- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows XP/2003/Vista
- Date added: March 19, 2009
- Total Downloads: 14,901,562
- Downloads last week: 56,996
- Product Ranking: #2 in Web Browsers
- See full specifications
- CNET Community
- This product is on 93 member lists. Add to my list Add to my Watch List
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 1547 votes
See all user reviews
CNET Editor's Note: The Download Now link will take you to the Microsoft download site, where you can select your operating system.
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.
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User reviews
- All versions: 2.5 starsout of 1547 votes
- 5 stars
- 4 stars
- 3 stars
- 2 stars
- 1 stars
- Current version: 2.4 starsout of 455 votes
- 5 stars
- 4 stars
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- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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4 stars
11 out of 13 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"Stable, more secure. Loads pages faster than IE7 or 6!"
Pros: It's STABLE, doesn't crash constantly like IE7 did! Appears to have more security and COMPATIBILITY MODE really works!
Cons: Lots of new features I'm not familiar with and will take some time to figure out what they are and whether I can use them.
Summary: I had on recommendation of many people waited to download Internet Explorer 8, but actually wish I had done it SOONER! The first 6-months of life with IE7 were hell with repeated crashes and restarts.I had one download from a Microsoft Website that would not even run correctly at all and I had to resort to another site with an older version of it before it would even run correctly. The first time I fired up IE8 it ran seamlessly and has to this day so far! The first thing I noticed was how much faster pages load in IE8 versus IE7 which was a "snail". I also notice a significant change in the interface and am still dazed and confused with all the new features. I haven't figured out what ACCELERATORS is yet and I just learned what INPRIVATE BROWSING is now today on CNET! The install went very smoothly and all of my settings from IE7 were retained! While I am one who absolutely detests Mozilla FireFox a feature from there has been added. If you do have a web page crash, (I had one due to some server problem), the session can be recovered and you're right back where you were before the crash! That is super nice! The biggest drawbacks are that it takes awhile to get used to this browser, sort of like the change in Microsoft Office 2007 whose new interface I now really like but were very much a shock when I first brought it up! I've never seen features like these in any previous version or competitive browser and so it's going to take awhile to acclimate! I anticipate a good experience with this browser and not having the security issues inherent with the snoopy Google Chrome or the text editing issues with Mozilla FireFox. The greatest thing I get the RUN button on downloaded applications instead of trying to figure out where the browser just put the install file! I can use that with greater peace of mind too, as Active-X is far better secured in this browser than any other previous. Overall I would say good job Microsoft! I like IE8!
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4 stars
11 out of 14 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"product ok"
Pros: Not many signifiant ones. Maybe speed...
Cons: Not much improvement from IE7...
Summary: Ok browser, but Safari/Firefox/Chrome are way better.
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4 stars
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"Better then IE7"
Pros: I like all the new features
Cons: None at this time
Summary: I have not had any problems like the other posts. Speed seems fine, and new features are handy
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5 stars
11 out of 15 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"Of course it's the best !!!"
Pros: It's very secure and you'll get good and satisfying support from Microsoft, lots of security updates. better integration with other Microsoft products than other browsers. It's my most preferred browser.
Cons: For some tasks you'll just need another browser.
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4 stars
11 out of 15 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"Works Great on Windows 7"
Pros: The Superbar/taskbar shows thumnail previews of each tab
Jumplists are great as well
Works better than Vista did on 7Cons: Sometimes Flash Player and Shockwave Player stop working all of a sudden. To solve this, I need to restart the whole computer (logging on and off don't work) to make the players work again.
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4 stars
10 out of 14 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"good browser"
Pros: I like it very much. "easy" interface, works great
Cons: slows down if you open couple tabs at the same time
Summary: I like explorer much better than Mozilla. I like it's interface and it really works good (unless for me :) )
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5 stars
12 out of 17 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"What a great product from Microsoft"
Pros: I have used other browsers which causes freezing and memory hogs like firefox, IE 8 is one fast, slick browser I ever come across with. Defo staying with IE8 for my internet browsing needs.
Cons: Nothing really wrong with it. Just a little suggestion that it could do with some themes to download to make the browser personalised to your liking.
Summary: Very reliable browser and I would recommend anyone to give it a try as you might be tempted to come back using Microsoft's products again.
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5 stars
10 out of 14 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"RSS reader, bookmarks/history/previews integration"
Pros: Compatibility, stability,integration w/Bing, translator, windows live. Everything is made for IE, even G toolbar. Why should MS offer a choice of the browser? Does Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota offer you a choice for tires/audio/oil/motor? That�s stupid
Cons: Not too many add-ons.
Summary: Even if you don�t like you will use it. And it works, just like the others. With every release it gets better and fanboys won�t accept it even if it works as expected.
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4 stars
6 out of 8 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"It is better than Internet Explorer 7."
Pros: - Less lags
- Improved speed when opening new tab
- Faster than everCons: - Still slow when opening a new tab
Summary: IE 8 had some improvements from IE 7. IE 7, by far one of the worst IE I had ever used. IE 8 improves in speed, and memory usage. It is very light and fast. But one thing it is still lacking, is the speed when opening a new tab, though it is faster than IE 7. Overall I love IE 8.
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4 stars
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"A great internet browser!!"
Pros: This product is great....its fast and it has many new and cool features. Also its safer.
Cons: The only con about IE8 is that on occasion it could crash or freeze.
Summary: Great product....i personally like it better than firefox because of its new features and i think its overall better. Is faster, safer, and reliable. The only con is it crashes on occasion. Also the compatability with this browser is amazing. I highly reccomend it to everyone.
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