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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: jr2 on November 15, 2016, 09:29:23 am

Title: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: jr2 on November 15, 2016, 09:29:23 am

http://www.browzar.com/download/

223 / 203 KB

Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7 / XP / Server 2003 / 2000 / NT4 / Windows 98 SE / Windows ME

Windows '95?  :rolleyes: Check this topic out

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=38111

Windows 3.1?  Go find a browser for DOS, probably a better bet.  :P

Title: Re: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: Phantom Hoover on November 15, 2016, 09:37:30 am

this is literally just a reskin of internet explorer that doesn't save search/browsing history

Title: Re: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: The E on November 15, 2016, 09:42:51 am

...

You do know that that ... thing ... is just a wrapper around the Internet Explorer engine, right? It's not a browser in its own right, and it will not help people who for some reason are using pre-XP versions of Windows to use modern web pages.

So, let's look at the claims again: Tiny? Well, yeah, considering that most of the infrastructure is provided by IE. Portable? Again, yeah, but it does require IE to be installed. Works great? Yeah, about as well as IE does.

Hell, the only reason to use this is if you want to browse anonymously and without cookies but somehow haven't figured out that the Incognito modes available in Chrome allow you to do just that. Just look at the "user stories" section, all full of people who somehow got embarassed by having the porn in their search history exposed.

(In their FAQ, the developers state that they're working on a Linux version. I wonder how they're planning to do that)

Title: Re: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: Phantom Hoover on November 15, 2016, 09:49:55 am

They'll just use WebKit or something as the backend (which is not very secure (https://blogs.gnome.org/mcatanzaro/2016/02/01/on-webkit-security-updates/), but if you're willing to use IE as the backend then I guess you're already content with building a botnet client).

Title: Re: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: jr2 on November 15, 2016, 11:27:12 am

Wait, wait, wait, it hooks into your IE engine?  That's not a browser at all.. I thought they managed to put an actual browser into a 200 KB package.  :ick:



So what do you guys use for Win '98, 2K, ME, etc?

Wait don't answer, I've got it now:

"I don't let that **** touch the Interwebs!"

Title: Re: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: Phantom Hoover on November 15, 2016, 11:48:32 am

Yeah, obviously. If you're still using Windows XP or earlier for home browsing and for some reason can't upgrade, stop immediately and use a lightweight Linux instead. That's completely serious, practical advice; running old, unsupported versions of Windows is a horrible security risk.

Title: Re: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: Polpolion on November 15, 2016, 05:34:42 pm

Quote from: jr2 on November 15, 2016, 11:27:12 am

So what do you guys use for Win '98, 2K, ME, etc?

telnet

Title: Re: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: jr2 on November 16, 2016, 09:02:54 am

I don't mean for regular browsing.  I mean fir 'oh, I need to get this driver file really quick' type things.  Obviously someone who jut needs a $100 Facebook browser should just get a used Chromeboook or something.

Title: Re: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: The E on November 16, 2016, 09:03:53 am

A USB drive, or if that doesn't work, a burned CD.

Title: Re: PSA: Old OS, want to browse Internet? Use Browzar. Tiny, portable, works great
Post by: jr2 on November 16, 2016, 09:13:02 am

That's what I usually do.  If I had an up-to-date browser that worked on '98, though, I might spring for it.  Probably shouldn't, but it's novel, and as long as the system (or VM) is expendable, I like to do cool /  retro / erm.. stupid things.  ;)