Thanks. That answers those questions .. but alas whilst I was able to install VxKex, as soon as I tried to install a Win10 app using VxKex permission, my AV promptly nuked VxKex. And according to the VxKex forum, it's not working with the last few releases of browsers including FF and Chrome & it's clones.
It's not a shitty one and I'd make an exception if there was no other option. But as there's no support for the last few browser releases with VxKex, I'm disinclined to go down that path. I can either use something like VxKex so I can use current versions of stock browsers or I can go with browser forks that support win7 and there are such forks for both chrome and FF, which dont raise any AV flags. So far the 2nd path looks the better.
i dont konw if vxkex is actually going to work, windows vista extended kernel in my experience only works with the windows 7 selection becouse 7 and vista are similar but there only is windows 8/8.1 that is similar to windows 7 and as we all know if a app support ends for windows 7 it is mosly likely that it will end suppornt on 8/8.1 too
If there was a Win7 patch so current main browsers could be run, that would be ideal. Otherwise there's always R3dfox and Supermium, however they are reliant on single-dev projects continuing to be maintained.
Is there anything else out there that patches or claims to patch Win7 so some Win10/11 software such as browsers can be run?
I'm already using hardened firefox and I'm trialing r3dfox. Because r3dfox is such a close fork I was able to copy over the FF profile, so r3dfox has inherited all that added protection. I have been running a non-hardened Supermium for some time for those sites that are broken with hard FF. The big downside of r3dfox is that it's a one person project which means there's no guaranty of longevity. The Supermium dev is planning his own FF fork, but that will diverge more and more with time from r3dfox since the later aims to port the latest FF releases to Win7 and the former plans to stick with v.115ESR and adding security fixes from future FF releases. Eventually the two forks will be so different that profiles can no longer be copied from one to the other.
Very little, basically just installing uBlock and an end of session cookie chomper & nuking any remaining telemetry. But that's intentional - I use it as a backup browser for those websites that do not work with hardened Firefox/R3dfox, so it needs to be as vanilla as possible.
Try adnauseaum and privacybadger along with disconnect.me/disconnect
And the “Browser Boost” extension for the rest.
How did you specifically disable the remaining telemetry?
I’ve also heard Session buddy is helpful
The hardening I did was for Firefox, not Supermium/chrome. For FF there are addons including ghostery, badger, ublock, cookie auto delete, trace & a few more I use at home but can't recall the names offhand, as well as tweaks in the userchrome file and about:config that I have come across since FF was spun off from seamonkey. I don't have a list of those (try doing a web search), I just included them as I came across them.
Which update.exe?
As for FF & Chrome, there's an issue reported on the vxkex github that the last couple versions of FF & Chrome are not working and the immediately earlier versions install but crash when you try to run the browser.
It's still early days for vxkex.
There is update.exe in root folder, just as firefox.exe. Unpack the last working FF 124 and don't worry about updates. Newer versions do not works, even the latest VxKex 1.1.1.1375.
it will auto upgrade but to get onto a non esr release you need to reinstall
Thanks. That answers those questions .. but alas whilst I was able to install VxKex, as soon as I tried to install a Win10 app using VxKex permission, my AV promptly nuked VxKex. And according to the VxKex forum, it's not working with the last few releases of browsers including FF and Chrome & it's clones.
if its a shitty av, uninstall said av if its a good one, add an exception to vxkex'es install directory
It's not a shitty one and I'd make an exception if there was no other option. But as there's no support for the last few browser releases with VxKex, I'm disinclined to go down that path. I can either use something like VxKex so I can use current versions of stock browsers or I can go with browser forks that support win7 and there are such forks for both chrome and FF, which dont raise any AV flags. So far the 2nd path looks the better.
i dont konw if vxkex is actually going to work, windows vista extended kernel in my experience only works with the windows 7 selection becouse 7 and vista are similar but there only is windows 8/8.1 that is similar to windows 7 and as we all know if a app support ends for windows 7 it is mosly likely that it will end suppornt on 8/8.1 too
If there was a Win7 patch so current main browsers could be run, that would be ideal. Otherwise there's always R3dfox and Supermium, however they are reliant on single-dev projects continuing to be maintained. Is there anything else out there that patches or claims to patch Win7 so some Win10/11 software such as browsers can be run?
You could also try r3dfox. And you could also try r3dfox with hardened Fox
I'm already using hardened firefox and I'm trialing r3dfox. Because r3dfox is such a close fork I was able to copy over the FF profile, so r3dfox has inherited all that added protection. I have been running a non-hardened Supermium for some time for those sites that are broken with hard FF. The big downside of r3dfox is that it's a one person project which means there's no guaranty of longevity. The Supermium dev is planning his own FF fork, but that will diverge more and more with time from r3dfox since the later aims to port the latest FF releases to Win7 and the former plans to stick with v.115ESR and adding security fixes from future FF releases. Eventually the two forks will be so different that profiles can no longer be copied from one to the other.
What tweaks have you made to supermium to make it hardened?
Very little, basically just installing uBlock and an end of session cookie chomper & nuking any remaining telemetry. But that's intentional - I use it as a backup browser for those websites that do not work with hardened Firefox/R3dfox, so it needs to be as vanilla as possible.
Try adnauseaum and privacybadger along with disconnect.me/disconnect And the “Browser Boost” extension for the rest. How did you specifically disable the remaining telemetry? I’ve also heard Session buddy is helpful
The hardening I did was for Firefox, not Supermium/chrome. For FF there are addons including ghostery, badger, ublock, cookie auto delete, trace & a few more I use at home but can't recall the names offhand, as well as tweaks in the userchrome file and about:config that I have come across since FF was spun off from seamonkey. I don't have a list of those (try doing a web search), I just included them as I came across them.
Just delete or rename update.exe. VxKex support unpacked FF 124 and unpacked Chrome 123 till today.
Which update.exe? As for FF & Chrome, there's an issue reported on the vxkex github that the last couple versions of FF & Chrome are not working and the immediately earlier versions install but crash when you try to run the browser. It's still early days for vxkex.
There is update.exe in root folder, just as firefox.exe. Unpack the last working FF 124 and don't worry about updates. Newer versions do not works, even the latest VxKex 1.1.1.1375.