ginahoy wrote:@Lisa, I had (have) the same issues and concerns. My 10-year-old XP SP3 machine has lots of software that won't port to newer O/S's, and some of the software I rely on for my job is no longer produced. I've been running 52.6.0 ESR for the past year or so (I wasn't aware of 52.9.0 ESR), but even though my XP machine is finely tuned and maxed out in terms of hardware of that vintage, browsing definitely sucks. So I built a new machine (the one I'm using now) for browsing and do most everything else on the XP machine. It still kicks ass for everything except browsing. To the extent that I need to exchange files between machines, I can drag and drop via my local network. If I'm working on the XP machine and need to access the web for something quick, I can still use FF52 for that. But I'm quickly reminded why I built a new machine!
BTW, I'm done with Windows, so my new machine runs Linux, something I should have done years ago. I installed extra RAM (32GB) and CPU horsepower (i7700K) so I can (eventually) run my XP partition in a virtual machine under Linux (my XP hardware isn't going to last forever!) and free up some desk space. As it turns out, restoring a live OS image in a VM is NOT for the faint of heart, which is why a year later, I still haven't gotten around to setting it up. In the meantime, I maintain an inventory of spare parts for the XP machine (mobo, CPU, graphics card, RAM, etc), and make frequent image backups of my XP partition (Acronis TrueImage 9).
"Ginahoy" thank you for your response here. I appreciate you sharing your experience with your XP machine and while I don't have "that many" older programs the two that I depend on I can't lose. My XP machine is probably about 7 or 8 years old and it was a refurb and it was a big step up for me when I got it. I personally don't need all the speed and pizazz or the new OS's and my little XP works for me; I just hate the fact that programers write these old system out of existence. In the next day or two when I have the time I will install the 52.9.0ESR over the top of my old FF and hope for the best.
I have an iPad that is my "new" computer but I hate the iOS and the forced updates. I have been a DOS/Windows person from the beginning. But I have friends that have Windows 10 machines and they hate them. I've sat in front of them and have trouble finding anything. I do like your idea of a Linux machine and may just go to a shop and pay to have one built for me. Then I will keep up on that OS and learn and get comfortable with that system. But again I am glad to hear from you as there are people like us that are kind of trapped with the XP.
Again thank you for your time and your thoughts.
Lisa