Best Browser For Win 98 After FF 1.5 Support Ends

[geffr]

We're getting close to the cutoff date where Mozilla is going to end support for Firefox 1.5.x. While I plan to stay with FF 1.5.x until there is a serious security issue, at that time I will have to change browsers as I'm still on Win 98 & 2.0.x just doesn't play well with Win 98 & likely never will. (BIG memory leaks & some pages load REALLY slow).

2 options I'm aware of are Opera & whatever the current version of Netscape is (ironically I switched from NS to FF several years ago & may need to switch back!).

I'm looking for suggestions on the best browser for Win 98. (please don't suggest upgrading to XP (I will one of these days but not in the next couple months) or Vista (from what I've read Vista so far makes Windows ME look good by comparison!).

I may very well switch to Linux at some point, but with my business I just don't have the time to learn a new operating system at this time.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8.0.11) Gecko/20070312 Firefox/1.5.0.11

[Fulvio]

I would stick with 1.5.x. It will be a while before it will be obsolete. And, may be someone will come up with something.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.2) Gecko/20070222 SeaMonkey/1.1.1

[Don_HH2K]

If you're still going for a supported and officially-maintained browser, I'd say Opera at this point if you're going to stick with 98. To tell the truth I'm not sure how long Firefox 1.5 is going to be supported, since the Firefox 1.5 roadmap doesn't have a cutoff date for the 1.5 branch, though I'd assume 1.5 would reach its end-of-life once Firefox 3.0 releases sometime later this year.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.2 x64; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070323 BonEcho/2.0.0.3 (mmoy CE K8N-X02)

[geffr]

Mozilla announced several months back that FF 1.5 support & updates will end as of 4/24/07.

See http://www.mozilla.org/news.html#p427

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8.0.11) Gecko/20070312 Firefox/1.5.0.11

[Ramona]

geffr,

I run Fx 2.0.0.3 on my Windows 98SE PC, problem free. I've noticed no slow down at all when loading pages. I do have cable, and it is really quite fast, so could your ISP be slowing you down.

How about browser maintenance? Check out this page, altho originally written for Netscape/Mozilla, still applies to Firefox: Preventive Browser Maintenance

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070309 Firefox/2.0.0.3

[Edward]

How about browser maintenance? Check out this page, altho originally written for Netscape/Mozilla, still applies to Firefox: Preventive Browser Maintenance

Another high-quality page from Ramona!

I was not even aware of that setting and have now turned it on for both of my SM installations under Linux.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i586; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4pre) Gecko/20070402 SeaMonkey/1.1.1

[Antony]

Some of you may have noticed that I don't treat 'vulnerabilities' that serious, and I am certainly not the one rushing for updates. Now, here's my recommendation.

We're getting close to the cutoff date where Mozilla is going to end support for Firefox 1.5.x. While I plan to stay with FF 1.5.x until there is a serious security issue, at that time I will have to change browsers as I'm still on Win 98 & 2.0.x just doesn't play well with Win 98 & likely never will. (BIG memory leaks & some pages load REALLY slow).

If you are careful with your surfing behaviour, I would say that staying in Firefox 1.5.0.x will be fine, at least for quite a while.

From my observations, reports from Mozilla and especially from Secunia do have a tendency of over-exaggerating and in many cases kind of scaring people. Kind of like salesperson, telling customer to upgrade their products. I am not saying you should ignore 'vulnerabilities' reported, but please, try to read what exactly the vulnerabilities are about and pay less attention to the critical rating given by Secunia. I am sure you can find some descriptions of vulnerabilities can be easily avoided without the need of upgrade, as well as outrageous critical rating.

My suggestion: relax a bit. You will be fine with latest 1.5.0.x series for a period of time.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en-US; rv:1.8.1.2) Gecko/20070219 Firefox/2.0.0.2

[Ramona]

Antony,

I totally agree, altho J-M and I are usually the ones posting the vulnerabilities.

I can't speak for J-M, but my intention is for information only. If you are cautious in your browsing, and with Firefox, use the McAfeeSiteAdvisor Extension, you will be fine. However, when serious vulnerabilities arise, it is advisable to move to a newer version.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070309 Firefox/2.0.0.3

[Antony]

Thanks Ramona.

I like the preventive browser maintenance you provided, which is very useful.
I know I did not word it well. What I wanted to say is not to let the word 'vulnerabilities' and those exaggerated reports destroy user's confidence on online activities.

And how do you know when the vulnerabilities are serious? A quick guide is when it is reported in general computing news sites such as Cnet News.com, people should pay more attention to it. Also when a vulnerability is being 'escalated' to general news sites , they would usually report in layman's term.

It is not directly related, but I'd like to point out. Be careful with your personal information, and be aware of identity thief.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en-US; rv:1.8.1.2) Gecko/20070219 Firefox/2.0.0.2

[ilpunto]

I have a laptop with Windows 98 on it. I have done extensive research into which browser is the most modern and able to be used on Windows 98. The most modern browser is SeaMonkey browser version 1.1.19 which was released in March 2010. The newest Firefox browser able to be used on Windows 98 is version 2.0.0.20 which was released in 2008. Just for comparison, Internet Explorer 6 (the last I.E. able to be used on Windows 98) was released in 2001.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8.1.24) Gecko/20100228 SeaMonkey/1.1.19

[Fulvio]

The 18GB hard drive of my Win 98 computer dies some seven years ago. I was able to remove that hard drive, and replace it with the original 3.2 GB, and upgrade the OS with Win 98 SE. The versions mentioned by ilpunto are as high as it gets. I have been using my old computer only when my newer one had to go to the shop.
I am very conservative using the Internet, so I feel pretty safe, in spite of Secunia PSI warnings, which I use, mainly, as a point of reference. My Secunia score is 100% today!

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110420 Firefox/3.6.17

[geffr]

The last issue I was able to find was a nightly named "Bon Echo 2.0.0.22". Still using it on my 1 Win 98 box

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:2.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0.1

[Don_HH2K]

I believe KernelEx is still capable of running newer Firefox builds (as well as newer Opera builds from what I read on their homepage). I used SeaMonkey 1.1.x on a Solaris box for about three months earlier this year and found it unsuitable for some AJAX and HTML5-heavy sites.

UserAgent: Opera/9.80 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/4.3.24214/24.816; U; en) Presto/2.5.25 Version/10.54

[geffr]

I believe KernelEx is still capable of running newer Firefox builds (as well as newer Opera builds from what I read on their homepage). I used SeaMonkey 1.1.x on a Solaris box for about three months earlier this year and found it unsuitable for some AJAX and HTML5-heavy sites.

Funny, I still have the executable for KernelEx sitting on the desktop of my Win 98 box since you mentioned it here several years ago. I've never had the courage to run it!

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:2.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0.1

[Edward]

SeaMonkey dropped support for Windows 95, 98, ME and NT 4, beginning with SeaMonkey 2.0.

Since 98 itself is likely no longer supported by Microsoft, you might want to look into installing Linux on that computer. Debian supports CPU's going back to the 486 class, which is why I have installed it on both my 32-bit AMD Athlon and K6-2 systems. I am considering installing Debian on my 64-bit desktop as well. They also have Debian Live CD/DVD's that will let someone try it out first, before actually installing it.

Debian runs perfectly on both systems and their version of SeaMonkey, which is called Iceape, works just as well.

This Wikipedia article explains that Debian had to rebrand Mozilla software:

SeaMonkey -> Iceape
Firefox -> Iceweasel
Thunderbird -> Icedove
Sunbird -> Iceowl

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.1.16) Gecko/20110430 Iceape/2.0.11