Out of date browser

I have a rather ancient PC with XP SP3 and IE8. It's old and slow, but still works ok for my purposes. I am aware that Microsoft quit supporting XP with security updates over a year ago, but I haven't had any obvious issues until recently. Lately, I have been unable to access a few websites because "my browser is out of date". Of course, they prompt you to download a new/updated browser. However, I have been hesitant to do so because I know that the newer versions of browsers are not compatible with XP. I have been installing Adobe and Java updates regularly. I installed an Adobe update a couple of weeks ago, but the Java update warned that it may not be compatible with my operating system so I have not installed it yet. So, this is an issue that I need to resolve too.
Would installing one of your XP compatible browsers resolve the problem? Of course, XP is out of date and the Java issue. Since I am a novice and you have so many software downloads to choose from, I thought I would ask your advice before proceeding. I would appreciate any assistance you could give me. Thanks so much!

 

I am still using XP SP3 and keeping my fingers crossed. I gave up on IE many years ago and have been using Chome as my default browser https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95346?hl=en-GB

I think firefox will also work.
Good luck with it.
s.

 

XP + Java + IE8 = very insecure, liable to be infected (Java exploits/exploit kits) at any time.

Do you really need Java? It's a good idea to test, uninstall it completely, very few sites actually need it, for those that do, there's usually an alternative that doesn't. You might find that you only really need it plugged into your browser ~3 times each year - uninstall it, install it to use it, uninstall it until the next time.

If you really must use Java in the browser, disable the plugin from IE and use it with a newer browser - and have it set to 'ask to activate'.

Try the Atom/XP version of the Pale Moon browser, it's about as safe as any modern browser on XP, similar to Firefox in many ways (we don't have the Atom/WinXP build listed here - http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/pale_moon.html), it's at the PM site: http://www.palemoon.org/palemoon-atom.shtml