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#1
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Is there any way to Disable "secure" webites that use HTTPS?
When using the limited browsers available for Windows 98, such as
Firefox 2.x or IE6, it was bad enough trying to open many of the current websites which are highly bloated with a lot of useless scripts and other code. Now, it's gotten 100 times worse with so many websites switching to "secure" mode, meaning they open with HTTPS rather than HTTP. I fully understood using security on websites where a person has to enter a credit card number, such as Ebay, Amazon, and more. But now we have sites such as Wikipedia opening everything with https. The biggest joke is that most of the sites using this, are sites which were never any threat for security. Wikipedia is a good example, when it contains nothing but text and pictures. It seems the entire internet has gone crazy with security crap. Not only is this making it impossible to load most of these secure websites, (or only part of the page opens), but I am on dialup, and these secure sites load 2 or 3 times slower than the non-secure sites. Even my old flip-phone, with limited internet ability, now pops up a very annoying message repeatedly which says "Entering a non-secure area". And this is not just to open a new website, it's within the same page I am viewing presently. For example, if I'm viewing a weather radar map on Accuweather, and click the ZOOM button to expand the radar map, I get this most annoying message requiring me to hit the OK button. But getting back to my computer, I have used several browsers over the years. Firefox 2.x, K-meleon, Seamonkey are the three is used most. All of these are now choking on these secure websites. (Or I can use Kernal Ex and a slightly newer version of Firefox, which is still not able to handle these new websites. I also had installed "Slimbrowser" (a front end for IE), old Netscape, and "Off By One". NONE of these work at all on these https sites. I have manually tried to remove the "S" from HTTPS, and the site just goes back to using the "S". This is my last ditch effort to see if there is any possible way to stop all this nonsense. Or, is there some browser which will still work on Win98, and which actually can handle all this excessive security? If not, I'm shutting off the internet at the end of this month, because the web has become worthless. And to make matters worse, these newsgroups are nearly dead too. That leaves email, and I dont really need email, because I can just send a text from my cellphone, or make a call. It's been several years since I could shop online, because of this security crap, and now I cant even read a friggin Wiki page. I guess the whole answer to solving malware issues on the internet, is to make it impossible to use the web. That way, after enough people leave, there wont be any more malware. Malware was always a risk, but at least the internet was usable. Now, it's become worthless. I should mention that due to my location, I can not get high-speed internet. (At least not affordably). And my dialup connection ONLY connects using Win98. It will not work properly using XP. If anyone still reads this newsgroup, I'd appreciate any suggestions or tips to stopping these secure websites, or to some Win98 browser that will actually work. Thanks! --- WARNING: This sign has SHARP EDGES. DON'T touch the edges of this sign! |
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Is there any way to Disable "secure" webites that use HTTPS?
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#4
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Is there any way to Disable "secure" webites that use HTTPS?
wrote:
When using the limited browsers available for Windows 98, such as Firefox 2.x or IE6, it was bad enough trying to open many of the current websites which are highly bloated with a lot of useless scripts and other code. Now, it's gotten 100 times worse with so many websites switching to "secure" mode, meaning they open with HTTPS rather than HTTP. I fully understood using security on websites where a person has to enter a credit card number, such as Ebay, Amazon, and more. But now we have sites such as Wikipedia opening everything with https. The biggest joke is that most of the sites using this, are sites which were never any threat for security. Wikipedia is a good example, when it contains nothing but text and pictures. I've been barely restraining myself from posting a rant of my own about this. There is no reason whatsoever for sites such as Wikipedia to force HTTPS on users. If they're paranoid enough to think that someone might be tapping into their connection and changing the content of every page they try to visit without their knowing, you can give them the _option_ of HTTPS, but why force it on the entire user-base? I looked online to see if there was some real legitamate reason for using HTTPS everywhere that I hadn't thought of. The best I could find was that using it everywhere means that website administrators don't have to figure out for themselves whether information submitted to websites was sensitive. Besides implying an incredible ignorance on the part of webmasters, this ignores the fact that many, if not most, of these newly HTTPSified webpages don't need information to be submitted by the user at all (except perhaps a search term which is made a part of the URL and therefore visible to a watching hacker even with HTTPS used). Furthermore, with the increase of sites forcing HTTPS when they don't have to, the number of sites encountered where the security is compromised by something like an expired security certificate seems to be increasing, simply because it's another thing to go wrong. This usually invokes the browser to present a warning about the webpage to the user, and the user has to manually tell it to go ahead anyway in order to see the webpage. Becuase the webpages I want to view these days usually don't actually contain, or prompt the transmission of, anything not secure (anyone watching the URLs I browse to could simply go to the same webpage and see what I'm viewing in their own secure HTTPS connection), I've got in the habit of bypassing these warnings. That means at some point if I'm in a hurry to buy something online or the like, I might automatically react to such a warning by bypassing it and thereby put the security of the personal details I'm about to enter at significant risk from something like a man-in-the-middle attack. Before HTTPS was everywhere, I would have treated that warning with the significance it deserved. Phew, OK rant over. I've been keeping that in for months, in fact I was even tempted at one point to start a website called something like antihttps.org, but protests about things people don't understand never work. It seems the entire internet has gone crazy with security crap. Not only is this making it impossible to load most of these secure websites, (or only part of the page opens), but I am on dialup, and these secure sites load 2 or 3 times slower than the non-secure sites. Ouch. I'm on a 3G mobile broardband connection and see a slight slow-down but it sounds like it's much worse for you. Even my old flip-phone, with limited internet ability, now pops up a very annoying message repeatedly which says "Entering a non-secure area". And this is not just to open a new website, it's within the same page I am viewing presently. For example, if I'm viewing a weather radar map on Accuweather, and click the ZOOM button to expand the radar map, I get this most annoying message requiring me to hit the OK button. But getting back to my computer, I have used several browsers over the years. Firefox 2.x, K-meleon, Seamonkey are the three is used most. All of these are now choking on these secure websites. (Or I can use Kernal Ex and a slightly newer version of Firefox, which is still not able to handle these new websites. I use Firefox 2.0 as well (on Linux actually, Win98 is offline-only for me). One thing that may be causing you trouble is that SSL3 connections have been disabled on many servers due to the "POODLE" vulnerability (which is actually a bit paranoid too because a hacker needs to collect a very large amount of data in order to exploit POODLE). FF2 defaults to enabling SSL3, and turning it off in the advanced settings can avoid upsetting some servers. Unfortunately they're just as likely to require some newer encryption standard that FF2 doesn't support, but in theory you should be able to then connect with the TLS protocol and keep everyone happy. I also had installed "Slimbrowser" (a front end for IE), old Netscape, and "Off By One". NONE of these work at all on these https sites. I have manually tried to remove the "S" from HTTPS, and the site just goes back to using the "S". Yes, the webmasters have disabled non-secure connections to their server altogether, so only HTTPS will work. Thankfully not all of them are that silly about it though and keep both HTTP and HTTPS connections enabled. This is my last ditch effort to see if there is any possible way to stop all this nonsense. Or, is there some browser which will still work on Win98, and which actually can handle all this excessive security? One option is to use a web proxy server that will sit in the middle and make the HTTPS connection to the destination, then relay that to you via HTTP. More often this is used by the same "security concious" users who want HTTPS, so many popular services don't have HTTP enabled. Some should though. You should be able to configure your browser to autmatically use a proxy, or you can use a website based service. I found this one that doesn't seem to force HTTPS: http://www.ploxey.com -Hey works well, why haven't I been doing this myself?... Found he http://www.proxy4free.com/list/webproxy1.html -Many of these sites don't last for long. There's also some Windows software (forgot the name) that makes it very easy to set up your own proxy server. Perhaps you have a friend with a fixed IP internet connection and a computer that's on all the time? If not, I'm shutting off the internet at the end of this month, because the web has become worthless. And to make matters worse, these newsgroups are nearly dead too. That leaves email, and I dont really need email, because I can just send a text from my cellphone, or make a call. It's been several years since I could shop online, because of this security crap, and now I cant even read a friggin Wiki page. I made a breif attempt to find a mirror of Wikipedia that could connect on HTTP. Unfortunately there are hundreds of them and most only have a small subset of the content. There may well be one, but it'll be a job to find it amongst the noise. It's possible to download Wikipedia for use offline. You'll want to find a faster connection to do that with though, on Dial-up it would probably take a lifetime. -- __ __ #_ |\| | _# |
#5
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Is there any way to Disable "secure" webites that use HTTPS?
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#6
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Is there any way to Disable "secure" webites that use HTTPS?
"R.Wieser" wrote:
There are still a few options open to you. I myself am (still) using Proxomitron (a local filtering proxy), which happens to support an Open SSL DLL, which has allowed me use my old FF 1.5 to connect to the web, including most of (but not all) the secure sites. Why are you using FF 1.5 instead of FF 2.0.0.20? FF 2 will run on Win-98 without needing any mods (like KernelEx). Opera 12.02 will run on win-98 (with Kex). And why did you needlessly full-quote the entire message at the bottom of your poast? |
#7
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Is there any way to Disable "secure" webites that use HTTPS?
There is a "Remember Mismatched Domains" add-on that works on FF2 that
adds a "don't ask me again" option to the Domain Name Mismatch Security Error window". I find that it helps when you make use of a decent HOSTS file to block a lot of tracking and ad-serving ****. |
#8
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Is there any way to Disable "secure" webites that use HTTPS?
98 Guy,
Why are you using FF 1.5 instead of FF 2.0.0.20? I'm one of those "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" kind of guys. FF1.5 has done everything I need of it, so I had no reason to get me the next "even better" shiny. And why did you needlessly full-quote the entire message at the bottom of your poast? "needlessly full-quote" ? You already made up your mind I see. That means that anything I would have to offer as an explanation/reason would most likely be rejected, and thus be wasted time. Tell me, why do you ask me to waste my time ? Regards, Rudy Wieser -- Origional message: 98 Guy schreef in berichtnieuws ... "R.Wieser" wrote: There are still a few options open to you. I myself am (still) using Proxomitron (a local filtering proxy), which happens to support an Open SSL DLL, which has allowed me use my old FF 1.5 to connect to the web, including most of (but not all) the secure sites. Why are you using FF 1.5 instead of FF 2.0.0.20? FF 2 will run on Win-98 without needing any mods (like KernelEx). Opera 12.02 will run on win-98 (with Kex). And why did you needlessly full-quote the entire message at the bottom of your poast? |
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