All the recommendations and warnings point in the same direction: It is very risky to connect to the Web any computer with an unsupported operating system… especially Windows XP. However, many retro computer users want to complete the nostalgic experience and browse for a while, but the lack of updated browsers complicates things. Luckily, there is MyPal, a fork of Firefox based on its build 68 that still receives updates, and gets along well with most of the important extensions.
History says…
… that Windows XP lost official support on April 8, 2014… and in what we can already call "habit", Microsoft continued offering updates until April 2019. Those "hotfixes" were intended for alternative versions of Windows XP (the most relevant being Windows Embedded POSReady 2009), but the community managed to transplant patches with various hacks and mods.
Even so, the lack of official support in Windows XP finally materialized with the retirement of the main web browsers. Just the simple idea of using Internet Explorer on XP gives us the chills, but neither is it possible to download Chrome or Firefox from their pages. Once again, the best alternative comes from the community with MyPal, which has received several updates in recent weeks.
MyPal: How to browse on Windows XP without (too many) headaches
The first time I mentioned MyPal was in March 2021 (followed by another article mid last year), but everything has changed since then. This browser began its adventure using Pale Moon as a base, however, a brief warlike exchange involving its developers forced MyPal's hand, and now it is based on Firefox 68.
From a certain point of view, that is good news since its compatibility with extensions is a bit more robust. Of course, nothing can fix errors that arise on services like Netflix or Spotify, and certain pages require manipulation of the user agent, but if the plan is to watch YouTube and read the news, MyPal's default configuration is more than enough.
Anyone who decides to test MyPal on their retro computer will need to download a copy from GitHub (in doubt, we have a download tutorial here), and dump the contents into a temporary folder, because it has no installer. The rest is a matter of customizing the configuration, looking for add-ons on Mozilla's page, and being patient. At the end of the day, it is a fork of a browser compiled by third parties, running on an unsupported operating system, and whims are inevitable. Good luck!
Official site and download: Click here
How to download programs from GitHub: Click here
