Mayhem on AmRad 40 m. band

[Jez]

I have firefox as well in fact but use Slimjet as my main browser. It's a slimmed down version of chrome. No more recent updates than the probably 4 year old ish one I'm using are compatible with my PC. I don't consider it a problem.

[ppppenguin]

The 32 bit version of Firefox is probably not too bad. Certainly a better bet than an old version of IE or Chrome. A review of 32 bit browsers: https://www.makeuseof.com/best-browsers-...d-computer

[Jez]

As I say I don't consider it a problem. I won't be changing anything unless I have to. A few sites will no longer work with my old browser as they get updated but not too many so far. I have to use firefox for the guardian on line and for wikipedia due to recent updates on these sites making it awkward to use them on the old browser. My firefox version deletes all cookies and history every time I shut it down which makes it pretty much useless fir many things but good for security conscious things like on line banking.

Now something I DO have a big issue with is that for the past few years my 4 1TB external drives when powered up cause small warning boxes to appear, 1 per HDD, telling me that they could work much faster if used with USB2 sockets.... all my USB sockets ARE USB2! They work only as USB1 when the drives are used though. They used to be fine and I haven't done anything I know of to cause this. More mysteriously, they sometimes do work as USB2 seemingly at random and only around 1 day every 6 weeks ish! I have no idea what's causing this....

[Mark Hennessy]

Firefox is running on this 32 bit machine here. Works well, but it is a bit of a memory hog if you have too many tabs open.

Seriously, anyone using a 4 year old browser is asking for trouble. Just don't.

Firefox does not have to delete cookies on exit - that was your choice, and you can change that back if you wish. It's basically pointless. If you're worried about it, just do your on-line banking in a Private Window, which will flush the cookies generated during that session on exit. But there is a lot of misunderstanding about cookies - people like to spread fear. Once upon a time, the volume of "help, my computer is on fire" threads, and the misunderstandings displayed in them, led to me putting together this thread about computer problems: https://golbornevintageradio.co.uk/forum...p?tid=4662

It's not reasonable to expect me to support obsolete browsers, so using Firefox (as that's on your machine) is a prerequisite of any further assistance I might offer.

[Mike Watterson]

I … use Slimjet as my main browser. It's a slimmed down version of chrome.  No more recent updates than the probably 4 year old ish one I'm using are compatible with my PC. I don't consider it a problem.

Two issues: What does it report to Google?
Security. Most risks are web based and AV is pretty rubbish.
Also if your system is compromised it can be part of a bot net hurting others. You might not see the effect.

There isn't any good reason not to use the Firefox if it works on Win7.

Perhaps you have the wrong USB or motherboard driver.

[Jez]

Please yerselves.... If I was all that bothered I'd join a computer forum. They're very useful but of zero interest to me (like anything digital) beyond that. Old browser stays and I've managed fine with slow hard drives for 2-3 years.

[Mark Hennessy]

Jez, I won't speak for others, but I must say that's a bit of a disappointing response.

All I'm saying is to try using Firefox for this site, just to see if it fixes your problem. Just a quick test, using a browser that is already on your computer. That's all. That really isn't difficult, and would take what, a couple of minutes? A lot less time than I've already spent trying to help.

Forum software differs, so when you join a new forum you have to expect a bit of a learning curve. When you meet a problem, some diagnosis is necessary. It might or not be the browser - until you test it, I have no way of knowing. In the meantime, I'm left wondering if I have a real fault to fix.

Without your help (simply trying Firefox for me), I'd have to dig out an old 32 bit Windows 7 machine, find the space to set it up, then install V38 of SlimJet, then do some tests. Or do it at work on my old dev machine - which means staying at work late one evening or giving up part of my lunch hour.

Can you see where I'm coming from here?

[Jez]

I appreciate that you're trying to help me Mark and thanks for that but it really isn't a big deal to me so please don't waste your time.
I'll try the forum on firefox just in case though yes. I was well aware that I can reset firefox to not delete every little thing after each session but I'm using two browsers so firefox can remain cookie etc free and like new again each time I open it.

Like I said I have had issues recently with wikipedia and the gruaniad , no doubt due to them updating things such as they are no longer compatible with my old browser. On wikipedia for example when you mouse over a highlighted word or phrase it should open up a box giving a precis of it eg if looking at history of RAF and the word Mosquito was there in blue you could mouse over it and a box would pop up with "a twin engined fighter bomber of WW2 blah blah". It suddenly ceased doing this. If you try it now all you get is a tiny box with the word "Mosquito" repeated and that's it. If I use firefox then normal service is resumed. I've just checked the gruaniad and in fact the problems seem to have vanished there. Still the same with wikipedia though.

Anyway that's all by the by so don't waste your time over it

[Mike Watterson]

Ctrl-Shift-P for a cookie free copy of Firefox when it's open, and only block 3rd party cookies on normal firefox.

[Mark Hennessy]

Yes, the web evolves quickly. For my personal website I avoid the newest bells and whistles so that I'm accessible to a wide range of web browsers on different platforms. But with this website, that's down to the team who write the forum software, so it's out of my hands. To be fair, this isn't exactly "bleeding edge" stuff either, but 4 years is an eternity in this space.

Don't forget that one of the drivers for this fast pace of development is responding to security problems as they are discovered. So frustrating as it might seem, it's for good reasons. Fortunately, end users don't need to become web experts, they just need to follow some basic advice about keeping their browsers, email clients and operating systems up to date. I do think it's important for those who choose to run older systems to be making an informed choice about it though.