cannot sign-in to Google in alternative or any browser, Vista

I still do have and occasionally use a laptop computer under Windows Vista.  Now, on this machine, I find I cannot sign-in to Google accounts.  There was some message about "unsupported browser" and "try turn on/turn off javascript", but tried and found not helpful.  You'll want to know which browser, but I do not want to say publicly but I guess I will need to tell someone if I want actual help.  

Whatever but if I need to use Google, I know I can do so successfully in Windows 10 with a more usual browser.

Download Google Chrome

I am unsure if there is an available version of Google Chrome which will work in Vista, and unsure if the last Vista-capable Google Chrome would still allow successful sign-in and use of the features and services of Google.  I will at least try an internet search something like, "Google Chrome for Vista" and see what I may find.

I am unsure if there is an available version of Google Chrome which will work in Vista, and unsure if the last Vista-capable Google Chrome would still allow successful sign-in and use of the features and services of Google...

Hi cafejose:

Google discontinued support for Chrome on the Win XP and Vista platforms in April 2016 (see Google's official announcement <here>) and Chrome 49 was the last compatible version.

There is a direct download link for Chrome 49 under the Web Browsers section of WinClient32's Last Versions of Software for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (last updated Oct 2022) in the MSFN Vista forum.  I don't know of any Chromium-based browser that is compatible with "plain vanilla" Vista SP2 (i.e., patched to end of official support on 11-Apr-2017 without Windows Server 2000 SP2 updates or Win32's extended kernel) that is based on a recent release of Chromium, but someone else might.

Edited by lmacri, 20 November 2023 - 09:58 AM.

...I find I cannot sign-in to Google accounts.  There was some message about "unsupported browser" and "try turn on/turn off javascript", but tried and found not helpful.  You'll want to know which browser, but I do not want to say publicly but I guess I will need to tell someone if I want actual help.

Thanks for information posts #4 and #5

I am only partly planning on a try for the version 49 on my Vista machine but have not taken action yet.

I am interested in what cryptodan finds.  

from Abzyx

I believe you are the last regular BC member who is actually running Vista, so you might want to ask such questions at MSFN.

 

So the machine outlasts the operating system!  (Or outlasts the software revisions)

Please see the attached image:

I am signed into gmail and using youtube.

post#8, well noted!

At some soon opportunity I must also try G.Chrome v.49 on the old Vista machine.

So the machine outlasts the operating system!  (Or outlasts the software revisions)

 vista_gchrome49_yt_loggedin.PNG   198.28KB   1 downloadsToday downloaded according to the link referenced in the MSFN(?) article, and installation was apparantly silent but worked; I was expecting some user notifications and click-throughs but were none.

Visited Google and logged in to one of the service.  Pages load slowly and appear incomplete in form, as I show here upon logging in to and then visiting the YouTube service:

I still do have and occasionally use a laptop computer under Windows Vista.  Now, on this machine, I find I cannot sign-in to Google accounts.  There was some message about "unsupported browser" and "try turn on/turn off javascript", but tried and found not helpful.  You'll want to know which browser, but I do not want to say publicly but I guess I will need to tell someone if I want actual help. 

Hi cafejose:

If you don't want to tell us the name and version number of the browser you normally use on your VIsta SP2 machine then I'd suggest trying Fedor's Mypal v68.x that is listed in the Web Browser section of WinClient5270's Last Versions of Software for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 . The "new" Mypal v68.13.7 (released 18-Nov-2023) is still in beta but it is compatible with Win XP and Vista and is actively supported by the developer Fedor (see the Softpedia review <here>).

Mypal v68.x is based on Mozilla Firefox 68 (rel. July 2019) that has a relatively fast Quantum engine, so if your current browser is throwing an "unsupported browser" error and warnings about JavaScript then it's possible that using a browser with a newer rendering engine like Mypal v68.x will help, even if it isn't a Chromium-based browser like the Google Chrome v49.x (rel. April 2016) you tried last week.

I wouldn't be overly optimistic, however, since any browser you use on your Vista SP2 computer isn't going to meet the minimum system requirements listed <here> for YouTube.

Thanks Imacri.

I do have Mypal on the Vista machine and did try it as possible alternative to the other unmentioned Chrome type browser.  I thought the Mypal browser were the most recent version.  I could not get clear indication that something newer were available,   I guess I should recheck again.   Only indication is that development has stopped for more than a couple of years and no hint even of anything "nov. 18, 2023.  

Imacri,

I think something is either confusing or inadequate.

I am looking at the page you showed for downloading Mypal "version 68.x" but attached to the end of that part of the name within the page is /29.3.0.    I already have version 29.3.0 on my old Vista machine, been there about (guessing) a year..    The page article you refered to is of Nov. 18, 2023; so I cannot be sure that Softpedia page does or does not have a more recent version of Mypal than what is already installed.  I may still try the download....

I think something is either confusing or inadequate.  I am looking at the page you showed for downloading Mypal "version 68.x" but attached to the end of that part of the name within the page is /29.3.0.    I already have version 29.3.0 on my old Vista machine, been there about (guessing) a year....

Hi cafejose:

Mypal v68.x is a newer "beta" version of Mypal that is based on Firefox Quantum v68 and is still under development by Feodor.  Feodor's "stable" Mypal v29.3.0 was based on the Pale Moon browser but according to the Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Moon Mypalv29.x is no longer being maintained by Feodor because of a licensing dispute with the Pale Moon team.  See Jody Thornton's 10-Apr-2022 topic MyPal 68 in the Browsers Working on Older NT-Family OSs board of the MSFN forum for a discussion about Mypal v68.x.

If you click on the Download button on the Softpedia site at https://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Browsers/Mypal.shtml you have the option of downloading either Mypal v29.3.0 or the latest available version of Mypal v68.x.

 Softpedia Download Button for Mypal v22 Stable or Mypal v68 Beta 04 Dec 2023.png   15.31KB   0 downloads

_____________________________

Please note that Google is rolling out a new policy that will prevent users from watching videos on YouTube if the browser uses an ad blocker.  This is being discussed in NaNoNyMouse's 13-Oct-2023 topic “Ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube” in the AskWoody forum, and the YouTube support article Allow Ads on Videos That You Watch that has instructions on how to allow ads on YouTube in popular ad blocker extensions like Adblock Plus and uBlock Origin.  This is apparently being done to force users to pay for a YouTube Premium subscription to avoid seeing ads when watching videos.  If you aren't seeing a pop-up warning you to disable the ad blocker(s) in your browser when you visit the YouTube site then I doubt this new policy is related to your video playback problem, but it's possible that you might have better success watching videos on YouTube when you are logged out of your Google Account.

It's also possible that you and cryptodan are getting different test results on YouTube with the unsupported Google Chrome v49 browser because of differences in your software and hardware components.  If you wish you can publish a Speccy snapshot of your Vista system as instructed <here> so we can see how much RAM you have, whether your CPU supports the SSE2 instruction set, etc. If you aren't familiar with Speccy I published a snapshot of my Vista SP2 machine on 12-Jul-2019 at http://speccy.piriform.com/results/z2qoNAESuxQeYKCK2QGx3or, which is the last snapshot I captured for that machine when I was still using Norton Security v22.15.x (the legacy Norton product for Win XP and Vista) as my antivirus.

... Whatever but if I need to use Google, I know I can do so successfully in Windows 10 with a more usual browser.

It sounds like you have a Windows 10 computer that you can use to log in to your Google Account and watch videos on YouTube. If that is correct then you have to decide for yourself how much time and effort you want to spend trying to fix problems on a computer with old hardware components and an unsupported and insecure Vista SP2 operating system that no longer meets the minimum system requirements of many software programs and modern web sites.

Edited by lmacri, 04 December 2023 - 08:52 AM.