- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows XP/2003/Vista
- Date added: March 19, 2009
- Total Downloads: 13,123,301
- Downloads last week: 54,266
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 1470 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
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: 2.5 stars out of 1470 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 373 user reviewsSee all 373 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: Internet Explorer 8
Pros: none that I have seen
Cons: Slower than Firefox and has huge safety gaps
Summary: Get Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or any other web browser, they are better than IE.
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0 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
Pros: It is fast for all types of computers and Internet connections.
Cons: Sometimes, it stucks.
Summary: Just installs the updates at the time of installing. It makes it best from good.
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0 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
Pros: Nothing specially just a mouse.
Cons: Some times the pc freezes in the middle of an important job causing delays and frustration to the user.
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0 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
Pros: Looks good, fast enough, has enough features, reliable, works with all sites
Cons: I can't see any negatives (but then again I'm using 64bit version on high end gaming computer - maybe slower or weaker computers might have issues I don't know).
Summary: I would flip from firefox to google to safari to opera to [place all other browsers here], and in the end I always end up back to old reliable here - the others just have little quirks or flaws to them that keep them from being as solid all around a... read more >>
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"Another microsoft piece of crap!"
Pros: None that I can see.!
Cons: Bloated, slow-loading, slow browsing, still lacking add-ons the likes of which Firefox has been offering for YEARS!
Summary: Microsoft is still playing catchup to the likes of Firefox and others. IE8 is everything that is wrong with Micosoft--huge, bulky, thinks it owns the world. Bugs and vlunerabilities galore. Takes forever to load on smaller systems. Dont even try... read more >>
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