Hi
I have been blithely ignoring the warning header for the last few months telling me my setup was not up to scratch, but now I’ve been locked out completely. No browser seems compatible for Win 8.1 on Discourse. Is there any workaround at all?
I’m using this old iPad as emergency access.
Any help would be appreciated.
TIA best regards
John W
According to Google AI, Supermium browser at https://www.supermium.org/ may work, but there is no guarantee. It’s free so you can try and see.
But I am afraid at some point you will need a new system 
To be honest: what you are doing is not the wisest thing anyway: Windows 8.1 stopped receiving security updates many moons ago (January 2023) so basically you are exposing a extremely vulnerable computer to the internet. Hackers will love you!
Google Secure Browsers, but you are on a hiding to pain.
If you want to continue using err, more vintage gear, investigate Unix systems, such as Ubuntu, or Mint, (very WinX like) they will happily run on older kit and are inherently much more secure.
Otherwise a Tablet, Android or Chrome or other, will get you up to date.
Why don’t you just buy a new laptop, if that’s your present setup? There are plenty of reasonably priced Win 11 models available from Tech For Less and Micro-Center. I recently picked up a Dell Inspiron 3530 (Win 11 Home) w/touchscreen and 1TB SSD for under 600 bucks.
I just recently moved from W10 to W11
Both Mint an Ubuntu are generally called Linux systems. The real Unix is more of a corporate OS…
But you are right, if it is really not an option to invest in new hardware, installing a Linux distro is the best option…
The most widely used actual Unix, by a long shot, is on desktop computers in homes as well as offices.
MacOS, while being derived from Linux is considered a OS on its own.
Yes, but macOS is a certified Unix, making it one of the “real” Unices you were referring to — unlike Linux, which is a Unix-like OS (largely, AFAIK, because certification costs a good deal of effort and money).
Oh, and macOS is not Linux-based. Rather, the underlying Darwin is derived from BSD, mainly FreeBSD. A lot of the software it comes with is also not the GNU versions you normally get in Linux distros but their BSD counterparts.
In this specific case this is not totally relevant, as MacOs will not run out of the box on a WinTel computer…
It’s completely irrelevant to John’s question, certainly. But if you start talking OS technicalities, expect other people to get pedantic and OT about them 