Browser for Windows XP that works in 2019

The very latest version is still inaccessible to screen reader users. NVDA reads the title bar, but that's pretty much it. Maybe JAWS will yield better results.

 

What versions of NVDA or JAWS are using? It's possible the latest versions for Windows XP will likely yield the best results and have the most compatibility with modern browsers.

 

I'm using NVDA 2017.3, the latest XP-supporting version; 2017.4 and later requires at least Windows 7 SP1. JAWS, however, I'll have to do a bit more digging with, since I'm not sure what the latest XP-supporting version is, and older versions are kind of hard to come by.

 

Why would the developer make Mypal self-extracting, but Serpent/basilisk require something like winzip (which never works for me)? ARRRGGGHHH! Guess I'll have to wait for the tech guy to come by to get Serpent. Anyway, Mypal is now upgraded. I still have to fiddle with it to get it to fit my screen, but it's okay. At least it didn't screw up the previous version, then refuse to install.

By Twitter videos "pitched much lower than normal" I assume the sound is like in slo-mo? Centaury browser does that a lot. By the way for anyone using Win 7, there appears to be a Basilisk version for it, though I'm not sure if it hails from the same developer.

 

Basilisk and Pale Moon are both projects of Moonchild Productions...each browser has XP forks from different developers. roytam1's forks are called "Serpent" and "New Moon" respectively. feodor2's forks are called "Centaury" and "Mypal" respectively!

I think roytam1 may be targeting portable users with his forks, which could explain why you have to use software that will extract .7z files (I recommend 7-Zip as the latest version still works perfectly with XP SP3). feodor2 targets users who may prefer conventional .exe installs (but still includes a portable option for the other side of the coin).

The sound is not actually slowed down--it's at the normal/correct tempo, but is pitched several semitones lower than normal (imagine Tibetan monks chanting). Strangely, I've only seen it happen in roytam1's New Moon fork, but none of his other forks appear to be affected. feodor2's forks are also good to go (I prefer Mypal as it restores the pre-Australis interface and all of the benefits that come with it; Centaury is also great in its own right).

Anyone using Windows 7 has their choice of whatever browser they want, pretty much. XP options are more limited, but of the few that still are getting updates & patches Mypal is the best one of the lot for MY needs. Everyone's mileage will vary, but one thing I can say is this: unless you absolutely need to use one for whatever reason, PLEASE for the love of all that is pure stay away from any of the Chromium-based browsers made in China. It's not worth it, not only because of the privacy risks but because they eat RAM like it's going out of style. Mypal 28 and New Moon 28 (notwithstanding NM28's 'pitch bug' on Twitter videos) have always been solid as a rock on any PC I tried them on, and still reliable/trustworthy for your daily usage. Any site you throw at it, with VERY rare exceptions, to this day will work without any issues at all.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I recently discovered a patch that allows 32-bit XP SP3 to use up to 128GB of RAM. I have tested it multiple times on my ProDesk G1 with 8GB of RAM, and XP accepted the full amount with no problems! It hasn't given me one problem since then and I will go so far as to recommend others try it out (if they're running XP on a PC with more than 4GB of RAM). Here is the link (hosted on a reliable file-sharing site, not a dodgy 4shared-type domain):
https://icedrive.net/0/75j2Iu6YDC

I'm considering 'biting the bullet' and going for a super-PC with the full 128GB of RAM, to see for myself if this patch can truly go that high (and for what should be close to if not the ultimate speed possible for 32-bit Windows XP running natively on original hardware [no VM]). It feels like overkill, but it could also be life insurance (meaning I'd have a system that would be more than capable of flawlessly running any newer OS if an upgrade is ever necessary in the future).

 

Try 7-zip. Also, self extracting & msi's are evil! I allus try to find 'portable' versions of everything.

 

Yeah, already tried 7zip, and a couple others. I got Serpent/basilisk downloaded to my PC, but that is all I got.

 

The site for Basilisk browser for Win 7 is:
https://www.basilisk-browser.org/requirements.shtml
which is different from either of those listed in this forum, so I don't know if it is the same or not. When my Win 7 PC arrives, I will give it a test drive.

Someone on another forum said the fix for the sound problem was "try installing Adobe Primtime CDM and use it as an audio decoder." Outside of my skill level, but I may mention it to the tech guy. I gave up on all chrome/chromium-based browsers. Slimjet was the first to go, and SRWare Iron got the boot a few weeks ago. Until the tech guy can either install a master certificate that overrules all the others in the CA store, or install a MITMproxy with SSL/TLS stripper capability, these browsers are useless in XP Pro. I'll look into the icedrive stuff.
Thanks for the tip!

 

I use Windows XP Pro SP3 on a PC with a pre-SSE2 processor so cannot run anything more recent than Firefox 45.9 ESR. However, I do have such things as Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit 1.13.1.164, Noscript 5.1.9 and Adblock Plus 2.8.2 to protect me along with Panda Dome free 20.00.00, Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro 9.3 and OSArmor 1.4.3. I would not dream of using this combination with privacy/security sensitive stuff like online banking but have yet to suffer from exploits and other phenomena when I take my classic OS and Browser out for a spin.

Firefox 45.9 ESR can still render all the newspaper websites I frequent and since I am literate do not require video content.

 

I have a computer running 16 gigs of ram and got the patch from osrevival and yes i recommend it as well things work alot better using all of it and not just 4 gigs of it.

 

Try OtterBrowser (otter-browser.org).

P.S. I understand that this is an old thread but......

 

The MyPal browser has updated to version 28.12.0
https://github.com/Feodor2/Mypal/releases