Semi-OT: Email Program

Win XP has had over 10 years to plug the security issues and still has problems. Just think how many that a newer system may have.

I gave up on worring about security issues years ago. I run a virus checker and sometimes other programs to check on the computer. I have an external hard drive and make up a backup of the computer every couple of months. Also the pictures and documents are backed up on CDs or DVDs. I usually have

2 or 3 computers around incase one of them craps out. Just get one off ebay for around $ 100 to $ 150 and keep both of them with about the same things on them.

I've run T-Bird since it came out. No issues except I don't like the tabbed mail so actually dug up an OLD version (2.0) to use. This version can run on pretty much any windows machine from an old 98 box to windows

1. No issues at all and setting it up is easy really.

Not in the last few years. I did have one Linux version that couldn't find its own mail. I pointed KMail at the directories. It read the stored messages with no problem so I stayed with KMail and KNode for news.

The more recent releases have been trouble free.

None. We have several XP build machines that can't be upgraded for various reasons. The company has decided to restrict their access to the internet just to be sure.

This isn't an anti-Microsoft rant but IE8 was a dog. The Javascript engine was very slow and with more sites depending heavily on client side Javascript it's a real loser.

When I'm using dialup and speed really shows, IE8 loads uncached sites faster than Firefox 42. Also Firefox won't display enhanced NWS weather radar and doesn't suggest which plug-in is missing. I fiddled with Adobe and some Mozilla-suggested Flash alternatives a bit, then went back to IE8.

-jsw

Firefox 42 is a beta developer's version that won't be released to the general public until next month. 41.0.2 shows the NWS site fine on my 7 laptop. You can always tell the pioneers by the arrows in their backs.

How a site loads and performs can vary. We have one J2EE/Struts2 product that depends on client side Javascript. Operations that can take 30 seconds or longer on IE8 perform fine on IE9.

We dropped support for IE8 and advised our clients to use Chrome if their machines couldn't run IE9.

With the trend towards HTML5 and heavy client side Javascript, along with the deprecation of Flash, Java applets, ActiveX, and other security nightmares enjoy IE8 while you can.

Depends on how you use it. We have an XP computer at work for the past five years with no AV on it. Never had a problem. It sends an email a couple of times a day, no other internet access is needed or used.

Oops, I typed that from memory. It's 41.0.2 on XP.

Don't be afraid of Windows 7. It's actually very good and stable. I regret updating to Windows 10 recently though.

I switched from a client side email program to Gmail several years ago. Webmail is far more convenient and reliable than backing up the email fails myself. I can also check it anywhere, and since most of us use smartphones now it just makes way more sense.

I don't know why it doesn't do NWS. I don't even get the banner saying "Are you really, really sure you want to let Flash out of its cage?"

I've had no problems with 7. Microsoft is really starting to annoy me though. I uninstalled all the Windows 10 related patches, his them, and so forth and the damn Windows 10 ad is back. I uninstalled KB whatever again.

Supposedly they're going to get even more persistent in the future.

Already starting, the new updates for all windows flavors include the "Switch to Win 10" taskbar tag.

Yeah. At least it's pushed me off dead center to start learning Freecad. Once I hit some level of proficiency, I'm dumping windows entirely. The only app I have left that isn't native to Linux anyway is a Corel graphics package.

To the original poster, I run tbird on W7. Works great.

Pete Keillor

| When I'm using dialup and speed really shows, IE8 loads uncached sites | faster than Firefox 42. Also Firefox won't display enhanced NWS | weather radar and doesn't suggest which plug-in is missing. I fiddled | with Adobe and some Mozilla-suggested Flash alternatives a bit, then | went back to IE8. | -jsw |

The landing page I get doesn't need anything, but if I click on the map it goes to a page set to loop. On that page is Flash. There's a blurb saying that Java is required for looping, but that's commented out, so I'm guessing it was replaced with Flash. I don't have Flash installed so I can't test that. I just get a gray panel saying, "a plugin is required...". It sounds like there may be a problem with your Flash install.

If it's working for you in IE8 that means you must have script and ActiveX enabled. That's *very* risky. I haven't allowed any version of IE online for many years and wouldn't. It's not only a security mess. It's also been the major target for many years, so there are a lot of known exploits, involving script- based attacks in IE.

doesn't ask for any plugins.

does if you click on the map. I get the 'Do you want to allow Flash to run. blurb. Given that it's a government site they'll probably be using Flash after everyone else has moved on.

And avoid using XP Internet Explorer under (almost) all circumstances.

--sp

I agree. IE8 comes up short so often that I abandoned it on my one XP machine. I run Firefox on that one, and it runs fine.

That machine is a Dell netbook with 32 GB of SSD and no hard drive. I use it travelling and I store no files on it. When I come home from using it, I wipe the SSD clean and reload the entire OS and the few applications I use on it. I spent many hours a few years ago stripping down XP to the essentials, and I can reload everything from an external hard drive in five minutes (an image file), or from a CD in about 10 minutes.

A CD??

I had to strip out MS Office, OpenOffice and the .pdf reader to fit a bootable Acronis restore image of XP onto a single-sided DVD.

-jsw

| A CD?? | | I had to strip out MS Office, OpenOffice and the .pdf reader to fit a | bootable Acronis restore image of XP onto a single-sided DVD. |

I also have CD disk images. (BootIt. I've never used Acronis.) I only have 5 GB for my C drive altogether, in normal use. I keep data on data partitions. XP alone is about 1 GB, so a typical disk imaging program can create an image file of about 500 MB. That means one can add about 500 MB of software and still get it onto a CD.

A lot of software is getting very bloated these days, and Microsoft led the way with MS Office. But if one avoids bloat there's plenty of room in 500 MB.

With Win7, though, I'd agree. That's a mess and would take some work to squeeze onto a single DVD.