Still holding on to Windows 2000, XP RTM or XP SP1? No more Firefox for you, my friend - Mozilla has just upped its minimum supported Windows version to Windows XP SP2. In addition, support for Firefox 3.6 will end April 24. Asa Dotzler presents Opera as an alternative for you crazy people still on Windows 2000, XP RTM or XP SP1.
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Member since:2010-12-22
Member since:2006-07-26
Member since:2007-09-22
Putting any Windows on the public Internet is risk, I would never do it.
The problem isn't so much with the browser, it is with the plugins.
For example you don't get any updates for Flash, Acrobat Reader and possibly Java.
If the browser would disable/blacklist all old versions of plugins by default that would be a start. But they don't.
Edit: I should add, I also have some Windows 2000 machines still running. So I understand the "pain".
My solution is: Linux or VM with readonly imagefile (everytime you boot, it will use the files every time).
And if I'm gonna run a VM on an other machine/server, might as well replace the old computer with a Raspberry Pi.
When I get one, it is what I'll try to do.
Edited 2012-03-24 08:42 UTC
Member since:2007-04-23
Because this "legacy os" is abandoned by its creator, and will never receive any security updates ever again... It's also closed source and proprietary so noone else can provide fixes for it instead.
As such, using it on the Internet is wholly irresponsible.
You may feel that by turning off unused services means you are safe, but then this is something you should have done in the first place and should also be doing with any modern os. Turning off services only reduces the risk.
Why would a workstation have any inbound ports at all? Surely the most common use case of a workstation is that you only make outbound connections.
Also, making outbound connections also carries risk, you may be running an up to date browser, but that browser also has to interact with the rest of the OS, and this too can introduce risks. There have been several security vulnerabilities in windows which can be attacked through third party browsers, and if any more are found in these old versions they will never be fixed.
Also, just because firefox doesn't officially support these old systems, doesn't mean you can't compile your own binaries for it. The source is available, so if there is any demand then someone will make it available. Debian and NetBSD make firefox available for all manner of niche hardware platforms, just this week i installed firefox on an ia64 box.
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Member since:
2006-07-26
Putting Win2K/XP on the open internet would be foolish, but appropriately firewalled the lack of OS security updates is essentially a moot point. Furthermore, you can really trim down 2000 & XP, down to ~6 processes and no inbound open ports in the case of the former, which reduces the attack profile to virtually nothing. Except for the now out-of-date web browser, of course.