What do folks use for browsing?

[Bill Moore]

I thought I'd start this thread to get OldStrummer to expand on what he posted in another thread:

"It's unlikely your computer is the reason others cannot see your photos. I can understand YOU not being able to see them, given the systems you listed are so obsolete they could be considered candidates for a computer museum, but others with newer hardware and software should have no issue.

In fact, it's all about the web browser. The underlying framework of all browsers is the core technology, known as its rendering engine. The three most common engines are WebKit (Apple), Blink (Google Chrome and all other Chromium-based browsers, notably Microsoft Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Samsung Internet and Opera) and Gecko (Firefox, Thunderbird and derivatives). The late, unlamented Internet Exploder... er, Explorer (IE) by Microsoft was a known problem that Microsoft refused to address until they came out with Edge. The company I work for plainly states that IE should not be used with our products.

The means to posting photos has been a sticky tutorial here for a while. If you're still trying to attach files to your post, you're likely running into problems with the forum software. TFF uses an old version of vBulletin, v4.2.4. The current stable release is 5.7.1 (version 5 was released in 2012). Problems with file size, type and most likely local storage can all cause problems. That's why I strongly recommend the use of (free) image hosting sites like IMGUR or the site I use, POSTIMAGES. I just upload my photos, copy the link that's generated and paste that into my post. I haven't had a glitch posting photos this way since I started doing so."

So is it the machine itself. I admit to being lazy about installing updates. I used to use Lillypix, but have been using Google photos for hosting for several years, and no problems until the last few months. I have been buying the HP SFF computers for years, as they are cheap, and easy to service, the top has a latch, and everything inside snaps/slides for replacement. I was happy to stay with Win 7 32 bit as I have some obsolete repair programs that I had to use a Virtual disk to run in Win 10, 64 bit. (My wife has been using that machine for years now!) I have another 32 bit machine that I had to upload Win 10 when MS update was not compatible with the chip, and sent it into a start/stop loop!
I see the pic I posted yesterday, from the machine I posted it from, (this one).

[Bill Moore]

Just for a test I posted photos from google photos on my machine with Win 10, I can't see the photos I posted yesterday on it!

[phantomman]

Pics are now visible, Bill.

[Bill Moore]

Thanks, must be my "Museum Quality" machines!
The photos I posted above don't show up on the Win 7 machine!
I do have an obsolete machine that we used until we upgraded to a Win 97 system, notice the optional oversize monitor!

[phantomman]

Somewhere, a landfill is missing a computer.

[Bill Moore]

It dates to 1979, my wife used to work for the folks who owned it. When they shut the mine down she gave it to Val, (I think she was hoping to get info from her old discs if necessary). The thing didn't do much, was finicky, I had to tie a string for a drive belt once when we needed to print payroll checks! 8" floppy drives!

[gibsonjunkie]

I use Chrome on this bad boy when at home... HP Omen i9 Liquid cooled, 64GB RAM - got it for free, so I'm definitely not complaining.

[Bill Moore]

Hey, it even looks fast!

[Offshore Angler]

I use my phone.

[S. Cane]

iPhone

Dell laptop when I’m at work

Philco 10” tablet

[OldStrummer]

An Apple Mac laptop. I have several, and I split my time between them. Everything from a 2012 MacBook Air to a 2022 M2 MacBook Air (which is more like a MacBook Pro).

My browser of choice is the Brave Browser -- nifty because of its built-in ad-blocking, but I'm also a bit of a browser junkie, so I play with Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi and Min. My company's software runs entirely through a browser, so I try to make sure I can use any browser with it. As I said in an earlier thread, Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the outlier (typically, Microsoft always tries to subvert standards to their way, which usually is bad for everyone else). Now, IE is no longer bundled with Microsoft Windows, being replaced by Edge, which is a much more standards-compliant browser. The universe is once again in alignment.

[Offshore Angler]

yeah, but my wiz-bang computer running 10 and Edge doesn't see the pics. Besides the browser, ISP environments and your own router settings can be in the mix too. Atriibuting it only on a browser may be (probably is) an oversimplification.

Chuck

[OldStrummer]

yeah, but my wiz-bang computer running 10 and Edge doesn't see the pics. Besides the browser, ISP environments and your own router settings can be in the mix too. Atriibuting it only on a browser may be (probably is) an oversimplification.

Chuck

Possibly. One thing to consider is that browsers today (much like most computer systems) have become bloated monsters attempting to boil the ocean, feed the hungry and house the homeless. The first graphical web browser was designed to do one thing: render HTML 1.0. These days, HTML is at version 5.0, and entire scripting languages (e.g., Javascript) are now (sometimes) enabled. That, plus all the settings for privacy, embedded video with multiple codecs, ad-blocking, dynamic XHTML, and do-it-all features such as email, RSS, contact lists, password management and such, have made them just as complex as putting a jet engine into a Mini Cooper. Just not as fast.

[Bill Moore]

I got my new tablet, and everything working except Malwarebytes. I reset my old one to use it until this one came, and now trying to put my lifetime subscription on this machine, I can't activate it. I've never had an account, they didn't have them in 2010, and the robots that look at my email address don't read down to the text where I give them my old address! (I still have my original receipt from cleverbridge!) I'll wait till next week to argue with them!
Update: I was able to load another License I had bought back in the day without hassle!
The good news, is I can see all the photos I posted on this machine, and I posted one from this machine, and it shows up on my Win 7 computer, same host as before.
Problem is they'll probably obsolete this machine next year with Win 12!