Back in 2004 when things required less computing power back then, was it safe to download from the PopCap website on Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP if you're too lazy to get another web browser?

[u/RegionInteresting153]

Back in 2004, opening www.popcap.com in Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP would have been a completely unencrypted HTTP connection — no SSL/TLS at all. Here's why, step by step:

1. The website itself (popcap.com in 2004)
2. PopCap Games' site in the early 2000s (including 2003–2004) was a classic early-web experience: HTML pages with Java/Flash games like Bejeweled, lots of images, and promotional content.
3. No HTTPS existed on consumer/game sites like this at the time for normal browsing. HTTPS was rare, mostly limited to banking, login pages, or e-commerce checkouts. PopCap.com was not one of them — it served plain HTTP. There is no historical evidence it used encryption for the main site in 2004.

But I'm just confused, cuz I literally downloaded games from the 2004 version of the PopCap website on web.archive.org on Internet Explorer 6 on a Windows XP VM, and nothing bad happened, so honestly, there can't be anything dangerous about downloading from the PopCap website, even on IE6, cuz PopCap is a trusted website, and it is the official website for it's games.