Help, little old lady in need

[Bowlie]

As you know I know very little about Windows and Internet Explirer. A little old lady that I know has a laptop with XP or Vista who is getting warnings from Gmail that her IE version is no longer supported and she should upgrade to CROME.

I'm not going to suggest to her to move to CROME, but to update her IE version. Can anyone help me help me help her? I've seen that IE11 needs Windows 7, but are other versions still available for XP/Vista? If so where do I find them?

Thanks

[StuartR]

Probably not what you want to hear, but I wouldn't use a Windows XP computer to browse the Internet, because they no longer receive security updates.

[Bowlie]

Thanks Stuart,

The lady is of little resources and even fewer PC skills than I. She uses her PC for email and for some WP. She really can't afford to upgrade to W7. I know nothing about Crome and I would be reluctant to move her in that direction, because I know little about it.

[HansV]

The newest version of Internet Explorer that runs on Windows XP is IE8.
The oldest version of Internet Explorer that is currently supported by Gmail is IE10.
For the moment, it's still possible to dismiss the warning, but sometime in the future, Google will probably disable Gmail if you're running IE9 or earlier.
So I'm afraid that if the lady can't upgrade her Windows version, she'll have to install Firefox or Chrome.

[viking33]

Thanks Stuart,

The lady is of little resources and even fewer PC skills than I. She uses her PC for email and for some WP. She really can't afford to upgrade to W7. I know nothing about Crome and I would be reluctant to move her in that direction, because I know little about it.

Bowlie,
Try this link to older "legacy" versions of IE for Windows XP.
( but it looks like Ver. 8 is the last )

http://www.oldapps.com/internet_explore ... Windows_XP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[John Gray]

She or you could always upgrade to Firefox, if you don't fancy Chrome!

There is also a registry bodge (I won't dignify it with the name "fix") available which makes Gmail think that she/you are using a later version of IE. Helpfully, Gmail only supports the latest two versions of IE, currently 11 and 10.

Of course, as time passes, things are less likely to continue to work properly with such a bodge...

[Bowlie]

I've just realised that Crome is an OS and a browser. Apologies for being thick. I think I'm going to suggest she dump IE and use Firefox. I've got that on my Mac, although I don't use it much, so not completely unknown. Please tell me if this is a dumb idea.

[HansV]

Both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are fine browsers, and they are regularly updated for Window XP. Either would be a good choice.

[BobH]

I vote "aye" on the motion to have your friend install Firefox. It is an excellent browser and very user friendly. Although she might have to 'unlearn' some of the IE GUI protocols, I'm certain she will find Firefox a better tool after a brief period of re-orientation.

[JoeP]

Probably not what you want to hear, but I wouldn't use a Windows XP computer to browse the Internet, because they no longer receive security updates.

XP SP3 gets security updates until April 8, 2014. As does Office 2003.

Joe

[StuartR]

XP SP3 gets security updates until April 8, 2014. As does Office 2003.

Thanks for the update.

[Bowlie]

… and thanks to all you guys for your advice!

[Bowlie]

Said lol wasn't comfortable downloading and installing Firefox, so I dropped by today to give her a hand i.e. Do it for her.

I first discovered she has Windows 7, not XP. So I thought I'd upgrade IE. After a few minutes consulting MSs website I thought turning on Automatic updates was the way to go. MS site said to go to the help menu, select properties and click the box that allowed automatic updates. Except there was no box to click, just a description of the current IE (Version 9). So back to MS site and tried to do the update to Version 11 from there. It downloaded OK but the update failed without explanation other than to consult the weblink placed on the desktop. Said web link just took me back to the manual update page. Tried again, same result.

So I gave up on that. Downloaded and installed Firefox. Everything seemed OK except bookmarks and favourites did not transfer across despite selecting the option in the installation process. Tried to transfer them across manually but that didn't work, and no indication that it had failed. I managed to copy the icons from here IE bookmark bar to Firefox, but could not find 'favourites' in Firefox. Then, when I tried to access her gmail I got an error from Google that her cookie settings were wrong and Gmail wouldn't work until they were fixed. For the life of me I don't know how to change cookie settings on a PC, or in Firefox and have no clue on what they should be set to. So she can't use FF to access her GMail

At that point she had to leave so I gave up. She can still access gmail using IE9 (with original error message) but here IE home page has changed from gmail to MSN something (did Firefox do that, and why?). She's got a bookmark to get here back to GMail, but she finds it confusing.

Can anyone help with,

1. Why did the upgrade to IE11 fail? How can I fix this,
2. Where is the homepage setting hidden?
If this works, I can uninstall Firefox, but if not
3. Why didn't the bookmark/favourites not transfer from IE9? Is there a workaround.
4. How do I find the cookie settings for w7/Firefox? What should they be for GMail?

And lastly a rhetorical question. Why didn't she buy a {expletive deleted} Mac.

[BobH]

You might try this link for things Mozilla.

I can't help with Win7 issues. I have it installed, but have learned little about it.

[HansV]

You might try the standalone installer - see Internet Explorer 11 offline installer direct links (IE11).
To set the home page:
Press Alt+T to display the Tools menu, then select Internet Options.
You can enter URLs or use the current page.

S0447.png

[JoeP]

Make sure that the Prerequisite updates for Internet Explorer 11 are installed.

Joe