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#1
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Best Browser for WinXP?
Hi,
I currently use FF52.8 on one of my XP PCs. Also have Chrome 49 on that same PC. I was unable to log into my Lowe's account using FF, but was able to log in using Chrome. At www.pepboys.com site, I tried to search (pep boys search slot) for a specific item using FF, but no response when I clicked on the search icon. I was able to get a response using Chrome. I like FF more than Chrome because I turned off Remember History. Also, I can specify a blank page when I launch FF. I was unable to find these options with Chrome. What do you consider to be the best browser for WinXP? Thank You in advance, John |
#2
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Best Browser for WinXP?
jaugustine wrote:
I currently use FF52.8 on one of my XP PCs. Also have Chrome 49 on that same PC. I was unable to log into my Lowe's account using FF, but was able to log in using Chrome. At www.pepboys.com site, I tried to search (pep boys search slot) for a specific item using FF, but no response when I clicked on the search icon. I was able to get a response using Chrome. Start the web browser in its safe mode. Could be you installed an add-on into the web browser, like adblocking, that is modifying the page content (adblockers are supposed to break web pages to eliminate the blocked content). |
#3
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Best Browser for WinXP?
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#4
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Best Browser for WinXP?
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
jaugustine WROTE: I like FF more than Chrome because I turned off Remember History. Also, I can specify a blank page when I launch FF. I was unable to find these options with Chrome. Unbelievably, Chrome doesn't offer that option. There is an extension - called, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Blank New Tab Page" that gives it to you (though it actually loads a blank page rather than no page, so it [a] appears in the history [b] takes a short but non-zero time). At one time, there was a setting of what URL to load for a new tab, like using about:blank. Google took that away, so users had to resort to add-ons to programmatically control the new-tab page. For that I use the "New Tab Override" add-on. Firefox used to let you configure the new-tab page (what it would load). Then it disappeared and users had to discover the gear icon at the top right of the new-tab "top sites" page Mozilla then foisted on its users. Now they're assisting sites with tracking your most-recently-visited site (because those tiles connect back to those sites when you load a new tab). Instead of installing an add-on, I customized the content or maybe changed something in about:config. I think Mozilla gave up on trying to push users around and now has a blank new-tab page. Hard to tell because Mozilla keeps adding **** that I have to figure out how to disable or workaround. For cleaning, there is the Click&Clean add-on for Google Chrome. Google changed how add-ons can run. No longer could then run when shutting exiting Chrome - unless you configure Chrome to allow add-ons to continue running after Chrome exits (not a good idea). So, instead Click&Clean will do cleanup when it loads which is when Chrome loads. That is, instead of cleaning on exit, it cleans on load. Click&Clean is adware, so I didn't keep it. Instead I just run CCleaner using a shortcut in a toolbar in the Windows taskbar that runs "ccleaner /auto", and I schedule it to run in Task Scheduler, too. Users have been wailing ever since Google Chrome showed up to have an option to bring new tabs to the front; i.e., to give them focus when they load. Never happened, so I use the "Tabs to the Front" add-on. Google took away navigating backwards with the Backspace key. So I had to install the "Go Back With Backspace" add-on. Firefox will let me disable WebRTC (media.peerconnection.enabled = False) to avoid some site peaking inside my intranet to get at the IP address of my PC. It is a rather brute force method that will break WebRTC used anywhere. Yep, in Google, an add-on is required. I use WebRTC Leak Prevent which is more elegant as to what gets blocked. Go to ipleak.net to see if your web browser exposes your local IP address of the host on which you run the web browser. By they time you get Google Chrome to have all the inbuilt functions available in Firefox, you've installed over half a dozen add-ons into Chrome. Google really isn't interest in the security and privacy of their users. They will add features to support what web sites want. Alas, Mozilla went that way, too. |
#5
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Best Browser for WinXP?
On 29 Jun 2018, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote
in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general: Unbelievably, Chrome doesn't offer that option. There is an extension - called, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Blank New Tab Page" that gives it to you (though it actually loads a blank page rather than no page, so it [a] appears in the history [b] takes a short but non-zero time). Can you not create your own local blank page and tell Chrome to make it your home page? |
#6
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Best Browser for WinXP?
Nil wrote:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: Unbelievably, Chrome doesn't offer that option. There is an extension - called, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Blank New Tab Page" that gives it to you (though it actually loads a blank page rather than no page, so it [a] appears in the history [b] takes a short but non-zero time). Can you not create your own local blank page and tell Chrome to make it your home page? You're going to install a web server on one of your hosts just so you can open a blank home page? Besides, opening to a blank home page is not the problem being discussed. Google Chrome DOES let you specify about:blank as your home page. That's how I configure the home page in every web browser, including Google Chrome. It's the *new tab* page being discussed. about:blank in Google Chrome will load a blank document (web page) but also populates the address bar with "about:blank". You have to erase the address bar before you can start entering the URL to where you intend to visit. While Google Chrome already has a home page setting, its handling of about:blank becomes a nuisance regarding the address bar. An add-on that overrides all new tabs will force a blank document load while not polluting the address bar. Back to the topic of a blank *new tab*, in Google Chrome's settings there is no longer an option of where to connect a new tab. Google took that setting away. Going through all the work to setup a local web server to deliver a blank document won't work because you cannot configure Chrome to go there when a new tab is loaded. Users are now forced to use an add-on to programmatically choose to where a new tab connects. For first or initial new tab (home page), use about:blank -- and then clear the address bar to enter a URL. For subsequent new tabs, use an add-on since Google removed the setting. If the add-on also works on the initial new tab tab, you don't have to erase "about:blank" from the address bar before you enter the URL for where you want to visit. Some new tab add-ons do nothing more than direct a new tab to about:blank. In many web browsers, that is okay. In Chrome, you get a blank document and a polluted address bar. Pick a new tab add-on that loads a blank document and doesn't populate the address bar. |
#7
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Best Browser for WinXP?
VanguardLH wrote:
Nil wrote: J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: Unbelievably, Chrome doesn't offer that option. There is an extension - called, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Blank New Tab Page" that gives it to you (though it actually loads a blank page rather than no page, so it [a] appears in the history [b] takes a short but non-zero time). Can you not create your own local blank page and tell Chrome to make it your home page? You're going to install a web server on one of your hosts just so you can open a blank home page? Would a file:/// type item work ? You might not need a web server, if it accepts a variety of URI formulations. Other example URIs (not related to this discussion) would be ftp:// and gopher:// . Your browser may or may not accept all the old URIs back to the dawn of time. If you want another formulation: chrome://flags If you type "chrome" into the chrome URL bar, the auto-hint will provide around four lines intended to bootstrap you into the chrome: URI space. So you don't have to look them up. Paul |
#8
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Best Browser for WinXP?
Paul wrote:
VanguardLH wrote: Nil wrote: J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: Unbelievably, Chrome doesn't offer that option. There is an extension - called, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Blank New Tab Page" that gives it to you (though it actually loads a blank page rather than no page, so it [a] appears in the history [b] takes a short but non-zero time). Can you not create your own local blank page and tell Chrome to make it your home page? You're going to install a web server on one of your hosts just so you can open a blank home page? Would a file:/// type item work ? Sure -- but where are you going to configure Google Chrome to load that document when opening a new tab? Also, as noted about the problem of using about:blank polluting the address bar, using file: means that URI will be listed in the address bar and you have to erase it before you can enter the URL that you actually intended to visit. chrome://flags If you type "chrome" into the chrome URL bar, the auto-hint will provide around four lines intended to bootstrap you into the chrome: URI space. So you don't have to look them up. Usually I just enter chrome://about (or chrome:about since an internal resource doesn't require the double slashes). "chrome" wants to suggest "chrome://chrome-urls" but I get the same with chrome://about. |
#9
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Best Browser for WinXP?
On 29 Jun 2018, VanguardLH wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general: You're going to install a web server on one of your hosts just so you can open a blank home page? Every browser I've ever seen will display a page on the local file system. No web server needed. "file:" is a valid protocol I believe. about:blank in Google Chrome will load a blank document (web page) but also populates the address bar with "about:blank". You have to erase the address bar before you can start entering the URL to where you intend to visit. I always go to the address bar with Ctrl-L, which selects the existing URL and disappears when you start typing. I rarely use the mouse for that, but even then the URL is selected unless you fumble. |
#10
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Best Browser for WinXP?
Nil wrote:
VanguardLH wrote: You're going to install a web server on one of your hosts just so you can open a blank home page? Every browser I've ever seen will display a page on the local file system. No web server needed. "file:" is a valid protocol I believe. Yep, didn't think about that. Of course, you didn't say how the document was delivered. The problem with using file:// is that it will display in the address bar. The point of a blank page is to NOT load anything, so you can immediately go somewhere you specify; however, you'll have to erase the address bar of the filespec before you can enter where you really intended to go. Since Google Chrome still lets you configure what document to load for the home page (initial tab), no need to point at a file to load an empty document. Just configure home page to about:blank. Chrome will pollute the address bar with "about:blank" (as it would if you used file://) but your Ctrl+L hotkey nullifies that nuisance. In contrast, other web browsers, like Firefox, load a blank document but NOT pollute the address bar with "about:blank". No idea why Google thinks they need to show the URI of an internal resource in their address bar. Maybe they're being consistent, like chrome://flags and chrome://about showing the URI in the address bar. With file://, you are relying on an external resource to load a blank document. It works but I prefer to reduce external dependencies. You mentioned home page but you can already use about:blank for that. The OP was asking about new tabs, and Chrome no longer has a setting for what new tabs should load. That has to be done programmatically now. Chrome doesn't even have the advanced configuration (about:config) of Firefox where you can dig to find options not presented in the configuration GUI page (aboutreferences). I've found Firefox to be far more configurable than Chrome; however, Mozilla was creating such a highly moving target with their change in behaviors and technologies in Firefox that I moved to Chrome (which required several add-ons to get built-in features in Firefox). I'm leaning to going back to Firefox. I don't like having to delve into about:config to find all the settings but, at least, there are more in-depth settings available. In Firefox, I can change a setting in about:config to disable WebRTC. No such setting in Chrome (and Google removed the chrome:flag that let you disable WebRTC). Yet is it a brute force method. The WebRTC Leak Prevent add-on is a more elegant approach along with being configurable. With WebRTC disabled en masse in Firefox, I cannot use it to go to Google Voice (hangs after login because it is a WebRTC app). With the add-on in Chrome, ipleak.net still reports Chrome has not divulged my hosts intranet (local) IP address but Google Voice still works. I have WebRTC disabled in both web browsers which means I can use Google Voice in Chrome but not in Firefox. Google has its advantages, though, over Firefox and why I continue to use it. For example, Google came out with the Spectre mitigating Retpoline API to which webclients can use (after recompiling them) and incorporated it into Chrome. Mozilla's compromise was to enable further isolation between firefox.exe instances by enabling privacy.firstparty.isolate = true, and to slow down the return from functions to avoid the timing attack (which required recoding and recompiling of Firefox). I liked Google's Retpoline solution much better and dodges the performance hit. Disabling Javascript is another choice but has become no longer a viable option since way too many sites nowadays rely on dynamic web pages to determine what content gets delivered to you. Google has had time to tweak their multi-process Chrome. Mozilla is new to this and their default is conservative (and figuring out to further tweak it takes a while to test). Mozilla changed their extension support in v57 which killed a lot of old extensions. They changed their chrome. They changed their engine. I've forgotten all the other changes they've made in the last year, some of which were unwanted (by me). I grew weary of the high rate of changes and went to Chrome. I do like having more internal settings to lockdown Firefox rather than using add-ons in Chrome but you can stand a square tire for only so long. about:blank in Google Chrome will load a blank document (web page) but also populates the address bar with "about:blank". You have to erase the address bar before you can start entering the URL to where you intend to visit. I always go to the address bar with Ctrl-L, which selects the existing URL and disappears when you start typing. I rarely use the mouse for that, but even then the URL is selected unless you fumble. That's a workaround. It works as you describe. Thanks for the hotkey. It is rare when I load the web browser to a blank document (whether that be about:blank or an add-on loading a blank document. Typically I am clicking on a URL (aka hyperlink), selecting one from a shortcut or bookmark, or entering a URL in an address bar (Explorer, taskbar's address bar, etc). While I have the home page set to about:blank, it is rare that I load the web browser and then decide to go elsewhere. I have already decided where I'm going before I load the web browser. Mostly I configure about:blank as the home page to thwart any of that crap Mozilla or Google want to shove at me, and why I also don't like their choices for the default document for the home page (initial tab) or for subsequent new tabs. |
#11
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Best Browser for WinXP?
Unbelievably, Chrome doesn't offer that option. There is an
extension - called, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Blank New Tab Page" that gives it to you (though it actually loads a blank page rather than no page, so it [a] appears in the history [b] takes a short but non-zero time). Can you not create your own local blank page and tell Chrome to make it your home page? Hi, Yes you can. I used an empty folder at the root of my HD as the default page. Example, "C:\BLANK". This solved that problem. John |
#12
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Best Browser for WinXP?
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#13
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Best Browser for WinXP?
On Thu, 28 Jun 2018 12:22:51 -0400, wrote:
I like FF more than Chrome because I turned off Remember History. Also, I can specify a blank page when I launch FF. I was unable to find these options with Chrome. I reverted to FF 41, as the later versions were too bloated and kept crashing. You could also try Maxthon -- a bit clunky, but it works. --- Ignore the following - it's spammers for spambot fodder. |
#14
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Best Browser for WinXP?
Steve Hayes wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2018 12:22:51 -0400, wrote: I like FF more than Chrome because I turned off Remember History. Also, I can specify a blank page when I launch FF. I was unable to find these options with Chrome. I reverted to FF 41, as the later versions were too bloated and kept crashing. You could also try Maxthon -- a bit clunky, but it works. --- Ignore the following - it's spammers for spambot fodder. Then learn how to use a proper sigdash delimiter line! Else, your post is itself spam fodder and should be killfiled. |
#15
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Best Browser for WinXP?
Steve,
I reverted to FF 41, as the later versions were too bloated and kept crashing. Do you know anything about the difference of encryption suites between FF 41 and 52 ? Some time ago I have sought for something, anything which would desccribe it in relation to the different FF versions, but could not find it. And I don't like that 52 too much either - for one it has got a nice number of URLs it wants to call "home" to, with nothing decent I could find to easily disallow it. Second is that IIRC "pocket" stuff that I have not been able to disable/remove. By the way: the webs dropping of older encryption suites is why I need to replace FF 16, and why I would like to know what 41 supports (no fun to keep replacing versions) Regards, Rudy Wieser |
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