My sister is taking an online college course this summer and she, of course, needs a computer. We have an old Compaq Presario from '97 that has Windows 95 installed and we figured she could use that.
Alas, I opted to format it and re-install Windows (It’s an old computer, I figured it’s slate needed cleaning). I did this some time ago and was able to download IE 5.5 and that ran well. Unfortunately, I am having difficulties downloading it again.
So, does anyone know of a good browser that will still work on Windows 95? I tried Mozilla to no avail…
I should clarify something - I first downloaded IE 5.5 on that computer about a year ago and I just recently formatted again :smack: :smack: :smack: and now I can’t DL IE5.5 again. It has IE 3.0, but that won’t display many pages correctly.
It’s a Compaq Presario 2505, Pentium 166mHz, Windows 95OSR-2…
By “won’t display correctly” do you mean that IE 3.0 cannot render the code used to create modern websites (like XHTML 1.0 for the Opera website)? I can view that site fine in lynx, but I admit that my version of lynx is more current than IE 3.0. If you can get to the lynx website (which validates against the HTML 3.2 DTD) using IE 3.0, you can then download and unzip the latest lynx executable, which will render the Opera website and the Mozilla website well enough for the restricted purpose of downloading a modern browser for Windows 95.
The issue is not in getting a new browser, I have a Dell Dimension that works nicely, and I can slap a DCC together in 2 minutes to transfer the .exe over to the Compaq, the issue is finding a modern browser that will still work with Windows 95…
As much as I love Opera, your sister still might have problems viewing some sites with it. Opera hates poorly coded sites and other sites simply will not work with Opera (my bank’s for one). That being said, I have two alternate possibilities for you: 1.) Install Linux on the box. There’s a wide variety of browsers available for it, and it should run (depending upon how you configure it) quite well on that machine. The downside being that you’ll have to learn a new OS, and if the course requires MS software, she’ll be SOL. 2.) I have a lega copy of Win98 1st Ed and the 2nd ED upgrade disk that I no longer need, which I’ll be happy to let you have.
Tuckerfan is right, though, that a few sites don’t work well with it. For those I use my old IE 5.5. I realize that this last bit won’t help you, though…
Tuckerfan, I don’t know how well she’d adjust to Linux, lol… And thanks for offering your Win98 disc, but fortunately, Opera works nicely. Hopefully, it will be cooperative with her course.
Revtim, I tried 'em all. Mozillas 1.6 and 1.7 as well as Firefox. When I double clicked the program icon I’d get the splash screen and I could hear the HD spinning, but that was it - no program.
I can’t guarantee results, but you can get what purports to be a full install of IE 5.5 SP2 here.
I have a copy that I know works (I’ve been in the same boat), but I don’t recall where I got it. Like Tuckerfan, I’d be willing to supply it as a last resort.
According to Microsoft, IE 6 requires Win98 or better. I tried it once, and the response was something on the order of “Get a real operating system like XP (when come, bring $$$$$).” So how did you get it to install on Win95?
Follow-on to my earlier post: Just for the heckuvit, I downloaded the IE 5.5 SP2 installer from the site referenced above and expanded it. Aside from some different dates, the resulting files are identical to the files I got earlier (which I know work). So while I’m still not guaranteeing anything—too many people know where to find me—I’m confident that it will install if you choose to go that route.
I am using Netscape 6.1, on Windows 95, on an old Pentium 233hz machine.Works fine for me.
Download from: www.netscape.com, click on “tools”, then “browser central” then “product archive”. Until recently I had netscape 4.5 running on Win 95, downloaded from the same site
If I recall correctly, Mozilla, and mozilla-based browsers like Netscape and whatever Firebird’s being called this week stopped working in Win95 right about the time Netscape 7.0 came out. I remember having a very early copy of NS 7 running under Win95, but attempts to update it all failed. I would imagine that one could figure out which version of Mozilla broke the compatibility with Win95, and download the previous version.
It might make more sense to invest a few hundred bucks and get her a proper computer. A doorstop running Win 95 is not really going to cut the mustard for the networking and browsing needs of a college student in 2004. In addition most universities and colleges are standardized on some variant of MS Office 2000/2003, and it’s not really going to be able to run those efficiently with an old boat anchor and a Win 95 based system. You can get decent new desktop systems for as little as 350-500 and nice new notebooks for 600-750.
OttoDaFe, thanks for the link, if Opera won’t play well with others I’ll try that route.
Musicat, yeah, I DL’d the installer and got the “You need to pay Microsoft again” message.
astro, it’s just for one online course. She’s not going to college full-time.
And don’t dis my doorstop, man, lol! When I networked the two to transfer the .exe’s over (the mozillas I tried and Opera) I had to get some .dll’s from it 'cause my doorstop running WinME didn’t have 'em!
Call me Frank, my mistake. I just checked the old Win95 machine I keep in the corner for emergencies, and it is running IE 5.5, not 6. I tried to install 6 and got the “minimum needed is…Win98 SP2…” error message, probably the same one you got.
Call me Frank: You’re welcome. IMHO, it’s always a good idea to have a fallback position. I know other people swear by Opera, but it wouldn’t “play nice” with some sites that I consider critical. So I dumped it (after I had paid for it. sigh).
You didn’t lead me astray. That was attempt #1 (I figured it wouldn’t work, but…I don’t mind being wrong). Making the thread was after attempt #4, IIRC.
OttoDaFe, lol! That’s why I make it a policy not to pay for things on the internet… of course, there’s always one exception that proves the rule…
Actually, I don’t think the ad bar is too annoying…by now I automatically filter out advertisements and that’s a pretty little one, at that…
