r3dfox, a modern firefox browser for Vista, 7 and 8

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r3dfox is a release branch of Firefox made to work on Windows Vista, 7, and 8. Also with limited compatibility for Windows XP using a One Core API.

Web Page: https://github.com/Eclipse-Community/r3dfox/

Main download: https://github.com/Eclipse-Community/r3dfox/releases

Alternative download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/r3dfox/files/

If you run into any bugs or issues, please report it on GitHub under the issues tab. I am more likely to get to it and remember to fix it if it’s there. If you don’t have a GitHub account, here is fine too.

[Moderator edit] added link to main page

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Microfix, Steve, jburk07, SueW, 7ProSP1, rick41, Cybertooth

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This could be very interesting for users of Windows 7, Vista, and XP. Do you plan to continue providing security updates for your Windows 7 version past the date (September 2024) when Firefox 115 ESR stops receiving security updates?

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

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SueW, 7ProSP1, rick41, Microfix

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If you mean the browser, I’m backporting the latest release, which means it has the security updates of the latest release with it. There’s not really any reason to backport security updates to 115.

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Steve, jburk07, Cybertooth

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Thanks, this is very good to know.

I mentioned Firefox ESR 115 (which is what I’m on) because “current” versions of FF aren’t being provided to Windows 7 systems, at least not officially. But I’m more than fine with returning to a current browser version if it’s going to be getting security updates.

I’ll be watching the r3dfox project with interest!

 

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

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Steve, jburk07

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I can’t edit the post it seems. If a mod is able to, please change the title to “r3dfox, a modern Firefox based web browser for Windows Vista, 7, and 8!” and the first bit to “r3dfox is release branch Firefox made to work on Windows Vista, 7, and 8. Also with limited compatibility for XP using One Core API.”

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Steve

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Title and intro updated as requested 🙂

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Cybertooth

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The moderators apparently have not seen your request to alter the title of this post more than one month later.

Interesting development. As you know, Firefox ESR 115 now is supported on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 until March 2025 at least.

I saw you mention at another thread at PortableApps :

I have put no research into other languages because I don’t know any other languages. I’m also not about to completely redo the language system as I want to remain as close to stock Firefox as I can.

I mostly just want this to be regular Firefox but works on Windows 7. With a few minor tweaks here and there.

But does this software run without significant issues on non-English versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1? I run US English and Traditional Chinese versions of Windows so if I am to adopt this software later (currently on Firefox ESR 115) I would like to know. If as you said you have not researched other languages then I will need to test this in a Traditional Chinese version of Windows and see for myself when I have the time later.

But anyway, thanks for providing a lifeline to Windows 7 / Windows 8.1 users.

I would also like to mention in passing that Waterfox, another fork of Firefox, currently is also supposed to work on Windows 7 :
https://www.waterfox.net/download/

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

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James Bond 007 wrote:

But does this software run without significant issues on non-English versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1?

As far as I know, it should just work on those versions of Windows, but just be in English. I heard from another user that you should also be able to also use it in another language by downloading a translation pack, however the r3dfox settings do not get translated, and it needs to be reinstalled every update.

James Bond 007 wrote:

I would also like to mention in passing that Waterfox, another fork of Firefox, currently is also supposed to work on Windows 7

As far as I know it’s 115 ESR based which also works on 7 like stock Firefox 115 ESR. The G6.5 beta is 128 ESR based, and although I haven’t tested, I also haven’t seen anything about 7 support so I assume that it does not work on 7.

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Cybertooth

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Supposing that Mozilla stop supporting Windows 7 sometime in 2025, will a r3dfox user who is on Windows 7 continue to have a browser offering current security patches after they stop? (I’m more concerned about up-to-date patching than up-to-date features.)

 

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

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Cybertooth wrote:

Supposing that Mozilla stop supporting Windows 7 sometime in 2025, will a r3dfox user who is on Windows 7 continue to have a browser offering current security patches after they stop? (I’m more concerned about up-to-date patching than up-to-date features.)

James Bond 007 wrote:

I would also hope that you will be able to keep up on security updates with R3DFox if and when Mozilla drops support for Windows 7 / Windows 8.1 with Firefox ESR. Like Cybertooth I am not concerned about new features, but I am concerned about security updates.

The security updates are part of the newer versions. When I port a newer version to Windows 7, you get the security updates from the newer version. What Mozilla supports here does not matter.

James Bond 007 wrote:

I don’t really mind if the menu is still in US English, only that the browser must be able to display web pages with other languages (in my case Traditional Chinese) correctly.

That should be fine. I don’t think I’ve touched that part.

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Cybertooth

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You are right. The current version of WaterFox is apparently based on Firefox ESR 115 and it works with Windows 7 / Windows 8.1. But the next version 6.5 of WaterFox is based on Firefox ESR 128 and requires Windows 10 minimum.

I don’t really mind if the menu is still in US English, only that the browser must be able to display web pages with other languages (in my case Traditional Chinese) correctly. I shall test it later using the Traditional Chinese versions of Windows 7 / Windows 8.1 / Windows Server 2008 R2 / Windows Server 2012 R2 to see if it works correctly under these operating systems.

I would also hope that you will be able to keep up on security updates with R3DFox if and when Mozilla drops support for Windows 7 / Windows 8.1 with Firefox ESR. Like Cybertooth I am not concerned about new features, but I am concerned about security updates.

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

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Steve, Microfix, Cybertooth

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Worth a whirl on the Win8.1/R2 hybrid 🙂
prefs.js comparison-time. I’ll report back when time permits..

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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K4sum1 wrote:

What Mozilla supports here does not matter.

Yes, it does. With no Mozilla support there are no security updates.

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Alex5723 wrote:

Yes, it does. With no Mozilla support there are no security updates.

I meant OS wise. As long as there’s a new version, it has security updates. What OS it supports does not matter.

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