[DISCUSSION] Browser Support for Windows 7

Using opera for ages still works and supports 7 fine in 2023. I think it will also work in vista also same for chrome if you bypass somehow os checking, vista is more than capable to run all the modern browsers the problem is that installers checks of what os you use and terminates the process. Mostly same for portable "extracted" apps. They are pretty smart but doing that for no reason. Recently i played with win2000 there are still some people who love it, people who wrote kernel ex project and even plenty apps and solutions to edit some msi, exe setup's to allow newer software to be install. I wonder what will happen to 7 in the future, unfortunately there aren't that much people who still care about 7 like there was back in a day about the w2k after and before support ended. Looking at statistics the 7 dropped in usage even where it was still supported..

 

I really don't want to upgrade my Win 7 to Win 10, I'll probably see how long I can go with my Opera browser once it will not update. Any other ideas, please post here.

 

Why browser updates/support is that important?
i'm still using Slimjet version from 2020-07 without issue

 

Good question!!

 

Muse... have... latest number... in a text string... rrEEEEEEEEEE

 

Hoping that Mozilla will keep firefox support for Windows 7 through their next esr and 2024.

The problem with using older, unsupported browsers is eventually sites stop working with them. Third party fork developers often cannot keep up, this is the case with Pale Moon and Basilisk, they are doing as good as they can but more and more sites are incompatible making the browser difficult to use every day.

 

I always assumed (without having done any research) that not having an updated browser nowadays meant that there were potential security risks, i.e. browser gets hijacked, or worse, it could somehow affect your OS as well. When I think about it, that seems kind of unlikely, but I'm also not an expert. Just like how flash was insecure and Java needs to be kept up to date, because if they aren't "bad stuff can happen". We don't use flash anymore, but that's just an example. I assume there are still things which could become real security risks.

Maybe someone can set me straight. I hate how firefox will work fine, then mozilla will change something and break a lot of websites, BT headset functionality, etc.

 

Sure, I can set you straight on that. The death of Flash was 90% political, 10% due to security issues (the severity which is debatable) and entirely unnecessary. It was the ultra-modern equivalent of a hostile takeover, wherein a technology/platform/ideology is wrongfully extinguished from the public sphere by way of 1) a propaganda giant (Google) creating an often inferior competitor (amorphous "HTML5"), 2) assimilating the vast majority of the relevant market's user base (browsers, ergo nearly all computer users), 3) holding the competitor's technology hostage using your technology (Flash typically requires a web browser), 4) eventually excluding the competitor's technology from their monopoly product (Chrome), and then 5) finally making statements that the competitor was a threat to your security and that we are all now so much safer in the hands of big brother. This was a protracted process that first showed signs of the inevitable conclusion somewhere around 2012. For anyone who was involved with Adobe software at the time, the writing was simply on the wall. It's not the first or even the hundredth technology to die a gruesome death this way, but it is probably the most famous example where most people believed the "slavery is freedom" message from their Google overlords. Flash old, flash bad. Flash insecure cause Chrome say so. I like Chrome. Chrome never lie to me. Chrome say stop using Flash. Flash bad.

At the end of the day, the only meaningful difference between Flash and Google's "HTML5" (I put it in quotes because HTML5 itself was just a stepping stone to their current custom elements autocracy) was merely whose hands it was in. The use cases and applications of both technologies are very, very similar, but the winner is always the company who can lie to the most people. Google realized pretty quickly that the web browser was the single most visited thing in computer users' daily lives. Then they forgot to change their motto to "always do evil" when they started using Chrome for propaganda. Adobe didn't have that iron grip over the flow of information to the people. They didn't stand a chance with Google turning most of Adobe's own end users against Adobe.

Somewhat off-topic, but you asked (tangentially), and since MDL is place that tends to shun propaganda in favor of reality, I thought I'd explain this. The larger connection to the OP and this topic is that you should wield skepticism when regarding statements like "oh you can't use this any more because it's insecure". Who says it's insecure? A competitor? What do they have to gain by smearing their competition? (see Flash story) Or, is company is claiming their own product is insecure? What do they have to gain by compelling you to update? (more spyware, more PII harvesting, etc.) Is there a published write-up on the alleged insecurity? What is the extent of the insecurity? And, most importantly, was there even an insecurity in the first place, or is the company hiding behind the "update to be secure" message in order to hold an iron grip over its users? You don't have to be an engineer or infosec guy just to be a scrupulous user. Cultivate your bulls**t detector.

 

Flash updates have stopped, meaning it now has exploits that will never be patched.

This means if you have Flash in your browser (as I do), you have to make sure the browser enables it on a site-by-site basis, and that you don't enable it on sites that ask for it unexpectedly or those you don't fully trust.

The problem is that the same can be said about CSS, JavaScript and especially idiotic HTML5 technologies like WebAssembly (running machine code in your browser), Firefox & Chrome's WebExtension security theater, list goes on and on.

This is why browsers, Flash and Java need to be kept up to date. They're all running dodgy code in leaky containers.

If anything, Chrome is the worst offender since it gives you the least options to turn off insecure scripting technologies, never mind all the "telemetry" it sells to your advertisers. If you need security, use a Firefox fork (not Firefox) with an ad blocker and a script blocker.

 

google chrome killed all other browsers ..

 

you don't ever have to, dual boot it and do it even from another disk that would be even better.

How ? they still exist and plenty of them.. the only thing that is changed that google keeps a monopoly and people too stupid to see other wise.. if you ask them why chrome you don't even get a logical straight answer they'll stay that is the best, good or don't even knows why, most people don't even see that they have a choice or a good argument about it.

Never used chrome, never liked, never seen why i have to.. always been opera user since version 9. the problem now days that everything is based on chrome engine and browsers don't have the same charm now days.

In fact i will be not surprised if the chrome will drop support for 7 first.

 

I can also confirm Brave, Edge and Chromium have ended support this month, too.

 

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