Problem with Vista using any web browser

[buddy boy]

Hi ,

I have 2 old Acer laptops that have been languishing in my loft for about 10 years . I had a brainwave that I could dust them off and give 1 each to my grandchildren to use for home schooling during the pandemic. I knew it wasn't going to be any easy task and I really have hit a brick wall so any advice would be more than welcome . They have Vista Home premium 32 bit , and after a lot of spadework I have managed to install sp 1 & sp 2 . However I still cannot access any websites , without it failing security certificates .Namely Google although reading the certificate it is up to date and valid. I have tried the IE 7 that is installed also Chrome , and Opera and they all fail with similar issues. TIA

 

[Vistaar]

Welcome to Vista Forums buddy boy. Yes, the lack of browser support is a major problem with trying to use Vista in 2021. The most promising legacy browser is Firefox 52.9.0 x86. I just posted instructions for someone about a month ago at I need help.

 

[buddy boy]

Welcome to Vista Forums buddy boy. Yes, the lack of browser support is a major problem with trying to use Vista in 2021. The most promising legacy browser is Firefox 52.9.0 x86. I just posted instructions for someone about a month ago at I need help.

Vistaar : Thank you so much for that advice . Loaded Firefox this morning as you advised and so far everything looks good certainly has removed the certificate errors I was getting .Just working out how to use specific start up page and then think they will be good to hand over to the Grandchildren for use during this UK lockdown . Thank you again for you prompt response to my query .

 

[lmacri]

... I have 2 old Acer laptops that have been languishing in my loft for about 10 years ....They have Vista Home premium 32 bit , and after a lot of spadework I have managed to install sp 1 & sp 2 . However I still cannot access any websites , without it failing security certificates ...

Hi buddy boy:

Further to Vistaar's suggestion, note that the legacy Firefox ESR v52.9.0 browser will support TLS 1.1 and 1.2 connections to secure https sites by default, but to make this browser more secure your can add support for the latest TLS 1.3 connection protocol in the advanced settings (i.e., by changing security.tls.version.max to a value of 4 in the advanced settings). See the instructions in Martin Brinkmann's June 2017 ghacks.net article How to Enable TLS 1.3 Support in Firefox and Chrome.

Just an additional warning that Microsoft deactivated Windows Update for Win XP and Vista computers on 03-Aug-2020 (see What To Do if Windows Update Hangs or Throws an Error [UPDATED August 2020] for more information). Vista Service Pack 2 was released on 25-May-2009, so if these computers haven't been updated for 10 years then they're likely missing over 200 security updates released between May 2009 and Vista SP2's end of extended support on 11-Apr-2017.

If your grandkids need an antivirus for these computers there's a recent thread Security Software for Windows Vista? in the Norton Tech Outpost that discusses a few security programs with real-time protection that are still compatible with Win XP and Vista, including the legacy Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1, the legacy Avast/AVG Antivirus v18.8, the legacy Kaspersky v18.0/v19.0 (v18.0 for older CPUs that do not support SSE2; v19.0 for Pentium III or newer CPUs that support SSE2), and the current line of Panda Dome products.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

 

[Vistaar]

If my objective had been to address a wide range of issues that the OP never inquired about, then I would’ve simply suggested installing Windows 7 on the laptops. That would solve (A) lack of browser support (including full support for TLS 1.3 - not just an experimental draft from the year 2017 like Firefox 52 or Yandex 17), (B) Windows Update not working anymore (although there would still be no security updates less than a year old because Microsoft no longer supports Win7 either), and (C) lack of antivirus support (every AV in the world still supports Win7, whereas Vista users can only hope that definition updates will continue for certain legacy versions). Of course there are probably no Windows 10 drivers for such old hardware, but buying new laptops would be an even better idea.

 

[buddy boy]

Hi buddy boy:

Further to Vistaar's suggestion, note that the legacy Firefox ESR v52.9.0 browser will support TLS 1.1 and 1.2 connections to secure https sites by default, but to make this browser more secure your can add support for the latest TLS 1.3 connection protocol in the advanced settings (i.e., by changing security.tls.version.max to a value of 4 in the advanced settings). See the instructions in Martin Brinkmann's June 2017 ghacks.net article How to Enable TLS 1.3 Support in Firefox and Chrome.

Just an additional warning that Microsoft deactivated Windows Update for Win XP and Vista computers on 03-Aug-2020 (see What To Do if Windows Update Hangs or Throws an Error [UPDATED August 2020] for more information). Vista Service Pack 2 was released on 25-May-2009, so if these computers haven't been updated for 10 years then they're likely missing over 200 security updates released between May 2009 and Vista SP2's end of extended support on 11-Apr-2017.

If your grandkids need an antivirus for these computers there's a recent thread Security Software for Windows Vista? in the Norton Tech Outpost that discusses a few security programs with real-time protection that are still compatible with Win XP and Vista, including the legacy Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1, the legacy Avast/AVG Antivirus v18.8, the legacy Kaspersky v18.0/v19.0 (v18.0 for older CPUs that do not support SSE2; v19.0 for Pentium III or newer CPUs that support SSE2), and the current line of Panda Dome products.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Imcari , Thank you I will check out all that information

 

[townsbg]

Considering the security issues I would not give your grandkids admin access. Create a standard "user" account for them and password protect the admin account. Otherwise they might install all kinds of crap.

 

[lmacri]

Imcari , Thank you I will check out all that information

Hi buddy boy:

Your welcome. If these computers are going to be used for remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic just keep in mind that their school might have very specific software and hardware requirements for a student's home computer. For example, many schools use software like Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams for their digital classrooms (see the EdTech article Microsoft Teams VS Google Classrooms: Tools for Blended Learning) and the system requirements <here> for Microsoft Teams recommends at least 4 GB of RAM and Windows 8.1 or higher.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS