My only (affordable) means to connect to the internet is to use Dialup,
(because of my location). And I have never been able to establish a
usable connection using Win XP, or even Win 2000.

Lately, since almost all websites are using httpS, I cant get Firefox or
any browser (which works with Win98), to connect properly. I get
repeated security errors all the time, as well as many script errors
with Java Script turned OFF.

I've pretty much stopped using the web because of this, and only use the
internet to email and run the newsgroups.

Now, even my email is giving me security errors. I am using Thunderbird
2.0.0.24. I am not sure if this is the final version of TB to work in
Win98, but I have used it for decades and have never seen a reason to
upgrade it. It has always worked fine. Personally, I could care less
about security with my email. I talk to friends about cars, pets, and
general chit-chat. Nothing that needs to be secure and nothing worth
securing.

Bur lately, I get this f**king error every time I try to get my email:

"Thunderbird cant connect securely to website-archive.mozilla.org
because it uses a security protocol which isnt enabled."

First off, why is TB trying to connect to Mozilla? Yea, I know TB is one
of their products, but it appears they are trying to archive all my
emails, and there is absolutely no reason for that.

Usually, I have to click OK when I get that error message, then close
TB, and reopen it, to get my email. Sometimes I have to do this 5 or 10
times, before I actually get my email. Talk about annoying....

Is there any way to stop this? If not, this may be the final straw that
broke the camel's back, and I am going to stop using the internet
entirely. I already think I am wasting my money for ISP service, when I
cant use the web anymore. The newsgroups are nearly dead, and once I
cant use email anymore, I'm done using the internet.

I still dont understand why there needs to be all this f**king security
just to read a webpage on Wikipedia or any other read-only website.
And now this.....

I predicted the demise of the internet several years ago, it's now
happening. Pretty soon it will be so secure that no one will be able to
use it, at least not unless they have the latest Operating System, with
all the bloated crap software they are making these days. And I have to
also mention that my already slow dialup is twice as slow now, on these
secured websites.

I'm old enough to be retired. I lived more than half my life without the
internet, so I guess I can go back to living without it. There are still
telephones and I can still send photos to friends via snail mail, but
the internet was usable and even enjoyable at one time. I guess those
days are gone.