- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP
- Date added: March 19, 2009
- Total Downloads: 12,530,921
- Downloads last week: 52,549
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 1418 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 1418 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 321 user reviewsSee all 321 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
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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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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Version: Internet Explorer 8
Pros: smart filter (rogue virus downloader blocker)
phising filter
much better at blocking malware
fasterCons: these idiots up there are biasing the reviews
they just overrate firefox
i love IE 8
firefox 3.5.5 is just terribleSummary: really good browser
nothing more asked for -
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
Pros: None should have been left out of 7!
Cons: Will continue to use Firefox! Microsoft did no favors using resources for this memory hog. Too bad they did NOT leave this out of Windows 7 with Outlook express!. Microsoft should stay with what they are fairly good at which is operating systems.
Summary: Waste of hard drive space and time!
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0 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Internet Explorer 8
"internet explorer 8 BORING!!"
Pros: noooothing.
Cons: ie8 makes me feel BORING!!
Summary: i hate IE, FIREFOX is ROCK!!
- See all 321 user reviews Write review
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