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September 2nd, 2024 13:59
Supermium: A Chromium-based browser that supports older operating systems
I recently stumbled upon Supermium, a modern Chromium-based browser --- allegedly secure and private --- that (still) supports older operating systems (XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1)
Let me state --- explicitly --- that I am NOT advocating anyone make use of these older, no-longer-supported, [and therefore] insecure operating systems. Having said that, I realize that many people still do so... in particular, if they are "stuck" with older hardware that they cannot update... especially for the very-popular Win 7.
Most current browsers (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera) support only Windows 10 / 11. [I believe Pale Moon still supports Win 7.] I had previously discovered and discussed MyPal, as a rare browser that still supports XP, but the current version (68.x, based on Firefox Quantum) seems to be "living" a perpetual BETA life; the last non-Beta version, 29.3.0 (based on PaleMoon) was released back in mid-2021.
And then, by chance, I encountered Supermium.
First, the bad: Because the program is not popular, some anti-virus programs (such as Windows Defender) may object to running its installer... even quarantine it. But once I got it installed, there were no A-V objections when running the program itself. On two WinXP systems, I get an error message each time I run the program... despite which, the program then runs. And on XP --- due to the ancient hardware --- it may open and run slowly. In particular, the sound on (e.g., Youtube) videos can be "choppy". [Of course, with newer (more powerful) hardware (e.g., on Win 7), it will run much more smoothly.]
Having conceded these points, Supermium has the look and "feel" of a modern Chromium-based browser. It supports extensions available to Chrome.
Admittedly, I have done minimal testing/playing with it... I was able to import all my favorites from Edge (after exporting them to an HTML file)... was able to access Yahoo mail, Facebook, and Youtube. [Note: I have yet to confirm that it will automatically update to newer versions... the current version of Supermium is 124.x, while "mainline" Chrome is up to 128.x] I don't know how much more I will do with it in the future. But I'm just amazed that this program exists.
ky331
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15.5K Posts
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September 5th, 2024 11:28
It appears that, unlike other Chromium-based browsers, Supermium does NOT update AUTOMATICALLY.
Pro: YOU get to determine when (and if) to update Supermium. You can check-out the release notes, see what's changed, and decide whether or not you wish to update at that point. (Watch out, as "pre-releases" can be listed here):
Releases · win32ss/supermium (github.com)
I downloaded the newest release... it was a simple, OVERWRITING installation... meaning the bookmarks/favorites and extensions that I had previously installed were all still there.
CON: You have to remember to look for the updates. (In contrast, Chrome automatically updates itself... taking the burden off the user.)
TheCyberCat
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February 4th, 2025 00:30
Ok, no offense at all, but how is this malware?