser.display.use_document_fonts;1 gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled;false Note, older versions, like 4.7, have recently been removed from GitHub, but are available on archive.org or fontawesome.com/versions. * Last character of the URL in address bar is missing - The search bar can also be affected: Different solutions are possible. * Possible: Second process "Explorer" remains after close. The cause is unclear. Open the Taskmanager and close the lower (second) "Explorer" process. * Cookies may not be saved permanently. * If you can't set Firefox as default browser: Start=>Run > ...\uninstall\helper /SetAsDefaultAppGlobal Install version: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe /SetAsDefaultAppGlobal Portable version e.g.: H:\Programme\Firefox\52.9.1\App\Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe /SetAsDefaultAppGlobal Note, that the used profile isn't the portable one initially. Usually "C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles", if not changed. * There are reports of systems without working sound/audio in Firefox. The problem is associated with vxd sound drivers (see topic). Use a WDM driver. The support for vxd sound drivers has been removed with version 15. FF24 - 35: * "Restore Previous Session, Recently Closed Tabs and Recently Closed Windows" often don't work at first. * Many pages are loaded with a considerable delay. A safe method to troubleshoot is to run the portable version on XP once. Afterwards on next start on Win ME/98 the functions "restore previous session, recently closed tabs and recently closed window" work and the pages load as they should. On XP Firefox repairs corrupt or wrong created data profile files immediately. FF24 - 35? * Firefox freezes or crashes on some websites. Disable Javascript or CSS/Style Sheets for these sites. The extension QuickJava allows you to rapidly switch Javascript (JS), CSS/Style Sheets (CS), Images and more. Depending on the system, it may make sense to deactivate Javascript permanently. There are reports of systems in which JS does not work at all. Add "user_pref("javascript.enabled", false);" in profile\prefs.js or open about:config and toggle "javascript.enabled" from true to false. FF42 and the higher versions are less affected. If a website suddenly stops working and Firefox crashes, then clear the Cache (Tools>Options>Advanced>Network>Cached Web Content>Clear Now) or delete it in the folder (e.g. FF32+: FirefoxPortable\Data\profile\cache2\entries). * Firefox could crash when opening a new tab. Open about:config and set "browser.newtabpage.enabled" to false. This leaves the new tab blank. It's possible to modify the string "browser.newtab.url" with a search engine or another url of your choice. FF42 and higher versions haven't the string "browser.newtab.url" anymore. You can use the ClassicThemeRestorer to set an url. FF28 - 44 and Mypal 28/29: * Input in address bar doesn't work on second browser start anymore and Search Engine List is empty. Problem solving: With the first run you can remove search engines you don't want from the Search Engine Manager list and then set the search.json file in the profile folder quickly to read only. After that add your favorite engines and set a Home Page. Restart FF and check the functionality. If the first attempt fails, delete "search.json" and "searchplugins", restore the original state (Restore Default Search Engines ...) and try it once more. FF45 and higher versions aren't affected. FF27 - 51: * Tab bar glitches since FF27. Firefox 27.0.1: Toggle "gfx.content.azure.enabled to false. A new standard theme comes with FF29. FF34 and higher versions come with five themes more. Choosing another theme solves the tab glitch. Another solution for 29 and higher: Install add-on ClassicThemeRestorer 1.5.3 and set Options > Tabs(1) > Tabs > Squared Tabs (Australized) (V2) or Squared Tabs (Classic) (V2). One more solution for Firefox 31 - 35 and 44 - 51: AzureContentBackend skia (not suitable for FF36 - 43 ) - Add to Prefs.js: user_pref("gfx.content.azure.backends", "skia,cairo"); FF28 - 51: * Icon artefacts - Solution for Firefox 31 - 35 and 44 up to 51: AzureContentBackend skia - gfx.content.azure.backends;skia,cairo FF30 (and higher?): * Context Menu (Right click) partly without function - has seldom occurred, probably associated with other errors and is usually not a problem. FF33 - 48.0.2: * UI glitch - FF window is not completely displayed: Apparently the glitch is related to OMTC (offmainthreadcomposition). From version 33 on OMTC is enabled by default. Simply switching it off again solves the glitch, but makes the browser unusable. Solution: Hardware Acceleration DirectX 9c is required to enable hardware acceleration (GPU Accelerated Windows). After you've installed DX9c set "layers.acceleration.force-enabled" to true and make sure that "layers.offmainthreadcomposition.enabled" is set to true (default value). That completely solves this UI glitch for FF33 - 48. It's tested with NV GF7800GT (driver 82.16), NV GF7900GS (driver 82.69), NV GF6200LE PCIe (driver 81.98) and NV GF5900XT AGP (drivers 81.98/82.16/82.69). Caution: This may not work with other hardware! Try the Light Browser version 47 or 48, if you can't use Hardware Acceleration. Light is forked from Firefox (versions 29 - 49). Details Other solutions without Hardware Acceleration: FF49 - 52.9 (and Mypal): * Sporadic letters that were slightly out of place and/or slightly enlarged/reduced in size. Open about:memory and press "Minimise memory usage". * Low GDI resources - Possible problems with programs starting/running at the same time. Open about:memory and press "Minimise memory usage". Most affected Mypal. The addon FreeMemoryButton allows to minimise memory with one click only. Mypal 28 - 29: * Sometimes I can't close Tabs after a while. Restart Mypal when it annoys. * Sometimes - Error in Xul (browser restart required) Not all issues are listed yet. Other settings: * Highly recommended for FF 24 - 26, 24esr : "security.tls.version.max" should be set to 3 (TLS 1.2 enabled). TLS 1.2 is enabled since version 27 by default. * FF43 - 47 and 52 ESR: "xpinstall.signatures.required" => false to install unverified add-ons (already set in RT's builds). A workaround is required for versions 48: Override the Firefox Add-on Signing enforcement This is usually also necessary for higher versions, but not in every case. * Youtube: FF33 - 35: Set "media.mediasource.enabled" to true. It's possible to enable "media.mediasource.enabled" on lower versions, but it's quite likely useless. FF42: Set "media.mediasource.webm.enabled" to true. It should run on FF43 and higher by default. In case the player doesn't run on FF43+, set "media.mediasource.webm.enabled" to true, too. Settings not needed, but interesting - matter of taste: * "browser.tabs.onTop" => false to move the Tabs toolbar below other toolbars (FF24/27). FF 29 and higher: You can move the browser tabs with the extension ClassicThemeRestorer. * "browser.search.showOneOffButtons" => false to restore Firefox's classic search where you could see the favicon for the current search engine (FF33 - 42). However, the new search should be a bit faster. * "browser.urlbar.trimURLs" set to false to see protocol / scheme in URL (http/https...) * "browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll => false It changes the behaviour of the URL while editing. * "browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll" => true It changes the behaviour of the URL while editing. Recommendation for testing: Use portable versions or create different profiles for the installed. In the second case call the Profile Manager (Start > Run > ..../firefox.exe -P) or open "about:profiles" (Firefox 46+ only) and start the Profile Wizard. A note about my test environment: All my observations, tests, and findings were on real machines and not on a VM. All processors (Intel) meet SSE2 or higher and memory sizes are 2 and 3.5 GB RAM. The graphics cards are NV GF7800GT, NV GF7900GS and NV GF5900XT(AGP). And my OS is Windows Millennium. Recommended versions for use on ME/98: Update cert file nssckbi.dll by a newer one of Firefox 52.9 or higher For troubleshooting see issues KernelEx Core Updates only: Version 27.0.1 (Tab bar glitch easy to solve) or better Improved 31.8esr CPU Instruction Set SSE (Pentium 3 / AthlonXP) only systems: KernelEx Core Updates and some dll files required Version 45.9esr or 48.0.2 CPU Instruction Set SSE 2 and higher (Pentium 4 / Athlon64 and newer) systems: Note additional requirements Version 52.9