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Didn't realize anyone had been posting about K-Meleon since I last posted about the new K-Meleon 1.6.0 Beta 2.6 version. That version only comes as a zip portable version, as far I know. There is an installer version and portable version for :

K-Meleon 1.6.0 Beta2 (2010-12-12)

* Full packages with installer

o http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/gfx/countries_flags/us.png English | Check MD5

* 7zip portable packages without installer

o http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/gfx/countries_flags/us.png English | Check MD5

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

I don't think there would be a newer version with an installer ... I don't remember seeing any but there could be one around. It seems that the newer versions are released as a portable version ... but I can't say 100% that that is right. You could ask JamesD at the KM forum.

Skins can be changed under Preferences ...

How to change skins.

The following gives you a quick reference to how to go about changing to a newly downloaded skin or theme for K-Meleon.

* Skins are folders contained in your "C:\Program Files\K-Meleon\skins" folder.

* Skins are stored in zip format. You will need an archiver to unzip the skins/themes.

* Extract the files into "C:\Program Files\K-Meleon\skins".

* Open K-Meleon, go to Edit>Preferences>GUI Appearance and select a skin from the list.

* Select "Show Toolbar Background". Click OK.

* Exit K-Meleon and loader if used. You will restart K-Meleon with you new skin.

Note: Some older skins from v0.7 may not show the background image. Rename the image to

back.bmp for use in K-Meleon v0.9

... in the skins folder there should be several skins already there and there are some older skins at this link ... I think some should work with v1.6 ... if I understand what you were asking. I also thought there were more skins but I can't find them, if they exist. My KM v1.6 doesn't crash too much and never at this site ... but I am using Windows XP these days. I mostly go around with JavaScript off but need to put it on sometimes ... I also run Proxomitron with the Sidki filter set ... also used it with Windows 98 before I switched to XP.

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/wiki/K-MeleonThemes15

Proxomitron - Sidki Filter set (under Proxomitron Config Sets)

http://prxbx.com/forums/

HTH

Edited by duffy98
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Today I am trying some more portable browsers with flash.

I am on Firefox 3.5.3

So far its ok, any bad stuff I will run into?

How does this portable stuff work?

It does not care its on 98se?

ANY LIST OF PORTABLE PROGRAMS THAT WORK ON 98SE?

Can a super new portable browser work on 98SE?

Edited by earlytv
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"Portable software" means software designed/modified to be as independent from your physical computer as possible, as many software dependencies as possible are kept local with respect to the executing program in its physical directory structure. So for example, if it is ran from a flash drive the dependencies and saved settings are kept there with it, not leaving footprints on any "host" machine that the flashdrive is used in ( in settings files or the registry or placing its own system files into the host ).

Naturally there are dependencies to an operating system that cannot be portable, the API that the software requires is expected to be present in the host operating system, and if software is written to be more neutral or version agnostic ( Windows "platform" based based rather than Windowws "version" based ) then you have a better chance of it working in older operating systems.

But Microsoft has been busy destroying the concept of a generic Windows "platform" for a very long time ( heavily since Vista, but also some examples from even earlier ) and they have been doing this by adding and promoting new features to new versions of Windows that when implemented by the software author ( usually through the development tools ) makes him a party to planned obsolescence wittingly or unwittingly. Microsoft also deprecates features of older operating systems that breaks existing older software when used on newer Windows, for example HLP files and CHM files and so on.

For a new browser to work on Win9x, portable or not, it must use only Windows APIs present on the entire Windows platform from then to now. In this day and age it means they would have to author the software in a tool/IDE/compiler that respects that, Visual Studio up to version 6 or so, or Delphi to around 2006 ( I believe ).

Then there is the 16-32-64 bit conundrum, another advancement that Microsoft capitalized on in order to further its planned obsolescence. 64-bit Windows drops 16-bit support killing any software that has 16-bit API functions. And since 64-bit support is obviously not present on 32-bit Windows it means that for software using the Microsoft designed 64-bit methodology there is no graceful fallback to 32-bit APIs which are obviously present. This was intentional. It pushed the workload requirement to the author to be responsible enough to compile a separate version for 32-bit Windows if they chose to, and obviously not everyone will choose to. Planned obsolescence by capitalizing on the laziness of the software author.

At the chip level, Intel has implemented the ( ironically ) AMD designed x64 extension so that physically a CPU is perfectly backwards compatible to 16-32-64 bit operations, it is the operating system that is broken, again, by design. In a perfect world the compiler would generate code that falls back to whatever level hardware is present. No 64-bit registers? Then use 32. No MMX or SSE or SSE4 or whatever? Then fallback to previous. No Direct-X 11? use 10, etc ( or OpenGL ). This is the biggest failing Microsoft has perpetrated. Their development tools, and those of me-too 3rd parties are evolving into "today-only" tools, again, by design. Thus, Windows is hardly a platform these days, but is instead a moment in time. It used to be you would break down software by Mac or Windows or something else ( "this requires Windows" ), and this is exactly how Microsoft became huge and successful with Win3x and the promise of a standardized "Windows platform". And it carried through the Win9x years. Then they became evil. "This software requires Vista 64". Software that requires a specific version of an operating system is well on the road to the walled garden model. It lets Microsoft dictate what people run on their own computers even though that computer contains a CPU capable of running almost anything ever written in the x86 universe back from 1980 to 2013. Rant over ( for now ).

Oh, yes there are many sites for "portable" software. These are our modern heroes in my opinion. I'll let others give their own suggestions but for starters visit: PortableApps.com and PortableFreeware.com.

EDIT: typo

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
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