Every electronic device comes to an end. And old computers are no exception. You will have spent hours with them playing, working or on the internet, but there comes a time when those tasks cost you more and more. Even if you install a new operating system or update your software, old computers end up not be able to cope to everything we ask of you. The solution? Give them a second life with easier tasks. For example, with lightweight browsers that consume less memory, we can turn our old computer into a terminal to check email, check TikTok and Instagramwatch videos of Youtube or whatever you like to do on the internet.
If we talk about browsers, Google Chrome It is the most used in computers, tablets and smartphones. That’s not counting other Chrome-based browsers like Brave, Vivaldi, Edge or Opera. Only Safari and Firefox they face him, and at a great distance. And this has its drawbacks. The main one, Google Chrome has grown to be a web browser that needs a powerful computer to work. On older computers, it suffers.
So to give your old or veteran computers a second life, there is no need to disassemble them or add components. Simply a software cleanup and install one of the following minimalist browsers and you can use your PC as a device for internet queries.
UR Browser
Fast, private and secure. These are the adjectives that most browsers, light or not, use today. UR Browser he does it by offering three levels of privacy. Depending on the chosen level, ads, trackers and/or third-party cookies will be blocked. This way the page to load will be lighter and you will see it before.
But there is more. The browser will warn you with encrypted labels on security level of the pages you visit. If it is dangerous or not recommended, you will receive a warning. Other interesting functions are its download accelerator or the moods, which are used to open several links at the same time. And instead of Google, it invites you to use search engines that are more respectful of your privacy, such as Qwant, Lilo, Ecosia or Start Page.
UR Browser It is based on Google Chrome but without sharing data with Google. It is developed in France, so it complies with the privacy laws of the European Union. And its main advantage of being based on Chrome is that you will be able to install extensions of Chrome in this browser. What’s more, integrate a VPN for when you need to deal with sensitive information.
Pale Moon
Based on Mozilla Firefox, Pale Moon It is a web browser that we can integrate both in the list of minimalist browsers and in that of light browsers. It works on Windows 7, at a minimum, and on Linux. It only consumes 1 GB of RAM and 300 MB of free disk space. And it is designed to take advantage of the resources available on old computers.
Free and open source, it is an independent project of both Google and Mozilla. basically have kept the best of old versions of Firefox without the aesthetic changes of the latest versions. Of course, the updates incorporate latest code to be safe as well as useful for the user.
Among its functions, shared with Firefox, stands out the possibility of changing the search engine instantly from its search field, it supports Own and Firefox extensionscomplies with web standards and, for certain web applications, offers support for plugins such as Silverlight, Flash or Java.
Falcon
Although it was born as a web browser for KDE, one of the first desktop environments for Linux, Falcon It is available for Windows, at least in its Windows 7 version. Its engine is QtWebEngine, based on that of Chromium. And his hallmarks are those of a lightweight web browser. Ideal for installing on old computers.
Seeing the appearance of this browser will remind you of the minimalism of the first versions of Firefox. Ideal for browsing the internet without hassles or additions. Although it has all the advantages of a current browser. You can use several browsers at the same time, it has its own PDF document viewer and it gets along well with pages like YouTube or Instagram.
Its only addition is an advertising blocker that allows block popups or annoying elements of web pages that delay their loading. From there, you can add other compatible extensions to it.
K-Meleon
If we talk about old computers, the definitive browser for old computers is K-Meleon. It runs on Windows XP and up and only requires 20 MB of RAM and 100 MB of disk space. Come on, it’s **one of the lightest++ browsers you’ll find and it continues to be updated to this day.
It is based on Mozilla Firefox. But instead of using his Gecko engine, he uses a derivative or fork called Goana. the same one you use Pale Moon. In practice, it is a minimalist browser with which surfing the Internetmake inquiries, look at your messages, etc.
K-Meleon It has support for extensions, it is compatible with current web standards (XHTML, CSS, SSL, TLS) except for webRTC, it also allows you to run Java applications and, in short, it has the basic functions of any current browser. However, with the ability to run on older computers No problem.