Downgrade to FF 51 ESR
Hello,
I'm on an old computer still running Vista 32bit, with a 10 year old processor and only 2 GB of RAM. I used to watch Youtube videos in flash (with an addon) because HTML5 simply crashes everything (I literally have to turn off my PC and let it cool down for 5-10 minutes before I can restart it!)
Problem is the last two updates of Firefox (52.2 ESR and the one before that) have taken away that ability. So I'm looking into downgrading to a slightly older version of FF, one where the flash player and the addon were still working, until I can buy myself a new computer. But I can't find the directory for the ESR versions of Firefox. Anyone knows where I can find that?
PS: Chrome/Opera are no substitute, they both have dropped support for my system.
In advance many thanks for the help :)
Alle Antworten (5)
Hi
Downgrading is not recommended but you can have a look at this article:
In your case it may be possible to use an external player instead ;)
(also make sure all the fans are dust free)
bygabyga a écrit
But that list doesn't have the ESR versions, only the regular versions of FF. Or maybe I can just install the regular FF 51 version and disable the auto-update. I guess that'd work.
edit: found the ESR versions, my bad, sorry. I got confused with the ESR and non-ESR versions.
bygabyga a écrit
In your case it may be possible to use an external player instead ;)
I can't browse Youtube with VLC. My problem is not playing videos, but playing HTML5 in a browser. That's too much processing power for my PC, after a couple of short videos everything crawls to a halt and I have to turn off my PC. I don't know if it's the processor or the video card that's having trouble, but with the flash player I had none of those problems.
Geändert am von kidtung
I'm not sure why sites would serve you video using the HTML5 player instead of Flash in Firefox 52 vs. Firefox 45. On YouTube, you need to use an extension to force the switch. Since you shared your extension list, I can see one is installed:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/youtube-flash-video-player/
Recent reviews seem to confirm a problem in Firefox 52 ESR.
The other one I'm aware of also has some recent review issues:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/youtube-flash-player/
You could consider keeping the about:config page handy and manually disable Firefox from using the HTML5 player for the two formats YouTube uses. You could re-enable them if there is another site where you need the player.
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste mp4 and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the media.mediasource.mp4.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false
(4) Double-click the media.mp4.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false
(5) In the search box above the list, type or paste webm and pause while the list is filtered
(6) The media.mediasource.webm.enabled preference is set to false by default; if it shows true, you can double-click it to switch the value from true to false
(7) Double-click the media.webm.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false
With those changes, YouTube should automatically "fall back" to Flash. Unfortunately, many other sites no longer have a fallback feature and just show that there are no formats available to play.
If you do decide to roll back to Firefox 45 ESR, the installer for the April release is in the following folder, where you need to select a language/locale. The English language versions start with "en".
http://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/45.9.0esr/win32/
As you know, the 45 series will get no further updates. Since your Firefox browser will no longer get security fixes, over time, flaws will be discovered that allow malicious persons to break into your system and do whatever they want. It's the same situation with Windows Vista itself.
To help compensate, you can use security software and try to avoid bad sites. There are many brands of security software. If you are on a tight budget, you could look at:
- https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/antivirus.php (free version)
- https://www.avast.com/windows-vista-antivirus (free version)
In addition to Firefox's built-in malware and phishing site blocker, you can use OpenDNS (free for home use) to block known bad sites.
jscher2000 said
I'm not sure why sites would serve you video using the HTML5 player instead of Flash in Firefox 52 vs. Firefox 45. On YouTube, you need to use an extension to force the switch. Since you shared your extension list, I can see one is installed: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/youtube-flash-video-player/ Recent reviews seem to confirm a problem in Firefox 52 ESR.
Yes, that addon used to work but not with the last two updates of FF ESR (52.1.2 (?) and 52.2) In my original post I think I got confused, the flash player and addon worked until ESR 52.0 and maybe 52.1 It's with the 52.1.1 and 52.1.2 updates that things got broken. But my memory's crap.
Btw, the negative review of that addon is mine. There was another one, regarding FF ESR 52.1.2, but the developer keeps deleting the negative reviews.
jscher2000 said
The other one I'm aware of also has some recent review issues: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/youtube-flash-player/
Tried that one as well but it never worked, even with previous FF releases.
jscher2000 said
You could consider keeping the about:config page handy and manually disable Firefox from using the HTML5 player for the two formats YouTube uses. You could re-enable them if there is another site where you need the player. (1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful. (2) In the search box above the list, type or paste mp4 and pause while the list is filtered (3) Double-click the media.mediasource.mp4.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false (4) Double-click the media.mp4.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false (5) In the search box above the list, type or paste webm and pause while the list is filtered (6) The media.mediasource.webm.enabled preference is set to false by default; if it shows true, you can double-click it to switch the value from true to false (7) Double-click the media.webm.enabled preference to switch the value from true to false With those changes, YouTube should automatically "fall back" to Flash. Unfortunately, many other sites no longer have a fallback feature and just show that there are no formats available to play.
Thanks, I will try that and report back. In the meantime I have disabled the hardware acceleration in the FF options menu, in case the problem comes from my NVIDIA video card (GeForce 8500 GT) (yeah, I know, antique stuff).
I'm building myself a brand new computer this summer, so I don't mind temporary fixes. I just want to be able to use YouTube without breaking my computer.