A Review of Internet Browsers for Windows XP.
Browsers that work Good
For this review and testing a pretty basic older laptop with a Intel Core2 Duo 2.20Ghz processor and 3.0 GB of ram with a 32 bit version of Windows XP Service pack 3 fully updated was used. A fairly common example of a older PC similar to most of the older XP computers still in use. Only browsers with somewhat current versions less than 5 year old stated to be XP 32 bit compatible were checked. For starters here are the proven basic browsers that work and are stable on Windows XP with minimal issues. These all installed without issues and are free to download so go ahead and try them all.
First off is one you likely already have Internet Explorer 8 by Microsoft while often overlooked is still one of the best basic browsers around with good stability and high compatibility over a broad range of websites this is one every user should have as it will works with a large number of older and foreign websites that other browsers won’t. It is a bit light on features and has a rather plain interface. You can download it from these links if you don't have it .
Browsers that work Good
For this review and testing a pretty basic older laptop with a Intel Core2 Duo 2.20Ghz processor and 3.0 GB of ram with a 32 bit version of Windows XP Service pack 3 fully updated was used. A fairly common example of a older PC similar to most of the older XP computers still in use. Only browsers with somewhat current versions less than 5 year old stated to be XP 32 bit compatible were checked. For starters here are the proven basic browsers that work and are stable on Windows XP with minimal issues. These all installed without issues and are free to download so go ahead and try them all.
First off is one you likely already have Internet Explorer 8 by Microsoft while often overlooked is still one of the best basic browsers around with good stability and high compatibility over a broad range of websites this is one every user should have as it will works with a large number of older and foreign websites that other browsers won’t. It is a bit light on features and has a rather plain interface. You can download it from these links if you don't have it .
You will also want to download and run the latest Cumulative Security Update from Microsoft
It should be noted that as of this time Microsoft no longer officially supports IE8 yet they do release security updates a couple of times a year or when major security issues like WanaCry develop.
Next are the two main browsers Google Chrome and Firefox not a lot to cover on these ones there both solid all around browsers that have versions that run stable in Windows XP and are likely already installed on your computer. For the majority of users running a XP computer about the best choice of browsers is Firefox. As with IE8 both of these browsers are no longer fully supported. The current versions can be downloaded from these links.
Next are the two main browsers Google Chrome and Firefox not a lot to cover on these ones there both solid all around browsers that have versions that run stable in Windows XP and are likely already installed on your computer. For the majority of users running a XP computer about the best choice of browsers is Firefox. As with IE8 both of these browsers are no longer fully supported. The current versions can be downloaded from these links.
Last but not least of the browsers reviewed here that actually work good is Opera which is a stable alternative to the main three that has been noted to work good for slower internet connections and computers. It is a true alternative that is not based on directley on Chrome or Firefox. It has a different look and feel and is about the best looking of the browsers around and is worth trying out.
Some Alternative Browsers that work with XP
Yandex was one of the more recent alternative browsers checked and turned out to be one of the best. It installed easily from a nice website and offers online one click download and setup or the option to download a full installer. The fairly easy setup allowed for a relatively hassle free transfer of bookmarks and settings from Firefox and Google. The browser looked great, seemed fast and stable with a nice easy to use interface. Also it has a compression feature called Turbo that seemed to help some with speed on slower computers or internet connections. This browser is worth checking out and can be downloaded from there web site.
Yandex
Yandex was one of the more recent alternative browsers checked and turned out to be one of the best. It installed easily from a nice website and offers online one click download and setup or the option to download a full installer. The fairly easy setup allowed for a relatively hassle free transfer of bookmarks and settings from Firefox and Google. The browser looked great, seemed fast and stable with a nice easy to use interface. Also it has a compression feature called Turbo that seemed to help some with speed on slower computers or internet connections. This browser is worth checking out and can be downloaded from there web site.
Yandex
BlackHawk Web Browser by Netgate Technologies is a simple strait forward browser that installed and loaded fast. It ran stable and fast and used the least resources of the browsers that worked. The interface is rather plain looking and it is light on features just the basics. This is a browser worth checking out for users mainly looking for speed on older computers.
Blackhwak Browser
Comodo Ice Dragon was one of the better alternative browsers tested it has a full easy download and a nice website with good support. It worked very good all around and had about the fewest false security errors blocks basically it worked with the most websites. In addition it has a lot of nice features that can be configured to suite the user. The issues were that it took a long time to load and there was a kernel32 error code that popped up and needed to be closed each time the browser was started. This browser can be recommended as possible alternative for users that don’t mind slightly slower load times and a few minor flaws.
Comodo Ice Dragon
FlashPeak Slimjet was one of the better alternative browsers looked at it has a nice webpage with good support and seemed to be faster than the big three. Surfing was fast and smooth and it seemed to do a good job with streaming video and downloads. The issues were with it blocking or not opening some known safe websites for security errors. The slight increase in speed didn’t seem to justify the hassle of having to use a different browser for some websites.
FlashPeak Slimjet
MBidori downloaded and worked ok it did have a few errors pop up on startup that needed to be closed. The browser seemed to work fine with good speed and was light on resources. The interface was a bit awkward to browse with as it doesn’t have tabs and each new page is a new window. This a OK browser to try if you mainly have the same page open when online and are light on computer resources or Internet speed.
Midori
Blackhwak Browser
Comodo Ice Dragon was one of the better alternative browsers tested it has a full easy download and a nice website with good support. It worked very good all around and had about the fewest false security errors blocks basically it worked with the most websites. In addition it has a lot of nice features that can be configured to suite the user. The issues were that it took a long time to load and there was a kernel32 error code that popped up and needed to be closed each time the browser was started. This browser can be recommended as possible alternative for users that don’t mind slightly slower load times and a few minor flaws.
Comodo Ice Dragon
FlashPeak Slimjet was one of the better alternative browsers looked at it has a nice webpage with good support and seemed to be faster than the big three. Surfing was fast and smooth and it seemed to do a good job with streaming video and downloads. The issues were with it blocking or not opening some known safe websites for security errors. The slight increase in speed didn’t seem to justify the hassle of having to use a different browser for some websites.
FlashPeak Slimjet
MBidori downloaded and worked ok it did have a few errors pop up on startup that needed to be closed. The browser seemed to work fine with good speed and was light on resources. The interface was a bit awkward to browse with as it doesn’t have tabs and each new page is a new window. This a OK browser to try if you mainly have the same page open when online and are light on computer resources or Internet speed.
Midori
Some Browsers to Avoid
Baidu Browser installed nicely and was fast to load. It seemed to run fast and stable and did well with streaming video and heavy bandwidth applications. In most ways this Chromium based browser was nearly identical to Google Chrome. Yet it had some extra tracking and unknown elements that caused some problems with windows and stayed open even when closed. Under testing it may have actually caused a dreaded blue screen startup error that went away when it was fully deleted in safe mode. Also it seemed to throttle web sites letting some run fast and not letting some open at all with out much reason. In the end this one is just a bad Chinese copy of Chrome that should be avoided.
Baidu Browser
UC Browser worked ok it was somewhat fast and had about the fasted load time it loaded almost instantly. It did require a fairly slow online installation and had a lot of security blocks and issues. Also it took up a lot of computer resources when running and left a lot of stuff running when you exited. Also it doesn’t have direct webpage for support so you have to get it through a secondary download sit. This is a browser that cannot really be recommended.
UC Browser
32bit Web Browser by Elctrasoft was by far the worst of the browsers looked at that technically worked. It is small and supposedly fast but everything seemed to just barely work. It had the annoying feature of opening on a advertisement as the default home page. It would only open work with about one out of four web sites. Also it was by far the worst looking browser of all. This one should be avoided completely.
32bit Web Browser
Browsers That Didn’t Work
Maxthon about the most popular of the alternative browsers and is a bit different being partially cloud based. It didn’t really work with XP it had a fairly slow online installation and required a account setup to start. It did start and run but seemed a bit buggy and would only open every other website. This browser is reported to work good on newer faster computers with good internet connections.
Maxthon
Safari by Apple is a nice looking browser and one of the nicest on faster computers and operating systems but it didn’t fully work when tested. It downloaded and started fine and looked good. But it would not start any web sites because of a continual security error. It may work fine with faster XP computers and is fine with Windows 7 or later computers. It should be noted that the Windows version was discontinued.
As of 2016-09-29 version 5.34.57.2 is available from Apple here:
Safari
AOl 9.0 VR was a bit of choir to install took the longest of all the browsers and required some setup. Ounce it was installed it seemed to start fine and the AOL functions worked fine but it would not start load any web sites. Also it seemed dated and had a half dozen unwanted boxes start on opening that needed to be closed. This one can’t be recommended.
AOL 9.0 VR
Avant Browser downloaded and installed but basically didn’t work. There were multiple security errors problems on nearly every page and it only half opened some websites ounce you got past the errors. Also it was the only browser tested that was detected as possibly malicious by Kaspersky anti virus.
Avant Browser
Epic Browser Seemed to install fine and worked somewhat yet it seemed slow and caused a lot of error messages and would not load some sites and only partially loaded a lot of stuff. Also the interface just didn’t look good.
Epic Browser
SeaMonkey downloaded and seemed to install fine, started fast and looked good, but wouldn’t open any websites.
Seamonkey
SlimBrowser by FlashPeak Installed and loaded fast and looked good but it would not open or start any websites.
SlimBrowser
Browsers that did Not Install
The following browsers were downloaded and tested and would not install so are not reviewed in detail.
Comodo Dragon
Lunascape
Mustang Browser
Pale Moon
Qupzilla
Vivaldi Browser
Torch Browser