Should I install IE8? What do you think of it?
I installed IE8 and it broke _____ – how do I fix it or revert back
to what I had before?
Yes, you should install IE 8 if you’re on Windows XP and IE 9 if you’re
running Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Both have stabilized to the point where prior versions of Internet Explorer
are simply no longer advisable. In fact, Internet Explorer 9 specifically is a
more compatible and more secure browser overall and deserves serious
consideration.
Oh, and I’m not saying that you need to ditch your alternative browsers, like
Chrome or Firefox.
Become a Patron of Ask Leo! and go ad-free!
Like it or not, IE is in Windows
I’ve
written
about
this before
– Internet Explorer provides critical components to Windows and many Windows
applications. Even if you use a completely different browser – even if Internet
Explorer doesn’t appear to be on your machine – components of IE are being
used.
This means that it’s important that you keep Internet Explorer up to date,
regardless of whether you use it or not.
Normally, this means simply keeping whatever version you’re using – be it
IE6, 7, 8 or 9 – up to date with patches for that version.
I’m of the opinion that you should proceed directly to the latest version of
Internet Explorer that your operating system supports.
that’s fine – don’t use it – but do upgrade to the latest version
anyway.”
Internet Explorer – by the (version) numbers
IE6: much like Outlook Express that
came out at the same time, use of IE6 is actively being discouraged by not only Microsoft, but
just about any technical advice or support person – including me. It’s old,
it’s not secure, and support for it is being dropped by websites worldwide
(eventually your favorite website may well stop working unless you
upgrade).
IE7 falls into the “OK, if you have to” bucket, but by and
large you don’t have to. I currently know of no compelling reason to
keep IE7 on your machine.
IE8 is the latest and last version of Internet Explorer
available for Windows XP. Particularly if you’re concerned about making Windows
XP last as long as possible, moving to Internet Explorer 8 should be a key
component of that strategy. If you want your computer to remain secure for as
long as possible – presumably through Windows XP’s remaining support lifecycle
– you need the latest version of IE to do so.
IE9 is simply a better browser than any of its predecessors. It’s faster, it’s more secure, and it’s going to be
supported for a longer period of time – I predict a much longer period
of time.
It’s not always about what browser you use
Use Chrome? Firefox? Safari? Opera? Something else entirely?
Then you have even less reason not to upgrade Internet
Explorer.
As I said before, IE provides components to other software packages on your
machine besides the browser. If you don’t happen to like IE for whatever
reason, that’s fine – don’t use it – but do upgrade to the latest version
anyway. That way, those components of IE that are being used anyway will be as
functional, as secure and as up to date as possible.
So update IE to the latest, even if you never use it.
But, but … IE8/9 crashes, behaves wired, doesn’t work…
Yep. It happens.
Here’s the catch: nine times out of ten the fault is not with
Internet Explorer.
Often, it’s malware
that’s at fault. Or there are add-ins
that are causing the problem that should be disabled. Or the
browser cache has a problem and needs clearing.
Or in the case of IE9, perhaps there’s a problem
with it’s hardware acceleration that you need to turn off.
There are many possible reasons that IE might have problems and many of them
are solvable.
Even if using a different browser is one solution.
Just install the latest version of IE and keep it up to date anyway.
Concerned? There is a safety net
Even though most issues are fixable, if you’re concerned at all about having
some kind of unrecoverable error after upgrading to the latest IE, there is a
safety net.
In fact, it’s a safety net that I hope you already have in place.
Backups.
If you’re at all concerned, just make sure you have an up-to-date system
image backup, preferably taken just prior to installing the latest IE.
Then, if despite your best efforts at resolving any issues that might arise,
you can always revert.
Stuck with an old version?
As I said, most of IE’s problems of late are not IE at all, but rather other
software on the machine, be it malware, addins, or other software that somehow
interferes.
If after all is said and done, you find yourself in a situation where you
cannot update to IE8 or IE9, then make sure to do so the next time you perform
a clean install of your system or the next new system you get.
Chances are that it’ll work great at that point.
And you can still elect to use a different browser.
(This is an update to an article originally published
April 3, 2009.)
I agree with Leo. Wait!
I must of course point out that there are alternatives to IE (any version).
I do webprogramming for a living and from experience I can tell you that IE, in general, is slow compared to, for instance firefox.
There’s a lot of reading material about this online, so I won’t go too much into detail, but unless you need specific content that will only work with IE (for instance the windowsupdate functionality on the microsoft website, certain online virusscanner tools, etc.), you would be better off installing one of these alternatives.
Personally I only use IE to make sure the stuff I write will work with it.
For everything else I use firefox.
Makes for a much more pleasant browsing experience.
my two cents ;-)
So if someone has installed IE8 without doing a backup first, is there a way of removing it and restoring PC to original state?
04-Apr-2009
I installed IE8 when it first released. I have had no issues with it, nothing has “broken”. Speed is good and I like some of the new features, my favorite being able to select text, right click and search.
I installed IE8 as well and have had know problems of course i don’t use it much lol.
A good friend of mine who is also one of your subscribers knew that I had recently installed Internet Explorer 8 and that all kinds of things happened afterwards so she sent me the link where you were talking about this subject. Upon installation of IE8, my computer slowed to a crawl so after a few days, I uninstalled IE 8 and now many of my programs won’t work without all these different windows popping up and things trying to install. It’s maddening! We ran all sorts of diagnostics on the computer afterwards and found 1500 problems that can’t be fixed. The computer was working fine before that so I should have used the philosophy “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” I have ended up having to order a new computer. I wouldn’t recommend IE 8 to anyone!
I foolishly downloaded IE8 – and then it would not open at all. It took some doing to get my computer back to IE6 – and then upgrade back to IE7. I now use Google Chrome. All I really want is a browser that is fairly safe and does not clog my system. Asking a lot right?
I installed IE8 and am very satisfied with it. It causes no problems at all. I consider now IE8 as good as Firefox 3. I returned to IE8 because most vendors on the Internet require me to have it.
I installed IE8 beta a couple of months ago and it broke something. Unlike IE7, IE8 cannot be uninstalled if you have installed SP3. Uninstalling SP3 was non-trivial. then I uninstalled IE8, then reapplied SP3, then reapplied all security patches released since last spring. Since I only use IE for Windows maintenance, I will stick with IE7.
I have no problems with IE8 and it looks good and feels good
I installed IE8 on Vista on a 32 & 64 bit machine and on an XP machine and am very sorry I did. All 3 versions cannot display a second page either within the home page or another one. Get “An unexplained error was encountered” and IE8 cycles back to the previous page. Its useless!
I’ve installed IE8 on four machines and experienced problems ( slow startups, IE8 freezes, and not being able to access web pages) on two of the older XP machines ( P4 1.8 and Celeron 2.4). Uninstalled and went back to IE7 w/o a problem on both of those machines. Seems to be working OK on both a MSI Wind netbook and newer Vista machine. BTW, IE8 can be uninstalled form sp3 as long as you didn’t install it before installing sp3.
There is compatibility between MS Publisher and IE8, websites made with MS Publisher don’t have navigation buttons anymore, i try to make contact with MS but till now no answer.
Will
I downloaded IE8 but I didn’t like it. I deleted it with Add and Remove and reinstalled IE7. Now I am a very happy bunny! P.
i am not very computer ilerate and i have Ie8, so exactly what is it breaking?and by the way i love your web site Leo and will be e-mailing it to my sister and son !
My experience differs for the reason to install IE8. I downloaded Visual Basic and then lost IE7.
After many attempts to uninstall and reinstall IE I gave in and contacted IE support .
While I learned a lot and had access to great tools I ended up late last night removing every byte found on IE and started over .
The end result I was able to install IE 8 and agree it performs as well as Firefox ..
I really dont like internet explorer and I think Mozilla is better. The best thing to do is keep your computer upto date and go head download IE 8 but dont use it. Just use Mozilla, also make sure that you have internet security such as a firewall and Anti Virus installed in your computer. If you have all this then you should be fine.
I’ve installed it the day it appeared, not because i would use it – i stopped using IE since 2002, switched to Opera – but because is more secure than IE7.
It ran OK for me but did NOT display properly a simple website that I put together using the website builder in MS Publisher 2003. Bits missing all over the place, including the page navigation bar (REALLY useful – not!)
http://tinyurl.com/clvhqb
and borders vanished. After quizzing various forums, I have found various work-arounds to do in Publisher to make the site show more-or-less properly, but a lot of fiddling around involved.
http://tinyurl.com/cxlzbo
I understand that there are loads of major sites that don’t display properly in IE8, either.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2072
If you want to try it as a stand-alone, this is an interesting concept:
http://finalbuilds.edskes.net/iecollection.htm
I am sooo new to Ask Leo that I am just breaking the surface. I too downloaded IE 8. I immediately infected my computer with AOL as my default home page. I had to find out how to remove it…but I could not. I went back to Firefox as my home page. I just wont use IE until I can get rid of AOL. Any suggestions?
I returned home after a trip and found a message from Microsoft saying Ie8 was ready for downloading. So I downloaded it, My computer was basically unusable, would not reset, would not run Ie8 or any Ie, I was basically off line. Called Microsoft, after many hours on the phone talking to a tech in India, we finally got it all working great. Now Ie 8 is working great no complaints. Not a good experience
IE8, Oh noooooo!. I tried it and it messed up big time. I couldnt even access my own website. It seems there is a bug which stops some formats of webpages being viewed. It took a phone call ( yes believe or not there was a MS phone number in case you ran into trouble, now thats a first !). The man I spoke with was totally brilliant and got me back to IE7 withing 30 minutes ( I also had this on another computer and did two uninstalls at the same time which made me feel rather clever ! ). My advice is leave IE8 for a few months and let them fix it.
I installee IE8 in January. Seemed to work fine and has some useful features. Then, I began to notice a failure: when selecting a page, it would not open unless I selected STOP and re-selected that page. I finally uninstalled it a week ago and reinstalled IE7. No problem now.
I had to do a system restore after I installed IE8 because it broke my CD/DVD device. It just erased it from my system. It wasn’t displayed in “My Computer” and when I tried to find the device via Device Manager it showed it to have corrupt or missing drivers.
After I did the system restore back to the previous IE8 Beta I was using the CD/DVD device came back and I could access and use it again but now something is a little weird with IE8 Beta, it’s just not the same as it was before.
Microsoft addresses this ‘problem’ within it’s ‘knowledge’ base: http://www.microsoft.com/kb/957700. Apparently, sometimes you can use “Remove Programs” and sometimes you can’t.
You guys are lucky. I first installed IE8 when it was in betta. Naturally it had few problems so I uninstalled it. When I found out it was released I downloaded it again. What a nightmare! It seems that it depends on your computer make and the software you are running. It did not work on MICROSOFT WEBSITE!! The pages loaded with errors and I could not use their scanner. Same with my Yahoo and my Yahoo Toolbar. I decided to uninstall it. Their fix it did not work. When I tried to uninstall myself using their instructions it ended destroying my computer. It did not uninstall clean. I tried recovery and it failed and my computer would not start. Since it was new I was able to replace it. Also I am still waiting for response from them. It may work for others but I don’t think I will download it any time soon. And I am using IE as my primary browser!
I put the released version onto my computer and Asus P5WD2 Premium board with a Pentium Duo core and on my wife’s machine a MSI PM8PM-V with a Celeron and IE8 works fine. I love the different colors you get when tabbing from different sources. Maybe the guys having trouble have proprietary machines with unique Bioses. I am a hard core build it yourselfer.
I took ie8 and it came with a hijack no kidding I got free support from windows as they have a free support line for virus and malware and lucky enough this guy got rid of the whole hijack file
and I kept trying to use ie 8 which sucked it was slow and slower I do not have a lot of ram on my computer like half a gig anyway I deleted it and got back 7 much better
Bob
I’m back using IE6! IE8 didn’t want to access any link pasted. IE7 sent me to MY DOCUMENTS whenever I clicked on a link. I’m quite happy with IE6.
RTM
Losts of Web sites do not work. It says that “Internet Explorer has stopped working” and finally it gives choice of closing down the browser. I have gone back to Firefox 3.08.
Best thing to do is just to stay with Firefox.
I am using IE 8 on Vista machine with no problems.
But my main brower is FireFox 3.08 and on other machine I use FireFox 3.5 Beta with no problems.
With my installed extensions I have Firefox fine tuned.
As the admin for a small business I use a machine to test “updates” beforehand and IE8 was a nightmare. It stalled on a lot of pages for me and I had problems saving favorites. Not to mention the new format takes some getting used to. I uninstalled it and went back to 7 but couldn’t get my favorites to work. After several trials, I finally found somehow my favorites had gotten redirected to a jump (no idea how) and I had to regedit to redirect it back to the Docs & Settings. I will wait a while before deploying 8.
I installed IE8 on my PC. Even though I have high speed internet, everything worked at a slow crawl.
It took forever for anything to open up. I went
to Add and Remove Programs, and removed it. I also used System Restore, to IE7. I am still having issues when my computer goes to standby mode, the application hangs, and I have to manually shut the computer down, and reboot. I would not reccommend IE8 to anyone. I leaves problems behind, even after you uninstall it.
Oh, these comments are so comforting…makes ya want to rush right out and install IE8, right away.
:)
I’m happy with Firefox. The only time I’ve had to use IE is when I’ve watched Netflix movies online. Aside from that, I don’t see a real need for IE on a regular basis, so heaven and it can wait.
First, let me share my experience with IE7 and Firefox 3.08. I haven’t downloaded IE8 and thanks to your comments, probably won’t. Firefox cannot open all Web sites. For example, ORS Radio Online links won’t work in Firefox but in IE7. Secondly, IE7 can open XPS files while Firefox cannot. Of course, if Firefox can fix all those glitches, then I will solely use Firefox.
I installed IE8 on one of my computers and within 3 hours I took it off and went back to IE7 and Firefox. IE8 was extremely slow loading web pages and I also had a lot of problems with getting links to open in new tabs instead of new pages. I think MS took it out of beta testing to soon.
A friend gave us his old computer with Windows XP Pro. Version 2002 SP 2 with IE 7.0. We don’t really like ie 7.0. How can I go back to IE 6.0?
Ken,
Have you tried the Firefox extension “IE Veiw” ?
A site you open with this this extension acts as though you are using IE
For a while I could not reach AOL Radio on Firefox but this extension did the trick
That way you dont need 2 browsers open
When I upgraded to IE7, I had terrible trouble with it. I get the New Scientist Newsletter, for instance,and since it takes an age to read the numerous articles, I download the pages. These were in MHTML, and, after two downloads, IE7 would freeze. I’d have to close IE7, and then go back to the site again.
I saw the light, and started using Firefox, and I am pleased with it.
ahc
When I was a computer newbie I always went for the “latest and greatest”. Now, my attitude is … what’s the rush?
Whether it be the newest version of IE or MS or anything else — just wait. Let the masses test it – and screw up their systems.
There is NO NEED to have the latest and greatest. I’m running Win 98 and (still) love it. I refused to do the Vista thing. And when Windows 7 is released I’ll wait at least six months before I even think about installing/buying it.
Slow down. Relax. You don’t need the latest bells and whistles.
I installed 8 and it has caused problems with my online betting.I caanot trasfer money in or out of my account,or acccess any info on what bets i have placed or print any bets off.it does not appear on add/remove but is in the system.
Everything that I’ve read about IE8 is true. My mistake is that I’ve already installed it. Doing so is like buying something with a caveat emptor. My favorites are screwed up big time and some of my useful gadgets (like HP printing on a web page) won’t work anymore because probably of some compatibility issues.
The worst part is that one has to have time to do a lot of reading to understand all the new features that come with it and that’s not a no-brainer.
Best advice: Wait and see. That’s exactly what I’ll do when Vista 7 is unleashed.
thanks for info, I use to be one to update new stuff, NO more, will wait,Have not even updated to SP3 for XP too scard,
hi, um i recently insalled IE 8 (yeah i know but my net home page : btinternet.com, came up with an endorsed download) it also downloaded the windows updates. now my disk drie doesnt respond or read disks, the lights sounds and actions are all there, but it wont read disks that it did the week before, wouldnt pick up music disks. ive checked the support website and they say a software change could cause the BIOS or something to ignore it. is there a possibility htat the update could ahve caused this?
also after teh update the graphic scheme changed to vista basic from vista aero automatically (apparently because my graphics card went weird or a new software change) even thoguh i’d only restarted it. please help or e-mail me at [email address removed]- really appreciate ANY help
I downloaded ie8, just THAT was a problem!Today the bookmarked “favorites” are all listed 9,10 times each. I’ll have to sit and delete for hours. (any ideas?)
Hey Leo,
You should mention/show people how to turn off/hide the Windows IE8 update that will keep telling them to download it as a critical update.
Some newbies won’t know how to do this until it’s to late. Oops, they installed it.
Take care, Christopher
Win XP Pro update flag (for IE8) appear on one of the machines I manage so I figued I’d take a look on just this one pc – set a restore point (system backed up) – update details said it was reversable – Install went smoothly – rebooted pc – went to run IE8 – comes up, locks up within a 20 seconds loading default page (a picture file locally) – have to kill it manually – was able to run a “NO Add-on’s” IE8 – did a restore backward to IE7 – Restore said successful but made copies and renamed 2 system files (uh oh) – rebooted, ran IE icon to what still looks like IE8 but with NO menus/toolbars etc should have been IE7 – restored to original post update point – Win Restore said it was ok however 2 more files were copied and renamed this time with virucide suit (uh oh X2 !), more IE lockups – rebooted a few more times – IE8/7 hybrid on system – I’m done – told individual to use Firefox until MS get’s their act together, AGAIN ! May need to rebuild system.
I would suspect when things “break” it may not the fault of IE8, and may be the case of non-standard HTML code by developers. Example, IE specific websites. Of course, we don’t know absolutely for sure, but theoretically, if IE sticks to standards, it’s on the developer to change their code, not MS.
I had installed IE8 beta, and it worked like a charm, so when I was offered regular IE8 I had no qualms about installing. Mistake–my system slowed to a crawl, and even if I used Firefox that was also at a slow crawl. I did a system restore, hoping to go back to IE7 or at most the beta IE8. When it booted back up it said it couldn’t restore, and even if I tried to restore to a month previous I had the same result, couldn’t restore, only this time my original user profile was gone and all that was left was the admin account. I could no longer access my mail and everything in Documents and Settings under the original user profile was buried. Tried for two weeks to solve this a number of different ways, but no go, so the machine is in my computer guru’s shop and I’m on an old laptop.
So much for the latest and greatest!!
I downloaded IE 8 because DOWNLOAD FREE on the screen never went away. After the download, I was not lead to INSTALL and FINISH on my screen because they did not appear. I wonder if IE 8 is in my computer. Msn is much slower, and it sometimes seems to be comfused. I don’t see much difference on the tool bar either.
I would be grateful to know how to NOT install IE8. As Christopher, above, says it comes up as a critical update and started installing before I realised and stopped it! No doubt it will try again? Carol
I’m one of the unsuspecting. Trusted MS to have their ‘stuff’ together when saying ‘Critical Update’…NOT!
I freeze up 3-4 times a day. Have to restart each time. MSN, runs slower? I won’t even go to it now.
It was my homepage, now it makes my computer sick each time I ‘touch it’.
I’m very disappointed in MicroSoft, and IF they ever do get this all fixed, I’ll NEVER upgrade again. After reading some of the above, I’m afraid to even attempt to regain IE7.
I installed IE8 and my Kenmore Ice Maker stopped working!! Yes, sounds moronic but that’s the equivalent of some comments I have read on the net concerning IE8. Here’s my experience: Two PCs: #1/ Laptop running XP Home SP3 #2/ Desktop running Vista 32bit SP1. Everything up to date on both. I have installed IE8 on both and have had ZERO problems on either PC. The install was flawless. The biggest difference I see between IE7 and IE8 is the speed of IE8. It is much faster on my older & slower processor laptop running XP. Now, how do I get MS to buy me a new icemaker???
DOWNLOADED IE8 AS A “CRITCAL UPDATE” AND THE NEXT TIME I USED MICROSOFT MONEY HOME AND BUISNESS I CAN’T PRINT INVOICES. I UNDERSTAND OTHERS HAVE ENCOUNTERED THIS PROBLEM. I ENDED UP RESTORING AN IMAGE OF MY DISC PRE-INSTALL AND EVERYTHING WORKS AGAIN. IF THIS IS INDEED A BUG – FOR CRYING OUT LOUD , HOW CAN THEY LET THIS ONE GET BY? I MEAN THEY SELL THIS STUFF. VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH MICROSOFT. THANK GOD I HAD CURRENT DISC IMAGE COSIDERING THE HORROR STORIES I’VE BEEN READING ABOUT PEOPLE DOING UNINSTALLS AND SYSTEM RESTORES. ANYWAY GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY AND BE VERY CAUTIOUS IF YOU INSTALL THIS BROWSER VERSION. SHAME ON YOU MICROSOFT.
JUST AN UPDATE ON MY POST. GOT A REPLY FROM A MICOSOFT MONEY SUPPORT PERSON. THERE IS A DEFINITE CONFLICT WITH IE8 AND MONEY. HE RECCOMMENDED AN UNINSTALL AND DIDN’T KNOW WHEN THE PROBLEM WOULD BE FIXED.UNBELIEVEABLE. THANKS A LOT MICROSOFT.THEY ARE ACTUALLY PUTTING THIS THING OUT AS A CRITICAL UPDATE? TWO AND ONE HALF HOURS OF MY TIME WASTED .AND TO SHOW YOU HOW MAD I AM I NEVER POST COMMENTS.
i installed ie 8 on one computer and the dial up stopped working my other one i didn’t install it but it cant connect to my wireless network ie 8 has more than Microsoft money issues it broke my internet on 2 computers
Definitely wait on installing IE8! IE8 Final on Vista Ultimate with SP1 (and now SP2) installed is gobbling up ridiculous amounts of memory on both of my computers it is installed on. Within minutes of opening, with only several tabs open, IE8 has swallowed over 500MB of memory. Eventually it will release the memory, only to start inching back up to well over 500MB. I’ve seen it take up as much as 1.5GB!! I have no add-ons installed and these are FRESH installations of Vista. Screw IE8 for now, I’m going back to IE7. Seriously thinking about Firefox.
Ack! I run XP – I allowed the “critical update” too and had problems with web info pages, more specifically financial. I did a system restore and got a “serious error” message. All of IE7 had disappeared. Gone. So I reversed the restore to at least get back on line to get help. MS says you can easily recover IE7 but I am reluctant to try for fear of “breaking” something else.
I installed IE 8 and I got locked out of my computer! I was told to restart, and it won’t turn on now. it tells me there’s an error, and says to press Ctrl + Alt + Delete. It starts to load again, but then it comes back to the same error page, telling me to press Ctrl + Alt + Delete. It’s an endless cycle!
DO NOT DOWNLOAD INTERNET EXPLORER 8!!!
Ok, I read some of the comments and this is what I have to say. I installed IE8 as a ‘critical’ update. My computer is set up to install critical updates automatically. This was on May 30. Everything ran fine until really recently (about two weeks or so). Some other IE8 updates were made. Unfortunately, I am unable to restore my computer prior to July 1, so going back to May or June isn’t an option. I have been having serious Wi-Fi connection issues ever since, constantly being booted from the network every 2-4 minutes on average. Out of 4 computers in my home, only one has IE8, out of 3 computers using Wi-Fi, only the one with IE8 is having issues. I browse using other browsers….FF, Opera, Safari, Google Chrome, and Netscape. I use IE only when I have to for certain sites that I work with that require it. I spoke to a Tech at Fry’s Electronics who said that when he installed IE8 on his computer it crashed. I have considered other issues, but all drivers are updated, the problem persisted before the SP2 download, no other programs have been installed, there are no viruses, bugs, worms, etc on my system, and only the computer with IE8 is having issues. I would roll back if I could, the option to uninstall isn’t available, and I would be afraid to because of how Microsoft sets up their system in a computer making sure that their fingers are in everything. My only fix, at the moment, is to wire myself in, so today I will be buying the longest ethernet cable possible to run to my computer. What type of connection do I have? Cox Cable (no issues in my area) with 12 mbps.
Like Rod above I have a laptop running XP etc, however, I can’t say that I haven’t had problems. I dare say that if anyone can discern a difference in browsing speed between IE7 and IE8 that there is an unrelated issue, aren’t we talking milliseconds? Like Richard above IE8 freezes when you get a bit snappy with the mouse. This I suspect reflects the demand IE8 places on the system and is perhaps derived from MS desire to push VISTA. Market economy. Your old hardware can’t run VISTA so upgrade. My advice. If using XP stay away from IE8 until such time as you upgrade your hardware.
After installing ie8 — no longer able to open or follow links without closing the host page.
Just installed IE8 in my laptop, which runs XP Multimedia edition (a flavour of the Professional edition. Installation went flawlessly; the installer even imported favorites from Firefox. The explorer seems to be quicker than IE7, and has the possibility of installing add-ons, a welcome thing.
Along with the IE8 comes Media Player 11 and some sort of Windows update.
So long, so good … but I have installed it half an hour ago … :-)
In any case, if the program collapses or ruins XP, no problem … I’m using Ubuntu as the main OS in that machine.
Have a nice day.
On 4 of 4 units I know of 2 with Vista I with XP-pro and 1 with XP media center, all of them would not boot past the desktop with no icons on it. The XP-pro was fixed by going back to a previous checkstop, the other 3 needed a reload. Two were my own units and the other two not in my household. PROBLEMS abound.
Larry
We let Microsoft Update and install IE8 on three PCs with Vista Home Premium, two 32-one 64 bit.
The 64 bit version stopped opening attachments in Microsoft Mail immediately. We also had to reinstall McAfee on the same PC when returning to IE7.
Bottom line: we removed IE8 from all three PCs and set up notification of new updates, not automatic install. All PCs now function as before the install.
I cannot believe Microsoft would allow problems/conflicts to exist between their own software programs. This a case of buyer/installer beware.
Firefox is our browser of choice and we will install IE8 again, only when the problems become minimal, not sure when that will be????
After the dual disasters of Vista and the awful menus of Office 2007, both of which cost me a fortune, I just cannot believe Microsoft got it so wrong again. No way anyone should install IE8 – it has wrecked my recent, high spec machine.
Install it? A whole world of no. Both I and my son installed it on our machines as part of a critical update and now a large number of sites are broken, either intermittently or permanently.
What was so critical for this, that such a large number of sites break?
I did back up, and got locked out of my computer. Worked on that quite a while. Of course I uninstalled IE 8. Now my computer takes 25 minutes, literally, to get into (meaning when hourglass stops showing). It would not let me do a system backup after the mess up.
Now what do I/we do?!
I have not yet installed IE8. When I initially moved from IE6 to IE7, I could not access certain applications. The problem was that the user agent string was not updated correctly. Just wonder if there will be a similar problem with IE8.
I have been beta testing Windows 7 for quite a few months now. IE8 is preinstalled with the OS and you cannot revert to anything lower… yeah, pages load quick (sometimes), the highlighting of text and searching is cool… my issues are with getting errors every, oh, 3 clicks saying “This tab has been recovered” and it loads the page again… this is highly annoying. That Critical update thing Microsoft does is infuriating. I spent three full days trying to diagnose a flaky wireless network issue on a laptop(happened to be right after I installed a new router) ended up being IE8… I uninstalled it out of desperation and low and behold… microsoft did it again (WINDOWS 7 IS AWESOME THOUGH!!! and I’m a Vista hater)
Leo Said:
You may have said it elsewhere, but I’ve had really good results with the free version of Macrium Reflect (here) http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
The only thing I see that isn’t perfect with it is that if you burn your image to CD/DVD, and then boot from a CD, you need 2 CD/DVD drives to restore. The solution is to put either the boot image or the restore image on a flash drive and the other on CD.
Oh, and I won’t be installing IE 8 anytime soon.
Leo Said:
You may have said it elsewhere, but I’ve had really good results with the free version of Macrium Reflect (here) http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
The only thing I see that isn’t perfect with it is that if you burn your image to CD/DVD, and then boot from a CD, you need 2 CD/DVD drives to restore. The solution is to put either the boot image or the restore image on a flash drive and the other on CD.
Oh, and I won’t be installing IE 8 anytime soon.
Don’t Do It!, Don’t Do It!, Don’t Do It!
I recently went against my own gut and decided to try it and I have had nothing but problems, “Internet Explorer Cannot Display this page” I cannot find a solution and I understand there is no turning back to 7. Thanks so much againn Microsoft for making my life miserable.
What’s that number again for Apple?
Wish I had read your article sooner.
People are just dumb and they don’t know whats going on. broken webpages are result of not complying of the webmasters to the new source codes. that is why there is a compatibility button on the top next to resfresh button. shheehhs. I hate dummies. I think the problem is, before they installed IE8, thier machine is already broken.
After ‘updating’ to IE8 Windows wouldn’t boot. I got alerts about SHDOCVW.dll not being a valid Windows image. I had no icons, taskbars or anywhere to work from. I started in Safe Mode with command prompt and got to System Restore. I rolled it back and got everything back, but IE8 wouldn’t connect, some other alert popped up. I uninstalled it and got IE6 back which was still on my computer. All is well and I’ll do the ‘waiting game’ from now on.
IE8 / XP SP3 – both of these seemed to work fine until on reboot Hal.dll was corrupted. Without this file you can’t boot into windows. Googling IE8, there seem to be many hal.dll / boot.ini pblms with IE8. XPPro Sp2 IE6 works A+. Why mess this up?
I downloaded IE8 without knowing the possible problems, and I regret it.
Many of my desk top shortcuts will not open.
Some web sites are very slow, but do open. I did no back up.
How can I go back to IE7, I had no problems there.
Thanks
Those who say that this is an issue of broken websites are missing the point. The users of a browser are not responsible for the content of the websites they browse! And the compatibility button solves *some* problems but by no means all.
Oh, and another one for those who say that IE8 issues are site standards compliance issues. I’ve just checked a site being professionally developed for a charity I’m associated with. The site passes W3C’s XHTML 1.0 Strict test, rendered fine in IE7, and won’t render in IE8 even in compatibility mode. What are webmasters supposed to do?
Whenever there is a problem in the browser, if that particular instance is closed, it’ll not help. We need to close all IE instances.
Everytime closing all the applications and again opening is very cumbersome. Is there any option to correct this ?
I am very frustrated with Microsoft trying deceive me into installing IE8. It first appeared as a critical Windows Update. I unchecked and hid the update. The Windows Update System keeps adding it to the critical update list. I have to hide the update again. Then Microscam changed the graphical users interface for Windows Update Control Panel. That almost deceived me into updating to IE8. I am concerned that Microsoft will succeed in tricking me into screwing up my system by installing IE8. This all proves that Microsoft uses customers as testers for their buggy software.
I am starting to believe that maybe microsoft is making users update to IE8 in order that in time they can confuse people into buying Windows 7 to ‘rectify software issues’
In my opinion Microsoft has simply taken take a fairly hamfisted approach to IE upgrading and the software has issues for many people. I really don’t think that there’s any malicious hidden agenda to encourage Windows 7 upgrades by releasing software with issues.
14-Dec-2009
I agree with most of the comments here, DO NOT LOAD IE8. I have 2 pc’s one Desktop and a Netbook for playing cards and because it was downloaded with a security update from Microsoft I loaded it. It promptly screwed up the powerline/network. I could turn on the Netbook and use the internet but once I turned on the desktop no one could use the internet. I found out how to revert to Ie7 (used Google)and all is OK. Once more do not install IE8 until they bring out the next version, you could regret it.
Regards Shep1185
I have just uninstalled IE8 due to extremely slow page rendering and pages displaying incorrectly. IE8 even managed to confuse Mozilla Firefox which had been working without fault until IE8 was installed, that is to say pages not displayed correctly. Now that I have reverted to IE7, Mozilla Firefox is once again all ok. How on earth can IE8 mess up Firefox?
My advice for all it’s worth, stay with IE7 or Firefox! (Alternative browsers are available, lol)
Among the things that I have noticed about IE8:
1. It formats information from Linux/Apache, Windows/Apache, and Windows/IIS differently – same page.
2. It you try some advanced, highly touted new features, you cannot always undo.
3. It seems to display what it (Microsoft?) wants and not what the webmaster wants.
4. It “drops” information from your pages!
Because of IE8 problems, I have installed and am testing Firefox and Chrome for compatibility with our applications.
I can not recommend IE8 for anyone – at least not at this point in time.
Install ie8, and it wouldn’t even show. So went into control panel > remove software. It’s now reverted back to ie6.
Remember kids, don’t take drugs!
I have VM’s that run IE 6, 7, and 8. IE 8 clearly performs better than the other 2, on every website I test with it. Also have Chrome, Safari, and Firefox installed alongside all 3 with no issues in any of them. I think for those who have massive problems, you may want to consider whether 3rd party toolbars and other junk are the real source of your issues. Ditch the Yahoo and Google toolbar crap (really, you don’t need them, and they slow everything down/screw everything up), and then you’ll find it’s a lot easier, regardless of which version you end up sticking with. And if you find that version is IE 6 – I say, you’re just downright masochistic. And the webmasters of the world… are really not supporting it for much longer.
I would also recommend not installing IE8. I used to use Windows XP and IE7 with no problems, but recently bought a new laptop with Windows 7 and IE8. Now I have numerous software freezes and shutdowns. For example, Adobe Bridge CS3 shutdown often when I edit a picture in Adobe Photoshop and save it. IE8 running by itself also seems to hang up on certain websites (not sure what the background similarity is) and then shutdown all open IE8 windows and not just the one I ask the task manager to close. Another issue is when I close IE8 and then proceed to shutdown the PC, the shutdown says it is waiting for IE8 to close which it often does not do and I have to manually shutdown. I am not sure if the problem is in IE8 or Windows 7 or a combination, but it is sure annoying.
I bought a dell 11z with 64bit windows7 home premium and ie8 installed for personal use. I have been enjoying ie8 without any problem for 3 months.
I had no idea how many people were suffering from ie8 issues until I just got my work laptop (hp elitebook 8530w) reconfigured with 64bit windows7 enterprise and ie8 installed as an early adopter. I’m experiencing all sorts of problems posted here and there on the web and finally started using FF for the first time.
The version of ie8 between the two laptops is exactly the same. I wonder what the difference is between my personal laptop vs. work laptop that causes ie8 issues.
I had to do a full recovery on my ACER 5003 laptop because it was running so slow. OS is Win XP Pro, SP 3,1gb ram. When I downloaded the many windows updates for XP (it is 3 yrs old), I automatically got IE 8. My problem is that when I try to open a link, I get an error message that ‘windows is unable to access that page’. I went to the Microsoft website, and they have a fix, but IE 8 will not let me download it. How I fix that!
i would like you to install int explorer 8 as my friends recommended it
In my humble experience of what works and what doesn’t work (browsers, OS). It seems that when a person buys a new new computer, what ever is pre-installed works great. When upgrades for browsers (IE7 to IE8) or OS (VISTA to 7) it all starts to mess up, even after uninstalls. This is what “they” call “upgrading” (?).
Why can’t a simple yes or no question be answered. I’m not a computer grur.
15-Jul-2011
I am running Windows XP Home (SP3) on a new quad tower machine with plenty of oomph! I have recently loaded Internet Express 8. What a mess! I detest the fact that it is so slow when trying to enter searches in Google, I don’t want to know what IE8 thinks I need, I know what I’m looking for. There should be some way of overriding this function. The screen layout leaves a lot to be desired, so confusing. I’ve tried it for a week or so and I’m going back to the simplicity of IE7, but then I’m a “Silver Surfer”
Ie9 is better than 8.so you should install ie9 in your PC.
Why did you choose ie? Chrome, firefox, opera, avant…..Are better than ie .why?
10-May-2012
Indeed,I think most of the user have IE browser in their computer even they don’t use it. Unistalling IE is not that easy in wondows compared with other web browsers. Me too. I have IE9 installed but mainly use chrome and Avant browser. I hate the script errors in IE, dislike the slow speed. The home page in IE always takes more time to load completely compared with the other browsers I used. Sucks!
I am running Windows 7 Pro 64bit
My ISP is Yahoo
I have updated to IE 9 64bit
Have had no problems with Internet Explorer
I use IE7, and like XP Pro, I’m not about to upgrade (DOWN Grade, actually) to IE8 or IE9 because of the experience I have had since they were introduced, which includes the removal of certain browsing features that IE7 has which are too useful for my usage habits to ignore. I have had clients ask me why their browsing has slowed down, and when I check, I find that someone has either installed IE8 or they were bitten by the anal retentives at Microsoft who believe that they have to cram all of their latest deficient software releases onto the general public without their consent. Going back to IE7 from IE8 in the case of XP restores the browsing speed. I have not used non-IE browsers, but one I will never use is anything that Google puts out due to their privacy issues and the fact that whenever Google software is installed in a system, an uninstall of the software is like an elephant with diarrhea if you look at the feces that it leaves behind in the registry and the rest of the system.
Some time ago, I installed IE8 on a PC that I use on our network since Western Digital said that dashboard access to the MyBookLive NAS storage drive would be much slower with IE7 (WHICH I RUN ON EVERY OTHER PC on the network). I then discovered the “IE 8 does not remember to save favorites to the last folder used” problem when I started to save multiple shortcuts for a new router I was installing. All I can say with regards to the comments on the Microsoft forum relating to this problem by one of their engineers, “this is by design,” etc., etc. is that engineers who decide to take away a feature that has worked fine, to the previous delight of the user, should all be “snipped” so that they don’t produce any offspring with their mentality. I went back to IE7 and found out that the slow dashboard access to the WD drive was due to their Twonky Media Server installed on the drive, and that IE7 was fine.
As far as the security claims that IE8 and IE9 are more secure, my personal opinion is that Microsoft is adding so much security to their OS and browser that it is becoming unusable, and the real problem is that users don’t want to spend the few bucks a year that it takes to get a good, secure internet security program. I have used Kaspersky for 4 years now and have yet to get infected. What I have found out, however, from fixing MANY client PCs, is that you get what you pay for when you use some of the free anti virus products – infected!
I used to use QNX as an operating system for my old Intel DX4-100 PC with 16MB of memory when I was a programmer doing assembly language programming (did I just date myself?) for Honeywell Level 6 19″ rack mount minicomputers. Not that I would go back to doing that since the GUI of Windows is nice; I just wish that there was an operating system out there that let you run all of the software available with the interface that the user desired instead of what the latest bunch of interns that Microsoft hired and put on their newest OS release “think” is best for the rest of the world. 35 years of working with computers of all types has made me a firm believer of the old axiom “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
@Esley
Your email provider is Yahoo. Your ISP is the company you send a monthly check to for providing your Internet service.
I am not convinced that IE9 is good. IE8 worked OK. Since upgrading to 9 both at home and at work, I continuously get “not responding” messages or long delays with nothing appearing the going on. I have disabled the hardware acceleration, I’ve run malware, spyware, virus, cleaned caches, etc. checks. I have few add ons, less than I had with IE8 which didn’t have this problem. The ones I do have I also used with 8. At work we use Lotus Notes for e-mail. Since upgrading to IE9 I get “not responding” delays in Notes too. Never did before. You say IE9 probably isn’t at fault but if it has all these problems playing with others that previous versions didn’t have then I say something is wrong with it.
I have w7 home premium x64 on Asus laptop with 4gb ram I installed IE9 as an update and it says “windows cant display this website” when I click my email (which is windows live address) I rolled back to IE8 and it works fine. Hardware aceleration off, latest versions of NOD 32 and IO bit installed and do daily scans. Sorry Leo I have to disagree on the IE9 being stable. Any other suggestions on how I can get it stable will be welcome. Thanks
I have windows 7 64 bit on several computers and IE9 is just hopeless so I have uninstalled back to IE8 and hidden the update so it doesnt instal itself again. The problem is the same that happened in early days of ie7 and ie8 – a lot of websites dont like it – menus go out of place and files such as bills from my energy company and mobile provider will not download – I suggest leaving it another year!!
i have done this but my fix not resolved.
I have Win 7 on a new laptop with IE9 installed. All of the above is happening (lock up, alert going to crash, pop ups).
From what I am researching, there is a problem downloading IE 8 when IE9 is installed. I’m ready to return the laptop. It is difficult to find Windows 7 though and I do not want Windows 8. Can you help get IE 8?
Thanks,
Gc