IE 8: Worth Downloading?

[chris_newell41]

From what I have seen on 2 pc's is that IE8 is slower than IE7, hangs on loading the home page on initial load, I am forever having to repair the Wireless connection for internet to pass through since I installed IE8.

MS make bad software/hardware ...fullstop

[gadgetman]

Same as my exp.

You ask it to start, and wait. And wait. And wait. Get board, load and install another browser before IE8 has even woken up.

Seriously, WTF does it do at start up? Read War & Peace cover to cover?

[swedishskoda]

I installed IE8 when it appeared among the updates, but I rarely use it (mainly for visiting Mr. Gates's own web pages that tend to crash in other browsers). FF3 for me - or, when one wants a more lightweight browser, K-Meleon (Gecko-based just as FF)

[Jim H]

I installed IE8 when it appeared among the updates, but I rarely use it (mainly for visiting Mr. Gates's own web pages that tend to crash in other browsers). FF3 for me - or, when one wants a more lightweight browser, K-Meleon (Gecko-based just as FF)

I have just done the same and still think Firefox is better. At least there is a spell checker with FF and I would dread to think what I would be like without it!! However I think some websites especially e-Bay load a lot quicker to load on IE that FF. The font for Briskoda is different and bolder.

I have just noticed a problem. When I right click on links there is no option to open in a new tab only. I only have these options:

Open

Open in new window

Save Target as

Print Target

How do I do it and how again do you keep open the multiple tabs when you start?

[fluffmeister]

IE8 is fine imho, works perfectly for me on the windows machine at home. I have dumped Firefox on the Macbook now in favour of Safari 4 which so far just seems sweeeeet, slick and pretty fast.

May stick it onto the Windows Machine at home over the weekend.

IE8 has been fast and stable and the only glitch has been having to hit the compatibility button every now and again.

[fluffmeister]

MS make bad software/hardware ...fullstop

Sorry, that's utter ********!!!!!

And I do use a different OS's over different platforms.

[gadgetman]

How do I do it and how again do you keep open the multiple tabs when you start?

Hold CTRL to open new tabs. When you close IE or FF you should get a message as to what you want to happen with the open tabs.

[Jim H]

Hold CTRL to open new tabs. When you close IE or FF you should get a message as to what you want to happen with the open tabs.

Thanks, hold down ctrl to open a new tab, that's stupid, why can't you do it with a mouse click? Oh Hang on, it's Micro$oft!!

What I was meaning, can you get the it to open the same tabs you were looking at before you closed it, as you can in FF and Opera. So you always have open the website pages you look at the most when you start it.

[Fellwalker]

No to the original question, at least for me.

IE7 with ie7pro worked well.

IE8 had regular tab crashes even on sites that I regularly visit. Desktop has XP Pro and laptop has Vista Home Premium.

It has now been removed from both and I use Firefox 3. Very few issues at all.

[gadgetman]

What I was meaning, can you get the it to open the same tabs you were looking at before you closed it, as you can in FF and Opera. So you always have open the website pages you look at the most when you start it.

Yes, it should ask you. If not it's in the main page of options

[SnailUK]

What I was meaning, can you get the it to open the same tabs you were looking at before you closed it, as you can in FF and Opera. So you always have open the website pages you look at the most when you start it.

Just go tools->options, and add multiple home pages, and every time you open IE, it will open all your favourite sites.

[swedishskoda]

Even if this ad was retracted by MS it might still be convincing

[mannyo]

Same as my exp.

You ask it to start, and wait. And wait. And wait. Get board, load and install another browser before IE8 has even woken up.

Seriously, WTF does it do at start up? Read War & Peace cover to cover?

It loads a load of plugins, like any other browser. However the latest java update contains a plugin which causes IE8 to slow and respond poorly (something to do with its update check), the solution is to disable the plugin and IE8 is once again speedy.

[Guest musky]

Scuse my ignorance but how do you do this?

[mannyo]

Disable addins - Tools > internet options, programs tab and click "manage addons".

[Guest musky]

I''ve done this and it seems a little better, but as it was not the same everytime only use will tell if its permanently better, but thanks for now

[Burnsey]

Just done some tests on Chrome v Safari

On flickr, generally similar times, but safara takes on avg 4 sec's to open a set, chrome 3, and one took 20 secs to open on safari. Revisiting a site, both are quicker, and take about 2 secs to open things. So I guess it depends on whether you are similar websites and using locally saved cache etc.

Both substantially quicker than IE7, and a bit quicker than IE8 on a duo core 2Gz 4gb laptop.

[ncarring]

So, speaking as a 1.7GHz laptop user with 512MB of memory, what's a worthwhile browser for those of us who don't have the fancy duo-core hardware etc.?

On my other even older laptop I abandoned Firefox when it went to 3.0 because it was impossible to use the machine due to disk thrashing. I've found Opera to be generally more lightweight, and it has some nice usability features too, like a nice email client built in, for example.

Still have to use IE for some sites though, so I suppose I may as well upgrade my 6 to 8

[gadgetman]

If all you want is browsing, and not into add-ons, then give Google's Chrome a whirl Nick.

[ncarring]

If all you want is browsing, and not into add-ons, then give Google's Chrome a whirl Nick.

Depends on the add-ons. I used to use stuff like Adblock in Firefox, and a few other bits and pieces, but the Opera email client is very handy indeed (apart from obviously storing email in lots of different places in a proprietary format - easy to use though).

One day I will get round to trying Chrome. That'll be four different browsers on the same machine

['daiking']

Just installed WinXP and gone straight through the service packs/updates to IE8. So far it keeps crashing the tab I'm using, every 2 or 3 links (BBC News & Briskoda) so I've uninstalled it.

Back to IE6 until I can sort it.