You can try using KernelEx to run a more recent browser under Windows 98. When IE6 started to get a bit long in the tooth there was a campaign to get old browsers off the internet so it would be more secure so you'll probably run into a lot of pages that either won't render correctly or may even be inaccessible to older browsers these days. You may even be able to use a more modern anti-virus or security suite with KernelEx but it may require some trial and error until you find one that works.

While I appreciate your input, something tells me to stick with PCLinux, which is what I am using now. On the Athlon XP2400 system I built, it is really running pretty good... 😜

ncmark wrote:

While I appreciate your input, something tells me to stick with PCLinux, which is what I am using now. On the Athlon XP2400 system I built, it is really running pretty good... 😜

You said you were using Windows 98 several times in your original post, not Linux.

KernelEx is nice, i got some game working on Win98SE box that claims must be installed on WinXP.

KernelEx is great...... until you get to those damned VisualStudio 9/10 made crap that try harder to enforce a XP requirement. Even some FOSS games seem compiled with Visual Studio 2010 with this anal OS-specific runtime dependency.

As for security certificates, there's been some lots of revokation of them lately due to breaches and fake certs being made, so it's a play on browser regression. You might try a newer Opera through KernelEx to get around it since it may have proper certs.

Security through obsolence might still have its place today. The NT kernel gets all the cool malware these days 😜

other way is to export Certificates from more recent browser into files,
and import those file to older browsers.

the latest subversion of opera 11 works nicely with kernelex. It is 3 months old and i guess should cover all your needs 😀
http://www.oldapps.com/opera.php

Tell me this whole thing isn't a racket. The way they keep changing things, dropping support, they want you to not only buy a new computer every 3-4 years but also buy all new new software....

Well, Windows XP still works fine and has been around for 11? years. I am not aware of any windows software that would not work with XP. No one is forcing you to buy a new computer, or even software, but I think it goes on without saying that if you use old computers and old operating systems you might need to use old software too...

Oh well then - why did Microsoft change the file format for Word????? For one and only one reason - so more people would have to buy the new version. So how long before it no longer runs on XP? Then you have to have to buy a new OS AND a new version of office just to open that document.

It USED to be the case everything was backwards compatible - that is no longer the case.

Check out your time setting, had the same issue and it went away after setting the correct time.

Offtopic: As a student, I can say that new Office formula editor is a HUGE step forward. The old one did it's job, but it had much more flaws. Now it's possible for me to finish a lot of jobs 2-3 times faster then it took with old editor. I'm not a big fan of new Office, nor am I a big fan of Microsoft, but this change was unevitable, and it was, for no doubt, a change fot the best.

And keep in mind, that Microsoft is doing business with software, of course they want you to buy their new stuff, so they could get more money. If you don´t want to pay for software, then there is ofcourse Linux, BSD and stuff like that. BUT even when using open source software, you still might end up with incompatible filetypes when programmers update the software, so it is not like that only happens on commercial world. The point I am trying to make still is, if you want new software, you got to get new operating systems every now and then, and it is of no use to bash a commercial company for the fact that they try to make money.

well, its planned obsolescene.
to force/acclerate stuff being obsolete.

the scheme was first was implemented by U.S car makers, to force car-drivers to replace a part (or whole) of cars,
done by introducing less reliable/durable component into the cars.
thats however were crushed by imported japanese cars which more durable and have longer life-cyles / supports.

so how they makes software in computers scene, being obsole-rated?
- deliberately introducing bugs/glitches which only got fixed in newer releases, except when the glitches were too severe thats provoke heavy-complains at that case hotfix patches were adminstered.
- deliberately removing/reducing backward compatibility support in new version of apps whenever feasible & profitable. MS've learn this from Apples.

While obsolescene is inevitable, i'm not really like it when it 'accelerated'.

Planned obolescence was first implemented by lightbulb manufacturers in the 1920s (see the Phoebis cartel).
But to be honest in the case of MS Office wasn't the doc format extended with each new version anyway? At least starting with the first 32bit office I remember that you had to watch out to save in Word 6.0 format and not newer doc formats to keep the docs compatible...

I have read articles stating that Microsoft's plan was for people to have renew XP ever year, otherwise it would be deactivated, in other words pay for use....

Seems like now the plan is to make everything dependent on the internet.... product activation. help files that can only be accessed online, cloud computing, then (my crystal ball says) they can jack up internet access to $200/month. Think I'm kidding?????

Here is a tin foil hat for you.

ncmark wrote:

Oh well then - why did Microsoft change the file format for Word????? For one and only one reason - so more people would have to buy the new version. So how long before it no longer runs on XP? Then you have to have to buy a new OS AND a new version of office just to open that document.

It USED to be the case everything was backwards compatible - that is no longer the case.

they changed it so that it would be an open format, so that competing products such as OpenOffice or Libre Office would open those files just fine
there is no stopping you from opening those newer .docx files with Word 2003, you can simply download the conversion pack FREE from Microsoft

Microsoft has done a great job trying to keep backwards compatibility and security fixes to their older OS's... there's just some things that can't be fixed cheaply/easily and would require reengineering major portions of the OS to fix the issue, and then it would break much functionality... that's why some things won't be patched... that's why they can only do this for so long... The reason why XP support has been very good till recently was because Microsoft wanted to keep their corporate customers happy... Microsoft doesn't care about XP fanboys or you... their major sales comes from corporate customers and big OEMs... that is why a lot of Vista support has died off from Microsoft, not XP

If you want to bitch about lack of backwards compatibility/support, look at MacOSX... greatest example is recently trying to get a not so old Lexmark C500 printer working in Lion... guess what? No drivers for it... how about the drivers meant for Snow Leopard? FAIL... Apple is basically telling you to go fuck off and buy a new printer... it's one thing when an ancient HP Deskjet printer won't work in Lion, but it's another when a business grade Lexmark printer that was only made during the past mid decade won't even work at all in Lion. No compatibility mode with the older driver models either. Apple just let people with old, good working hardware (printers and monitors have crazy long life cycles!), hanging high and dry! Even Windows 7 has drivers for my 20 year old HP Laserjet 5!

Stop being a Microsoft hater if you have no understanding of what you can and can't do with older software/hardware

RacoonRider wrote:

Check out your time setting, had the same issue and it went away after setting the correct time.

Offtopic: As a student, I can say that new Office formula editor is a HUGE step forward. The old one did it's job, but it had much more flaws. Now it's possible for me to finish a lot of jobs 2-3 times faster then it took with old editor. I'm not a big fan of new Office, nor am I a big fan of Microsoft, but this change was unevitable, and it was, for no doubt, a change fot the best.

Have you tried the Microsoft Mathematics addon for Word? It's free and it's awesome!

I personally think Office 2003 was the best Office Microsoft ever made, but you have to move on in order to support new features and improvements. I hated Office 2007 when it came out, just like Windows Vista, but with Office 2010, they polished it up really nicely just like what they did with Windows 7... I love Office 2010... it took getting used to the Ribbon UI, but once I got used to it, I found myself doing all sorts of cool things in my documents very quickly, compared to what I was doing with the conventional/old style UI in Office 2003... best of all, Office 2010 (and 2007, 2003 technically has them but they are very much corporate only so it's practically non-existent, much like XP is) supports language packs, so that you can change the user interface to practically any language, and there's also dictionary packs that way you can spell check many languages, Asian ones included!

Office 2010 Starter is also free too, there are links to the secret download URLs from Microsoft you can find... it's great when you don't need to use all the other extras in Word or Excel, plus there's an official portable version that you can install onto your USB drive 😁 I discovered that dictionary packs can also be installed to it too, despite the fact that it doesn't officially support it!

If you want to bitch about lack of backwards compatibility/support, look at MacOSX... greatest example is recently trying to get a not so old Lexmark C500 printer working in Lion... guess what? No drivers for it... how about the drivers meant for Snow Leopard? FAIL... Apple is basically telling you to go fuck off and buy a new printer... it's one thing when an ancient HP Deskjet printer won't work in Lion, but it's another when a business grade Lexmark printer that was only made during the past mid decade won't even work at all in Lion. No compatibility mode with the older driver models either. Apple just let people with old, good working hardware (printers and monitors have crazy long life cycles!), hanging high and dry! Even Windows 7 has drivers for my 20 year old HP Laserjet 5!

What a bunch of bullshit. Complain to Lexmark for lack of driver support. Yes Apple changed stuff, mostly getting rid of apis they declared deprecated years ago, but ultimately it's the fault of Lexmark. Lexmark is telling you to f... off and get a new printer.