Windows 95, 98, and Other Decrepit Versions Can Grab Online Updates Again (arstechnica.com) 48
An anonymous reader shares a report: If you have any interest in retro-computing, you know it can be difficult to round up the last official bug fixes and updates available for early Internet-era versions of Windows like 95, 98, and NT 4.0. A new independent project called "Windows Update Restored" is aiming to fix that, hosting lightly modified versions of old Windows Update sites and the update files themselves so that fresh installs of these old operating systems can grab years' worth of fixes that aren't present on old install CDs and disks. These old versions of Windows relied primarily on a Windows Update web app to function rather than built-in updaters like the ones used in current Windows versions. Microsoft took down the version of the site that could scan and update Windows 95 and 98 sometime in mid-2011. The Windows Update Restored site is a lightly modified version of Microsoft's original code, and the site itself doesn't use any kind of SSL or TLS encryption, so ancient Internet Explorer versions can still access it without modification. You'll need at least Internet Explorer 5 to access the Windows Update Restored update sites; that browser is no longer available directly from Microsoft, but the Windows Update Restored site offers download links to IE5 and IE5.5 in all supported languages.
WTF! (Score:1)
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The NHS in the UK has still many of them.
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The NHS in the UK *had* many of them.
It does get to the point though where ransomware authors find it not cost effective to target really old releases, so in some respects there's good reason to run w95 because nobody is thought to be /that/ daft - I jest, DJB would argue there's no security through obscurity.
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Plus anyone still running those clearly doesn't have the money to spare.
Re:WTF! [Also, Hi From the UK.] (Score:1)
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no, they don't.
it got aggressively eradicated. finally.
no mandatory or IEx compatibility anywhere.
Re:WTF! (Score:4, Informative)
I have a RHEL5 from 2009 and a OpenSuSE 42.1 from 2015 on mission-critical equipment, and several Windows XP. The RHEL5 has Firefox 2 natively, accepts to run up to the Firefox 17 binary release from Mozilla, and cannot browse anything at all on the current web (no overlap of cryptographic algorithms). I could moderately update them with compatible binaries. I won't touch any of them though. They work, and if they stop working it's going to be a very expensive mistake and I would be getting the blame.
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Too old for modern malware (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe the internet will be safe to browse again with Windows 95. The javascript exploits and malware may not maintain compatibility with IE5! Half the web sites won't load at all, and another bunch will probably run out of memory. so that will help. And no unicode so those funny urls can't fool you.
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On the Unicode...I mean, sort of. If Unicows is there...there's a measure of support. If you were using a semi-modern browser (before they ended support for 95/98) so it would actually work with a modicum of sites, you might still be vulnerable.
I suppose the patches offered might help with the ping of death.
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Maybe the internet will be safe to browse again with Windows 95.
No. Mental health is a serious topic that can ruin someone and it's not safe to engage in such an activity.
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Honestly, you will not even be able to try to load most sites now. Most sites are https only, and nothing from Win95 era would support current day https.
Re: Too old for modern malware (Score:2)
True. I ran into that emulating Mac OS 8, trying Netscape.
Even the Space Jam site seems unlikely to work. https://www.spacejam.com/1996/... [spacejam.com]
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Old patched system have probably had most of their problems found ages ago and have not been getting new ones.
Old Windows systems had most of their known problems ignored years ago and the new problems are 100% WONTFIX
Please publish a VM. (Score:3)
This is nice but, I think I'd rather spin up a VM on my local network to serve out these updates.
or use the unofficial service pack for 9X (Score:2)
or use the unofficial service pack for 9X
test equipment (Score:3)
A lot of test equipment (think your drug testing lab) still use windows nt and windows 2000.
When retro is pain. (Score:2)
Last week I read an article about a tech reporter who bought and tested a "new" vintage 8086 computer. Some company in China is taking *old* processors and motherboards and shoehorning them into a large laptop frame. Usage went about how one would expect: Slow as hell and couldn't run shit.
Reading this article, I had the same reaction as last week: Why?? Why the fuck would someone kick their own ass this way? Is running that Windows 98 game / application in its native environment really that important o
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Most of the games of the early DirectX era won't run on modern systems for a variety of reasons. If you want them to run right now, you have to construct a monster like this.
Seems like an opportunity for a 'Winbox' that functions sort of like Dosbox, but with DX support of various flavors with the OS componentry built in ala Dosbox. Should be technically possible using Wine.
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You can play many older DirectDraw/Direct3D/DirectX games on modern windows using dgVoodoo2:
http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodo... [freeweb.hu]
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How about reactos?
No need to torture yourself with Windows 95/98.
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One of the larger issues with running things on NT-based OS' like 2000, XP, 7 is that the 95/98 stuff was written without permissions in mind, as there weren't much of any on that OS except for share permissions. Essentially, everything ran as administrator.
ReactOS goal is to create a NT-like experience, so I would imagine, even if complete, there would remain issues with most/all 1990s software.
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I've got two scanners that work perfectly...as long as you're running XP. I still have an old computer that does nothing else but run them and some early games that use DirectX.
Re:When retro is pain. (Score:4, Interesting)
" Is running that Windows 98 game / application in its native environment really that important or rewarding?"
There's a couple... Wing Commander series comes to mind, Privateer in particular that I loved growing up, and cannot get it to run well enough via Dosbox (just can't seem to get the joystick working well enough to actually dogfight). To the point that I've been tempted on a few occasions to setup a Pentium 1-90Mhz or something with MSDOS to try and play it on original hardware.
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8086 computer. Some company in China is taking *old* processors and motherboards and shoehorning them into a large laptop frame. Usage went about how one would expect: Slow as hell and couldn't run shit.
Pretty sure you mean the 8088 Book (8088 with 8087 coprocessor option), but even if not, the 8088 is old and slow and couldn't run shit. You could see the output being generated when typing dir into the dos prompt. What exactly did you expect it could do otherwise?
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I had a "palmtop". A Zeos Pocket PC. It ran an 80186. Yup... a real life 186 not powering a car from the early 1990s, but a computer. It ran dos 5 and had a nice software package (MS Works). Got through college with that little bugger -- 3 AA batteries for hours (almost a full day), a kludged together "battery adaptor" to use a home made external 3 DC battery pack, had a built in parallel port, serial port and 2 PSMCIA card slots (ran 2 2MB cards with stacker for about 6-7 MB of extra storage space.
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I did much the same thing with my HP 200LX palmtop. Amazing what you could do with a TNC and packet radio back in the day before the Internet as we know it. I sold my 200LX for damn near twice what I paid for it on eBay about 10 years ago. Still kicking myself for getting rid of it.
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I always thought MS Works was an oxymoron.
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I used a Psion Series 5 with broken touchscreen in school, it was great. Also ran on two AA batteries. I know that modern devices are too power hungry to use AA batteries, but it sure was convenient.
The only downside was that it needed a normal PC to convert file formats as it could not open a regular .doc file for example.
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Well for one, if you enjoy a fun retro-computing experience you're running MINIX, and MINIX doesn't run on anything from about 2007 onwards. .
Except that every Intel CPU since approximately that date runs MINIX behind the user's back :)
Seriously though, the modern MINIX branch is fully 32-bit, has been last updated in 2017, and there is no reason for it to not run on the latest Intel and AMD hardware.
Re: When retro is pain. (Score:2)
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The various emulators, compatibility layers, and VMs get you 99% of the way there, but sometimes that 1% can bite you.
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The 8086 laptop runs everything my PC did back in 1984, and just as fast. I also had a laptop with a NEC V20 chip in it that was the same size as this retro laptop, back in the late 80s. Blazingly fast at 10 MHz with 40 MB hard drive. Pretty impressive! For my nostalgia purposes, I use dosbox to access all my old files.
As for the why with regards to the 8086 laptop, it exists purely for nostalgia reasons. It also had a very limited run, and I think the market is tapped out. A novelty for retro computi
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I tried to get a copy of CP/M-86 for my old 8086 computer...but the ghost of Gary Kildall insisted on demanding 240 USD for a copy.
But it's ancient software to run on ancient hardware !!
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According to the FAQ at digitalresearch.biz , you can buy it for mere 75 USD :)
Manufacturing (Score:5, Interesting)
I maintained about a dozen IBM PC, XT and AT 286 systems for a company up until about 10 years ago. They used them to control old woodworking and measurement test equipment. They eventually updated all of their equipment but I recently set up a new 8088 system for them (https://monotech.fwscart.com/details/p6083514_19777986.aspx) to keep one piece of specialized test equipment still going into the foreseeable future. Sure, this was DOS, but I could see how Win 9x/NT systems could still be used in similar roles.
IE 5... (Score:1)
Microsoft (Score:3)
A new independent project called "Windows Update Restored" is aiming to fix that, hosting lightly modified versions of old Windows Update sites and the update files themselves so that fresh installs of these old operating systems can grab years' worth of fixes that aren't present on old install CDs and disks.
How have they not been C&Ded into oblivion by Microsoft already? This new Microsoft that isn't viciously enforcing their IP rights is too strange...
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Indeed. I once needed to update an old computer from Outlook Express 6 to Live Mail 2012. I found out the hard way that LM2012 couldn't import mail from OE6 because the Outlook format was too old. The only way to do it was to upgrade OE6 to Live Mail 2009, and then to Live Mail 2012. In other words, I only needed LM2009 as an upgrade path. However, Microsoft removed all traces of LM2009 from their web site, and it seems to have been wiped off of every other web site in the world.
The only way I was able
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The only way I was able to perform the update was to pirate Live Mail 2009, even though it was originally available for free. I couldn't find a copy on any "legitimate" web site.
I have the same problem with System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Microsoft took down all of the prerequisites it's installer tries to download. Making SCCM 2007 impossible to install unless you have an old backup of the downloaded prereqs. To add insult to injury, the install DVD has filesystem entries for the prereqs, but they are all zero byte files. Adding further insult to injury, the prereqs I have managed to track down are all within 1-5 MB in size. On a DVD that is 1.1 GB in size.....
In my c
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A new independent project called "Windows Update Restored" is aiming to fix that, hosting lightly modified versions of old Windows Update sites and the update files themselves so that fresh installs of these old operating systems can grab years' worth of fixes that aren't present on old install CDs and disks.
How have they not been C&Ded into oblivion by Microsoft already? This new Microsoft that isn't viciously enforcing their IP rights is too strange...
Because you haven't reported them yet