I realize this is an old machine but I have old programs (that won't run on the new machines) that I use every day and it does everything that I need of a computer. Even with an up-to-date browser, using XP and Vista is simply a terrible security choice.I have an old Windows computer running Windows XP Professional, Version 2002, SP3. In fact, XP and Vista combined held 6.12 percent of the pie - not an insignificant number, to be sure, but one that shows people need to be encouraged to get off ancient operating systems.

Last month, XP had less than 6 percent market share, per Net Applications.

That’s likely why Mozilla kept support around for so long - it’s the best option for hundreds of millions of users. Since neither IE nor Chrome are options, many are using Firefox. Many XP and Vista users thus choose to use third-party browsers. IE9 is only available for Windows Vista and Windows 7, while IE10 and IE11 are only for Windows 7 and Windows 8. Windows XP users cannot upgrade to newer versions of Microsoft’s browser: IE8 is the latest version they can install. Mozilla thus supported XP and Vista even longer than Microsoft did. Mainstream Support for Vista ended on April 10, 2012, and Extended Support was pulled on April 11, 2017. Microsoft retired Mainstream Support for Windows XP on Apand then pulled Extended Support for the operating system on April 8, 2014. Mozilla correctly notes that “unsupported operating systems receive no security updates, have known exploits, and are dangerous for you to use” and it “strongly encourages” users to “upgrade to a version of Windows that is supported by Microsoft.” Unlike Google, which in addition to old OS X releases also dropped Windows XP and Vista support, Mozilla decided to keep supporting older versions of Windows. In August 2016, Mozilla dropped Firefox support for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, OS X 10.7 Lion, and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. That time, while a bit delayed, has now come. Mozilla promised last December to reassess user numbers in mid-2017 and announce a final support end date for the two operating systems.

Older versions of firefox for xp