Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Internet Explorer 8 has been released. Many eager early adopters are trying it, and occasionally running into trouble. What should you do?
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?
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| Since this article was written IE8 has stabilized, and in fact been replaced by IE9 on supported systems. Both are, in general, faster and more stable than their predecessors. My current recommendation is to run IE8 on Windows XP, and IE9 on Windows Vista and Windows 7. [27-Jan-2012] |
Incoming questions on Internet Explorer version 8 have been falling into those two buckets.
My reaction? As they say on the legal TV dramas "asked and answered". The second class of question kinda leads to an answer for the first, don't you think?
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Full disclosure: I have not installed IE8, so I can't and won't comment on any of its new features and improvements. I've heard some good things in various reviews, but I've also heard that there's no great rush to install it either.
What I have heard is that second class of question - people install it and it breaks something.
And I've heard it a lot.
At first I thought I was only hearing it about the Beta version, which is to be expected. Unfortunately, the questions have continued at roughly the same rate after IE8 was released, and from people who've clearly installed the released version.
That's disappointing.
Now, let's be clear: I'm only going to hear from people who have a problem. There may be millions of happy IE8 users out there. But the number of people having problems concerns me.
My advice: wait. It's what I'm electing to do for now.
If you can't wait: backup first.
By backup, I do mean take an image snapshot of your entire machine, so that if you run into problems with IE8 you can easily revert the machine's complete state to what it was prior to the installation. That's what I'll be doing when the time comes.
The reason I press hard on a backup is simple: a common theme among people having problems is that they can't revert. Perhaps the uninstall fails, or isn't even present, but regardless of why or how, they seem unable to cleanly remove IE8 and return to their pre-update version.
Having a full image backup will guarantee that you can do so.
So, as always, proceed with caution. Backup first. And if you can ... wait a while.
Article C3695 - April 3, 2009
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
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!
Posted by: Jean-Louis Lamontagne at June 1, 2010 10:55 AMi would like you to install int explorer 8 as my friends recommended it
Posted by: claudine dunleavy at June 3, 2010 9:49 AMIn 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" (?).
Posted by: GREG JACKSON at April 5, 2011 5:57 PMWhy can't a simple yes or no question be answered. I'm not a computer grur.
15-Jul-2011
Posted by: Denny at July 15, 2011 4:12 AM
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”
Posted by: Peter Baker at July 16, 2011 9:19 AM