Browsers forum: Should I upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 or 8?

IE8 is great, move on you'l like it

No. Download Mozilla Thunderbird and use that instead. Much better! While you are at it change to Firefox as well.

ie 8 is pure hogwash slowed my dell down so i went back to ie7 which is better than 6

I am forced to use IE to deal with formulars in several site pages, particularly banks (ITAU is one of them), online tickets sellers and others. Those formulars do not work properly with Firefox 3.0x

I have tried several times to upgrade my WinXP Home to IE7 but the installation always fails at its last phase. I am redirected to a MS page with lots of rather criptic "solutions" to **their** problem, but nothing I tried ever worked. So I gave up and have to live with old IE6, no way to replace it. Even if it is not, by far, my preference.

I've upgraded my hardware recently and along with it from W2K to WinXP SP2. I use IE6. Why? Because (A) I'm in India and I use my system for inter-acting with Indian Govt.bodies [Corporate Affairs and Tax websites]. They insist on IE6 + Java5 + Adobe7! Anything older or NEWER (!) will not work. (B) I also had this attitude that the older the program the better - nothing like running Lotus Symphony from 1990 if your system permits!
However, recently I've seen notices on YouTube saying they won't support IE6 much longer. Is there anyway I can leave IE6 in the background and use another program for other than Govt.interaction?

Thanks in advance.

Although I am the first to admit that updating can seem like an unwarranted waste of time and computer resources, for safety's sake upgrade away from Internet Explorer 6!

As of the 10th of January 2009 Secunia reports some 142 vulnerabilities in IE6, many of which remain unpatched. That leaves you, the user, completely open to malicious attacks.

In addition less and less web developers are checking compatibility with Internet explorer 6, in time many sites will be unusable.

I would highly recommend trying Microsoft's latest incarnation of Internet Explorer (8), for both security, future compatibility, while also taking advantage of the many improved technologies incorporated.

Alternatively use 3rd party software (Firefox, Chrome, Opera) which would easily allow you to uninstall it if you were unsatisfied with its functionality.

I hope this helps.

hello, Marty!

as i know, there's no trouble if you would upgrade your IE version. so, why don't you give IE8 a shot? you PC specification does meet all IE8 system requirements.(except you use a cracked windows, LOL)
IE8 are easy to install, no need to connect to the internet to install it. much security update, and almost perfect for home using browser.

but, you should check out opera performance. i have tried firefox, safari, chrome, IE, and opera. and i think opera is the best from all of those browser.

but it always you to decide.

cheers!

Whichever version you choose, 7 or 8, doesn't really matter. But for god's sake UPGRADE! IE6 is too old, too full of security holes, too full of custom code that doesn't comply with today's net-standards too be a viable alternative.

Personally, I use IE for ONE thing, and ONE thing only: View Microsoft's website when I have to search the Knowledge Base. And sadly, that's too often.

IE7 is a bit more mature, so by the old axiom "1.0 is beta, 2.0 is version 1", you should upgrade to 8.

I highly recommend you try other browsers though. My personal favourite is Opera, but a lot of people use Firefox. They are both superior to Internet Explorer when it comes to doing things online, and especially Opera. It's a 27 MB download for the Windows-version, but with it you can drop the stand-alone feedreader (usually around 10 MB), the stand-alone mail-client (usually around 10-60 MB), the stand-alone bittorrent-client (anything from 900 KB to 25 MB), you can stop using Notepad as a clipboard, you can sync your bookmarks, history, toolbars, Speed Dial, searches and Notes, you can skin it, make new skins for it, customize it with JavaScript and CSS. That's all I can think of now, but there are even more. It was the first browser with tabbed browsing that everyone else now has. And all this is built-in. It's also for all your computers, whether they be Windows, Mac, Linux, laptops, cellphones, PDAs, netbooks, etc. It's also the highest ranked browser on Secunias webpage, a company that tests security.

In any case, if you should decide to try, and use Opera, you should upgrade your Internet Explorer to 8, because even if you don't use it to surf online, IE6 is still a gateway for people wanting to access your computer. Always have updated security. You wouldn't use an outdated anti-virus program, right? And so you shouldn't use an outdated web-browser either. Even Microsoft now say it is too old, and it wreaks havoc with webpages because you have to use ten times the amount of time trying to back-code for it. If you use 10 mins to code a page, you use 2 hours to back-code it for it to work in IE6. Give the Net a chance, and stop using IE6 now.

I have a year-old HP laptop with Vista. I did upgrade to IE8 with no problems.
My husband has an HP laptop that was one of the last XPs to be found, and he upgraded to IE8, also with no problems.
I am still a little leery of upgrading my old HP desktop that has XP. It's probably about 6 years old and getting a bit slow.

Should I upgrade the desktop? Can I still just upgrade to IE7? If I am going to upgrade it, I'd rather go straight to IE8, but I have concerns that IE8 won't be compatible because that computer is pretty old.

Thank you for any thoughts on this!

Marty, I wouldn't. I tried the upgrades & my system ran worse than before! To answer your other question. It's easy to upgrade & it's easy to uninstall if you don't like it. If you're happy running IE6 stay with that, don't bother with the upgrades. Good Luck!

I had the same problem with IE8. I was blocked off from my email connection and desperate for help. I got on the phone and was connected to a tech IN INDIA!!! The tech had a thick accent, and I couldn't understand him, and he could not understand me. At any rate, I junked IE8 and returned to IE7. Now I use IE7 only for e-mail--too lazy to switch after all these years. But everything else is Firefox and Google.

I feel the same way about Amazon which I just discovered uses the Phillipines and a lousy phone connection for tech support. I could not understand the tech there either.

Do you mean that your friend lost the navigation bar on HIS website (that he constructed with Microsoft Publisher) or on YOUR website? That's not clear from your post.

What happened when you viewed your website in IE8 using IE7 compatibility mode? And how does that website look when viewed in Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera?

Kees

Personally I have had no problems with IE8--then again nor did I with 7
I am running with xp pro

I believe in the old addage if it's not broke, don't fix it. I would leave well enough alone seeing as everything is working just fine for you. If you do decide to upgrade your Browser go to 7 as you will be able to remove it if it gives you problems. upgradeing to 8 has given a lot of people various problems so be wary of 8

I say if everything is working OK now, DEFINATELY NOT! I upgraded to IE7 and have had nothing but trouble ever since. I had no trouble before I upgraded but I did at THEIR recommendation. NOW I have crashes EVERY time I'm on the internet and I send reports of the problems, they keep sending Windows updates nearly every day, yet the crashes continue. Like another user said, "If it aint broke, don't fix it!"!!!