# Windows XP no longer supported by Mozilla Firefox browser...



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I've been using Windows XP for years now and a few years ago started using Mozilla Firefox as my default browser. Now I'm told Firefox will not be supporting XP this September 2017.

Does this mean I can no longer use Firebox Mozilla as a browser or just that my computer's safety will be compromised by using it? (I do nothing on the net that has to do with banking so not real concerned about safety issues.) I just want to be able to talk on the forums and email my friends, the latter requiring a browser because it is thru my internet service provider which requires I pull up that website to connect to my emails.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

If your computer is using XP then your computers "safety" is already compromised. Regardless of what browser you use and regardless of its support status your computer is at risk for infections. Now to the question at hand, your browser will continue to work. The notice is to let you know that no more updates, security enhancements or bug fixes. Your risk factor will continue to grow.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Yes those that are still using XP have been at risk for awhile now and sure will get worse as time goes on. XP is good OFF the internet and for all around use for anyone working OFF LINE. But connected to the internet, nope, not a good idea.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Actually an uptodate browser and email client (if you use an email client) are most important things along with fully functioning firewall. A firewall that will give notice if some program on your computer is trying to secretly gain internet access. You will notice this unusual activity long before virus sofware is updated to recognize some new virus. And most infections are from people doing stupid things like clicking on unknown links in email or opening email attachments or downloading software from untrustworthy sources. Not being stupid is far more important than having cutting edge operating system or virus software.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

You might try browser called Kmeleon. http://kmeleonbrowser.org/forum/read.php?1,135770

Its more work if you want to use the Firefox extensions, but it works fine if you just want bare browser.

Way back I had this old win95 laptop that couldnt even run win98. Kmeleon at the time was the last useful browser that would work with win95. The others had bloated to where the old laptop didnt have the resources necessary to run them. It no longer works with win95, but think there are some tricks to make it still work with last version win98. Though for all practical purposes, its winXP and up.

I cant remember what if any firewall XP natively had. So this may or may not work for you: http://www.evorim.com/en/free-firewall Its a front end for built in windows firewall in win7 and up, and very user friendly compared to many firewalls.

If it doesnt you can go to Comodo free firewall. https://personalfirewall.comodo.com It says win7 and up, but this is a complete self contained firewall, not just a frontend for windows firewall. So I am guessing it might work ok with XP. No guarantees. Also when set to paranoid, it can be very annoying as it wants ok for each and every outgoing communication or at least the short time I tried it, didnt see way to make it stop doing that and just take no for an answer in perpetuity. There was probably a way to make it behave better, but I didnt stick with it long enough to find that way.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Thank you all for helping. I do have some good protections on this computer; and it has worked well for what little I do on the net for many...many...years now. So as long as I can still use Firefox Mozilla to serf the net, visit the forums and connect to my ISP's email program, I guess I'm pretty well off.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Just because you are using another browser, does not mean you are more secure. You are Still operating that Browser on a outdated, not supported Operating System~! XP. Internet Explorer is just the Browser. XP is what is not being supported anymore. And even if using some other browser, the OS system itself is at risk at getting bad things coming in, cause of no more security updates.,


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## Rectifier (Jun 12, 2011)

Firefox will likely be moving to being compiled in a way that it will not run on XP any longer. Many software packages no longer support XP. XP is a dinosaur and vulnerable in many ways, as good of a system as it was.

If you want to stay Windows, I would recommend installing 7. 8 is a junk heap and 10, with its automatic and massive updates, chews up my satellite bandwidth if I so much as turn the machine on. I updated 7 to it on a laptop that requires modern Windows for drone control software and regret it ever since - now I have to keep it in "metered data" mode permanently.

However, I went from XP to Linux and have used it as my primary OS ever since. Good on hardware of all ages, secure and lightweight. Some modern distros are getting heavy, so I would recommend trying Ubuntu Mate. Comes with all the stuff an average user ever needs built in: firefox, thunderbird(email), libreoffice (word processing/spreadsheets) and much more. 

You can try it out by booting the CD without installing anything or damaging your system. Just keep in mind it is much faster when installed to the hard drive.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

What I'm hearing here is that using Windows XP can be done but with extreme security risks. (Since I never use it for anything of a business nature, I guess that won't matter too much.)

I also hear Windows 7 may be a good way to go; but getting a Linux is probably best. I know nothing about Linux, have never worked with it. 

I'm thinking when this XP does not provide what I need then I'll simply purchase a new computer, maybe a Linux. Is this a good idea? (All I do on this computer is visit forums, post pictures, work a personal website and use my ISP's email service. Does this matter?)


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

motdaugrnds said:


> What I'm hearing here is that using Windows XP can be done but with extreme security risks. (Since I never use it for anything of a business nature, I guess that won't matter too much.)


It wouldn't matter that much if you didn't access the Internet with an XP machine, but whether or not it's used for business purposes isn't an issue. A home user can't afford to have his machine compromised. The thing is that a compromised home computer could be used to launch DDoS attacks or spam, which would probably result in your ISP shutting you down.

I get told by people all the time that there's nothing in their computer that hackers would have interest in, but that's not true. You might not store sensitive information like credit card data in your computer, but the simple fact that you have a trusted computer connected to the Internet is enough for them to want access to it.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

The newest thing is for those wanting to use your computer for denial of service attack is to use your refrigerator, toaster, heating system, air conditioner, or other appliance that has internet access. These have ZERO protection. And far be it from me to understand why such appliance would need internet access, seems mostly a marketing gimmick. Do you really need your refrigerator ordering food? Anyway they make your win98 computer look cutting edge. Nobody thought it was worth protecting them as they are usually pretty dumb and single function and no useful info on them. But ANYTHING that can get online and that they can get control of, is useful to these folk to hammer a particular target. The skud missle of the internet world.

Again on a computer, a good firewall will block third parties who get into your computer from phoning out. A separate hardware firewall of course is best, since even sophisticated third party cant change settings in it even with control of your computer. And you want a firewall set to not allow secret outgoing contact with the internet. Windows in particular makes their built in firewall hard to set up to block such outgoing contact cause they use such phoning home for their own nefarious purposes for data collection and marketing to increase revenue. Other software too, though to have your fundamental operating system playing Mada Hari is especially nasty.

Hmm, absolutely no experience with smart appliances, but wonder if forcing them through a hardware firewall would be way to go. Limiting them to their one destination web address. Truly a shame one even has to think of these things. You would suppose anybody smart enough to do this stuff could make a decent living in a legal way. But I suppose they see it as a challenge.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

motdaugrnds said:


> What I'm hearing here is that using Windows XP can be done but with extreme security risks. (Since I never use it for anything of a business nature, I guess that won't matter too much.)
> 
> I also hear Windows 7 may be a good way to go; but getting a Linux is probably best. I know nothing about Linux, have never worked with it.
> 
> I'm thinking when this XP does not provide what I need then I'll simply purchase a new computer, maybe a Linux. Is this a good idea? (All I do on this computer is visit forums, post pictures, work a personal website and use my ISP's email service. Does this matter?)


If you notice people are shouting extreme security risk, but not seeing anybody anywhere giving any SPECIFIC EXAMPLES. Most of this is alarmist BS if you are careful how you use your system. Those taking over computers to do a denial of service attack use computers online 24/7. I mean if they try to take over your computer while you are using it, you just turn it off, unplug it if necessary. With laptop remove the battery. Alas most people using such old systems tend not to be very computer literate and dont take necessary precautions and also easily panic. So even those running fully updated win10 or latest linux or Mac are susceptible if they are clueless. You cant automate yourself out of clueless.

Again, especially with windows, the biggest vulnerabilities are in the included apps, not the operating system itself. First most updates are marketing BS, most security updates are to repair holes in the INCLUDED browser or email client or some metro app they are pushing you to use. Dont use the bundled apps included in your operating system, even block them accessing the internet with your firewall, you eliminate lot of vulnerability. Remove them if possible though usually they are nailed down pretty well and its not easiest to remove them, least not with usual options.

I hate seeing people waste money on computing power they dont need or just on new and shiney when they cant afford it. It doesnt take a cutting edge computer to be useful and safe. I am continually amazed how my single core XP era desktop (it came with XP new) still functions fine. No I dont use XP, never liked it much and only kept it to run my tax software offline. But I have run several generations of Puppy Linux on it just fine and still do. I also have an unactivated win10 on it now to do tax software. Perfectly legit to run win10 unactivated, there is no warez or other nefarious tricks required. It will just give a watermark on screen and not let you choose your own wallpaper. If you block it from phoning home to the activation servers using its own built in firewall, those restrictions go away. And right now I am running Knoppix Linux booted from a usb thumb drive. Despite being lot bigger system than Puppy, it runs fine on this old hardware, amazingly well. Includes latest Chrome browser and latest Firefox. All done booted from a usb thumb drive. On older system with a dvdrom you can boot from a live dvd too. Are any of these options easy. Well yes and no. They arent particularly complicated, but if you are completely clueless how your computer works, then yes they can be. As always the devil is in the details. And unfortunately seems most companies are interested in making everything needless complex as possible in order to keep you dependent on them.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

I even have read that now more and more malware is being created for Macs~! Way more then before. I have had virus protection for said things for years now on my iMac.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

The tech guy at the local computer repair shop told me although XP is at risk, it is not being targeted because so few people are still using it. He has to clean malware and viruses off Win 7 and 10 a lot more than he ever did on XP machines even after they were no longer supported. 

If your computer is still functioning well, ask Hermit John about Linux -- you can get a DVD with Linux already installed for $10.00 and I understand it runs just fine on older XP machines. That's what I plan to do with mine since the computer is just fine. I just need to decide which one -- he recommended Linux Puppy and in a thread on the computer forum also talked about Knoppix (sp?). That's my main problem with Linux -- there are so many different versions and most of them expire in just a few months to maybe a year, so I gather you have to keep installing new versions.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Belfrybat said:


> If your computer is still functioning well, ask Hermit John about Linux -- you can get a DVD with Linux already installed for $10.00 and I understand it runs just fine on older XP machines.


For those with DSL & cable unmeasured service, most Linux distribution installation files are available for free download. In other words, you can download the .iso file for free and burn the install DVD yourself. For example, here's where to download Puppy Linux .iso's for free.

http://puppylinux.org/main/How to download Puppy.htm

And you don't have to wait for a DVD to be mailed to you.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I gave less than $5 shipped for my Knoppix dvd off ebay. And its a FULL DVD, over 4GB data. Cost me $$$ on my metered cell hotspot to download it myself. Or gas to go to library. If you have unmetered internet then go for it, not big deal to download and either burn it or use program like Rufus to use the iso to create a live thumb drive version. 

Also there are versions of Puppy Linux that are much smaller, like 200MB so even on metered connection, that iso very easy to download. And if that is too much there is a distribution called Slitaz that is less than 50MB, something like that. Of course its got less included content. And I wouldnt maybe suggest it to a linux newbie, though I thought it worked pretty well when I tried it. Not as user friendly as Puppy or Knoppix.

No, linux distributions are not cookie cutter like windows. Different distributions may use different version of linux kernel, some older, some newer. They also may come with different desktop or file manager or numerous other software. But they are under the hood still linux.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I should mention if you want to boot on UEFI computer that doesnt have a legacy boot option then you do want to make sure the distribution you pick was compiled to support UEFI. Older XP computers wont be UEFI so you just set bios to boot from dvd or usb first and if it can boot your live dvd or usb drive, it will. I think maybe that started UEFI bios and Secure Boot somewhere in win7 era, though definitely all win8 was UEFI.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I seem not to be able to edit my posts. Anyway will mention that I have 2GB RAM. Some versions Puppy are happy even with 1GB, but I would suggest minimum of 2GB as software like modern browsers tend to be rather RAM hungry. Also if you are running Puppy either from live cd or from frugal install (like live cd only on hard drive or flash drive) it will need enough ram to run Puppy entirely in RAM. Full install of Puppy plus a linux swap file and you can run with minimal RAM.

This is why I tend not to like to get too drawn into these discussions. The devil is in the details. Trying to explain all possible details to somebody totally clueless about linux or even about windows is asking a lot. If you are new to linux, it takes some patience and lot reading to get up to speed. If you go with Puppy, their forum: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/ is very helpful and newbie friendly. That is place to ask questions. Be patient, nobody there is getting paid, its just group people with common interest.

Other distributions have their support forums too. Some lot more useful than others. Thats why Ubuntu is so popular, their forum is very active with lot people. Other forums and distributions are kinda one man band type situations.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Thank you all. I am feeling quite good about the way this XP is functioning...and probably will continue to function even after firefox pulls out. It is actually a good computer and has served me well for at least 10 yrs. Guess I'll keep using it until I do start having problems with it...


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Thank you all. I am feeling quite good about the way this XP is functioning...and probably will continue to function even after firefox pulls out. It is actually a good computer and has served me well for at least 10 yrs. Guess I'll keep using it until I do start having problems with it...


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