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- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP
- Date added: March 19, 2009
- Total Downloads: 12,552,435
- Downloads last week: 52,523
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 1421 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on March 19, 2009
Internet Explorer 8 addresses just about all of the major concerns that users and critics have had with the world's most used browser. Whether they get answered in a way you like is another matter.
There are several new and interesting features. Web Slices lets you save predefined sections of a Web page for at-a-glance viewing. Instead of going to a traffic Web site for updates, the latest commuting news comes to you. Similarly, Accelerators make repetitive tasks one-click behaviors, for instance finding directions or blogging. InPrivate browsing introduces a cache and history on-off switch, while related tabs are color-coded and automatically reorganized as you open them. There's also tab sandboxing, which means that when a tab crashes, IE itself won't, and it even tries to resurrect the page that crashed.
There's a greater emphasis on Web standards and security than before. The SmartScreen and cross-site scripting filters throw up a red warning page when you're about to visit an unsafe site. There's also domain highlighting, which grays out the name of the URL you're looking at except for the domain itself. This sounds simple, but effectively draws attention to spoofed site URLs. There's also a compatibility button so that sites designed specifically for IE 7 and earlier can still be viewed.
IE 8 lacks a default "smart" location bar that many other browsers have, but you can search your history and most visited pages from there. Also, the installation process still requires a reboot--unimpressive, to say the least. Drawbacks aside, there's no reason to not upgrade if you're an old fan of IE, and there's even a few things in IE 8 for new users.
Publisher's description
From Microsoft :Internet Explorer 8 adds accelerators to provide instant access to information like maps, web searches, translations, email, blogging, and more; faster performance; a smart address bar; improved privacy protection; and Compatibility View for displaying websites designed for older browsers.
CNET Editor's Note: The Download Now link will take you to the Microsoft download site, where you can select your operating system.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 2.4 stars out of 1421 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 324 user reviewsSee all 324 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"its ok but needs to be better"
Pros: nice lay out, simple to use
Cons: but the smart screen filter doesn't work, the content filter is out-dated, it is very slow to load and tries to take over all of your web-based applications
Summary: microsoft failed this time
and there arent enough add-ons!
Updated on Nov 24, 2009 -
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"I'm glad I switched to Firefox."
Pros: Easy to use, decent layout.
Cons: Lots of popups on every site, horrible security, doesn't look professional at all, cannot add or delete themes, slows down the computer many times, always crashed, upgrading to the newest version doesn't help much, freezes a lot, and so many more.
Summary: As suggested in the title, I regretted even installing it after realizing that Firefox is a much better browser. The only things I find awesome about Internet Explorer is that it's easy to use and it has a decent layout. However, in the con side, th... read more >>
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0 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
Pros: none don't download
Cons: Does not shut down properly. Looses cookies. Areal pain in the behind.
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1 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"Internet Explorer makes it EASY for advertisers"
Pros: Layout and ease of use
Cons: Everyone MUST use it their way...NOT the way the user wants!
Summary: Internet Explorer is a deliberate attempt by Microsoft to generate a false sense of security through ease of use. With the experience, knowledge and resources at their dispossal, they still cannot get it right? Planned obsolecence at its best he... read more >>
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0 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"horrible, doesn't work at all. don't install."
Pros: it's new...
Cons: it clearly doesn't work. broken pages. it is almost always the browser that has problems.
Summary: what was Seth Rosenblatt thinking when he wrote a five star rating? he obviously never used it. it fails continuously. the very first page displayed had a problem and it got worse from there. why would anyone install this? i don't normally write abo... read more >>
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