MacBook warning from Firefox, need to upgrade OS but my laptop is too old for the latest OS?

[Anonymous]

Can any of you Mac users help? I use firefox on my macbook. I just got the following message from firefox when I installed an update: "Firefox no longer supports your operating system version and will be vulnerable to online attacks." My operating system is 10.5.8, purchased the macbook mid-2008. So of course I looked online to figure out what to do and if I understand correctly, Apple also no longer supports my OS and my macbook is (just barely) too old to support OS 10.8. The oldest macbooks that can support 10.8 are from LATE 2008, the version after mine.

So what should I do? Other than buying a whole new computer is there any way to protect my computer? The firefox warning makes it sound like I'm playing with fire if I keep using my computer, with or without firefox.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised that you're not noticing lag times running 10.5.8 on an older computer, and finding websites not crashing. I had an iMac that I had upgraded to 10.5.8, and I finally moved on because even with FIOS things were slow.

That being said, I'd do nothing -- just keep all the software versions that you're using now and treat your laptop like a static system. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Don't try to upgrade anything that still works well. All "unsupported" means is that Apple and Firefox will not be putting out any more patches to the OS and that browser. They won't be testing new products to ensure that they will continue to work with your computer.

Are you playing with fire? Eh, possibly but not too much. There's only been one real crisis with Java in the last year that actually was a problem. The solution for the most part is to disable Java. See the following article about some of the issues.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1168358/java_security_threats_what_you_need_to_know.html

Does this mean that you couldn't ever have a problem with the older software? Of course not. But the risk is low, the number of people targeting old Mac OS versions is small, and many of the kinds of viral attacks that make PCs go wonky don't work against a Mac. Turn on the maximum firewall protections that you've currently got.

If it were me and I decided it wasnt' time for me to upgrade my computer right now, I'd be okay working on the closed system. Just make sure you keep backups of key files, and keep some older versions around (as you never know when the virus hit your computer and may have to go back in time to get the "clean" version of a file). That's smart in any case, because it's far more likely that something else will die before you get hit by an irrecoverable virus.

And for the most part on macs, you just need to save the files, not an entire clone of your OS. If you have to restore, you want clean copies of all the OS and programs anyway, so you just need to save the unique docs and items you have.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you so much! You're right about the slowness. It's annoying but I've gotten used to it. A new computer isn't in the budget right now so I think I'll just deal with it and keep backing up regularly. Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

OP, does your computer have enough muscle to upgrade to OS 10.6? I have a 2007 Macbook and although I don't have enough oomph to install Mountain Lion or Cowardly Lion or whatever they're calling it, I'm running Snow Leopard just fine. (And Firefox seems quite content with my antiquated setup.)

[Anonymous]

Can you just add on an external hard drive? 500G drives that are the size of IPods have huge capacity. You can get one for @ $200. I have an old MacBook with one of those duck-taped to the front of the laptop. It can run Lion OS with 10.7 probably could handle 8--I hate Lion and it's weird TV-like interface--but there it is. Jobs is dead and now they're just going to run their software dept into a wall. Safari will be unsupportable probably in 18 months and what little intuitive freedom that we Mac users convince ourselves that we ever had will evaporate.

In 2 years, our Macs will basically be TVs with a mouse pad and a bazilllion internet channels.

[Anonymous]

I just upgraded from 10.5.8 to 10.6 last month. Call Apple - they don't list that OS upgrade in the online store any more, but if you call they can hook you up. $20 and free shipping, as I recall.

[Anonymous]

^^also those old Macbooks can still be opened up and you can shove in more RAM which should speed it up considerably. RAM is expensive (maybe $300 for 512 of RAM?) but still way cheaper than a new Mac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^also those old Macbooks can still be opened up and you can shove in more RAM which should speed it up considerably. RAM is expensive (maybe $300 for 512 of RAM?) but still way cheaper than a new Mac.

I just did this for my 2008 macbook, and it was way cheaper than that. The Genius Bar guy at the Apple store recommended buying from macsales.com (Other World Computing), and I paid less than $200 total to upgrade to 8MB of RAM and a new 16G hard drive. My computer runs WAY faster now. I'll get another 2-3 years out of it, I think. It was super easy to install. They have how-to videos on the macsales website. Don't forget to buy the little toolkit, and be super careful about static electricity.