Haven't tried Maxthon for XP but I stick with MyPal.

The hysteria over things being made in foreign countries being vulnerable is overblown since there is nothing preventing something from being compromised no matter where it's at and everything is vulnerable. What prevents me from using these Chinese browsers is it's not open source and they aren't associated with well known companies and/or their response to vulnerabilities isn't that great.

https://msfn.org/board/topic/178380-extreme-e … comment-1166947

Thank you for supplying the link for the Extreme Explorer 360 (Chromium 69) for XP discussion. I've added it to my list to read. Recently, I've been falling horrifically behind on retro tasks I noted I would do. I also haven't had time to upgrade my main rig, which is AM2 - 3.2 GHz (X2-6400+) with 8 GB of RAM, to Windows 10. So I was hoping to find the most secure and updated browser for my system. I mean, if you had to, would you use one of these Chinese browsers for banking, Paypal, eBay or Firefox ESR 52.9, Advanced Chrome 54.2, or Mypal 28.5.2? Even my wife's Win7 laptop will be out EOL soon.

IMO, Better off with a Linux VM dedicated for banking with at least an adblocker than any of the browsers listed.

That's not a bad idea. Any free Linux VM that you can recommend?

gentoo

I think MX Linux is probably the best at this point.

Do Gentoo or MX Linux come with the virtual machine? If not, which VM could you recommend which doesn't cost?

No, they both can be used in VM clients or on bare metal. You can host them both with VirtualBox, although newer versions are not necessarily XP compatible. You'll also have the best experience with processors using either Intel or AMD virtualization instructions (VT-x and AMD-V). This includes everything for the AM2 socket or newer (for AMD) or select processors from the Core 2 generation or later (for Intel).

Alright, I was able to download v6.0 of VirtualBox, tried to isntall, but it says it no longer supports 32-bit installations. I'll try various 5.x versions until I find one that works. I'm currently using an AM2 upgrade card (X2 6400+) on my AsRock 939Dual-SATA2.

I tried 5.2.32, but received this error upon installation
VirtualBox Installer

1Installation failed! Error: The WIndows Installer Service could not be accessed.  This can occur if you are running Windows in safe mode, or if the WIndows Installer is not correctly installed.

And the Installer box looks like this, there's an empty button - should I be pressing it?:

I tried 4.0 and 4.3 but receive the same error and a blank installer box. Perhaps the issue is my installer? But I have WindowsXP_WindowsInstaller-v4.5-KB942288-x86.exe installed. Anyway to get VirtualBox installed without the installer? Or perhaps there some other free virtual machine I can try?

That empty button would likely read "cancel"

Ok. Unfortunately not pushing it still doesn’t let the program install. Maybe there is a portable version of this program?

you can also try vmware

but yeah, windows xp for internet banking in 2019 doesn't sound like a good idea, I would highly recommend to dual boot something else,

VirtualBox 5.x needs some fiddling to get working on Windows XP. I didn't get the 'blank box' error, but I'm betting it's the same one.

You need SP3 with the most recent Windows updates installed (not necessarily POSReady, but those won't hurt) and some fiddling around with Setreg from the dotNET SDK. See the thread I linked for details.

Vbox 4.3.12 might run without all the extra steps, but I haven't tried. What they changed after that was a security hardening, so if you're running it because you're concerned about security, use a newer version.

Also I'd highly recommend enabling VT-x or AMD/v in your BIOS if you have the option, especially if you're going to try browsing from the VM.

I can't get the software to even install. I suspect something is wrong with my MsiInstaller. Every one hour I get an MsiInstaller Application Warning in the Event Viewer.

1Event ID: 1015
2Type: Warning
3User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
4
5Description:
6Failed to connect to server. Error: 0x80080005

Perhaps it is related to this Event Viewer Applcation error I get on boot from source userenv:

1Event: 1502
2Type: Error
3User: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE
4
5Description:
6Windows cannot load the locally stored profile. Possible causes of this error include insufficient security rights or a corrupt local profile. If this problem persists, contact your network administrator. 
7
8DETAIL - Access is denied. 

Followed by Event 1515: Windows has backed up this user's profile. Windows will automatically try to use the backed up profile the next time this user logs on.

Then followed by Event 1511: Windows cannot find the local profile and is logging you on with a temporary profile. Changes you make to this profile will be lost when you log off.

Then the same trio of errors repeats for the LOCAL SERVICE.

Maybe they are related to the MsiInstaller, maybe they are not. Perhaps some POS update messed up something, or perhaps a system restore brought on the errors after a bad POS update. Both my laptop and desktop have identical error logs.

Sorry, I skimmed your post & misread that. I had no trouble installing it even on a completely fresh XP SP3 machine. Something's going wrong there, but no idea what.

Do you have all the POS 2009 updates installed to-date?

Nope, just the last "regular" updates using Windows Update.