Internet Explorer 8

[Church Mouse]

I have a Vista laptop and a Vista Desktop.

I have been offered update to I.E.8 on my laptop but have not been offered it on my desktop.

I have read conflicting reports about I.E.8 and am unsure as to whether I should download and install it on one or both of my pc's.

Any views on this would be appreciated.

Thank you

[Kymmy]

Before we get the "avoid IE8 like the plague" brigade I'll just chip and and say that if you're using IE7 it's probably more a security risk than IE8. There's a few more features and has been OK security wise for me at least (I tend to use it as I can't be bothered with much else though I have installed Firefox recently purely for the Firebug CSS add-on)

If you want it on your other PC just go to www.microsoft.com/uk/IE8

[idi banashapan]

I use ie8 on all my machines and prefer it to any other browser. It does what i want (views websites) and is secure. If ever I try another browser, I always end up back with ie8.

[oliver1948uk]

IE8 works fine for me.

[alexcopeland]

I use IE8 on the family laptop however my girl friend prefers Google Chrome. IE8 does the job for me however my girl friend swears by Google Chrome. I don't like chrome as you as a user are feeding Google with to much information based on your usage. Not very private to me.

[Church Mouse]

Thank you all very much.

Needed reassuring, after reading bad reports, I have downloaded I.E.8 onto my desktop and all seems fine.

Found it slightly confusing when I was given the options but then found that I could return to them later, if I want.

I will install on laptop.

Thank you all again

[toonlight]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Before we get the "avoid IE8 like the plague" brigade I'll just chip and and say that if you're using IE7 it's probably more a security risk than IE8. There's a few more features and has been OK security wise for me at least (I tend to use it as I can't be bothered with much else though I have installed Firefox recently purely for the Firebug CSS add-on)

If you want it on your other PC just go to www.microsoft.com/uk/IE8

Closed software (bad) = IE8
Open source software (good) = others


Heres one, IE 8 is a like bucket of spanners in a fish & chip shop - useless in another form words - buggy, security nightmare, patchy with secure updates , spammer best friend = sh*tty browser out right !

Avoid at ALL costs!

Best to use a non Microsh*t based browser like Firefox, opera (hint: very secure) chrome etc & same for your email programme too.

The only reason that IE 8 works so well, as it's written for poor coded web sites (theirs a lot) not high-grade like Firefox etc are written in mind. As is IE8 it's self poorly constructed/written to make sure you can surf any web site be it infected or just poorly written/coded. So ask yourself why put yourself at risk at every time you surf the web or do internet banking.
Last but not least never ever do internet banking with IE8 at all, if you do kiss your money good-bye!

[Stuart]

toonlight: ALL browsers have security issues. IE does, as do both Firefox and Opera.

IE 8 is quite a secure browser, and is a massive improvement over previous IEs.

I speak as a fan (and regular user) of Opera.

I won't, however, trust Chrome, as I seem to remember that early versions, despite being Open Source, had a tendency to report what you browsed to Google. Something with the OS community took a while to spot.

[idi banashapan]

Originally Posted by toonlight

Closed software (bad) = IE8
Open source software (good) = others


Heres one, IE 8 is a like bucket of spanners in a fish & chip shop - useless in another form words - buggy, security nightmare, patchy with secure updates , spammer best friend = sh*tty browser out right !

Avoid at ALL costs!

Best to use a non Microsh*t based browser like Firefox, opera (hint: very secure) chrome etc & same for your email programme too.

The only reason that IE 8 works so well, as it's written for poor coded web sites (theirs a lot) not high-grade like Firefox etc are written in mind. As is IE8 it's self poorly constructed/written to make sure you can surf any web site be it infected or just poorly written/coded. So ask yourself why put yourself at risk at every time you surf the web or do internet banking.
Last but not least never ever do internet banking with IE8 at all, if you do kiss your money good-bye!

lol - you obviously know a lot about web browsers. lol!!! check your facts before spouting crap. and no, I'm not going to do your homework for you - you go and get the REAL facts. you might be surprised (if you dare to look outside of wherever it is you dwell) about how secure IE8 actually is compared to other browsers.

oh, and btw - open source means the community can produce whatever to bolt on. unless you can code very well, you'll have no idea what you are adding into your browser. closed source = more secure, imo

[toonlight]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

toonlight: ALL browsers have security issues. IE does, as do both Firefox and Opera.

IE 8 is quite a secure browser, and is a massive improvement over previous IEs.

I speak as a fan (and regular user) of Opera.

I won't, however, trust Chrome, as I seem to remember that early versions, despite being Open Source, had a tendency to report what you browsed to Google. Something with the OS community took a while to spot.

Yes.. & no Stuart, well IE 8 has most of the holes it its browser to start with than others. You make the point about other browsers yes, they do but they are patched up or are updated/upgraded much faster than IE8 ever is - which is every other month (IE8) or so when some one outs to the public a hole in Microsoft buggy browser.

Tho what about the hackers/spammers newly discovered holes in IE8 too or others, as more people use IE8 the hacker/spammer etc will target it mostly.

As like the apple users vs windows saying they don't need antivirus software as apple O/S is much more secure, wrong you need it - It's been proven in past, I know I'm going off track but I'm using above as example for reference for both sides.

Waiting for a warm reply, Stuart + thanks for the informative input too

I only have IE8 because Demand 5 player requires it..and to get any OS updates.

Not had any problems using it and I liked the way it adopted all my FF bookmarks.

[toonlight]

Originally Posted by idi banashapan

lol - you obviously know a lot about web browsers. lol!!! check your facts before spouting crap. and no, I'm not going to do your homework for you - you go and get the REAL facts. you might be surprised (if you dare to look outside of wherever it is you dwell) about how secure IE8 actually is compared to other browsers.

oh, and btw - open source means the community can produce whatever to bolt on. unless you can code very well, you'll have no idea what you are adding into your browser. closed source = more secure, imo

Well it's known that IE browsers are buggy & patchy to start with so one point, but the most important is, it's get tagarted most as most people use it so less security hence why I said it pointless
Website coding has come a long way from the past form, no I don't know much about web site coding but I know & have read report pieces over the years about how in the past some still now is some still a poorly written browser IE product line was one, open source is the way to go for the future not Closed source as is IE8.

Remember back when FF was just out and IE7@ was the main player, it was nightmare to surf, on most web pages as it was all poorly written web sites build for IE software.... I do. Then the web site had to improve/upgrade for FF/others to surf site of interest, then forward on to current years, websites have come a long way but still IE8 lags behind the rest, Microsoft copied tabbed browsing from FF they copied it off Opera for comparison. All I'm saying is that IE brand is out dated & is always playing catch up with open source browser.

idi banashapan plz remember this not the flame section, so keep the harsh words to a min, ok bud

[idi banashapan]

toonlight - you presented your opinion as fact. what you have spewed simply is not true. it may be your opinion, but it is not the truth. IE8 is one of the most secure browsers available to date (search google for 'browser security tests 2010' and you'll see that - the first in the list of results is from NSS Labs - http://nsslabs.com/browser-security and straight to their findings - http://nsslabs.com/test-reports/NSSL...Summ_FINAL.pdf). coupled with the fact it IS closed source and from a massive SW developer who patch and update the moment an issue is found, I'd personally rather use IE8 over any other browser. it's not 100%, of course. no browser is. if you want to be 100% safe on the net, the only way is to not use the internet at all - or at least, use someone else's machine!!

I have no issue with your opinion that you'd rather use something other than IE8 - you quite evidently have issues with Microsoft (even your signature at the time I write this backs that up), for reasons I don't really care for, but you can't go round scare-mongering saying that if you use IE8 for banking you'll lose all you money, et cetera. if that were true, they simply would not be allowed to release the browser and advertise it as secure.

you need to be careful what you say. not everyone is computer savvy and your misleading and almost propaganda type of rant is not going to give people a fair view of what is available to them. by all means, supply links that backup your claims, and your statements may hold more value, but I doubt you'll find any studies that prove each time you use IE8 for banking then the next time you check your account it will be empty. the fact IE8 is business standard for the majority implies it is trusted and secure.

[fudge]

I have vista , and updated to ie 8 a few months ago .

At first i had a lot of problems . ie my lap top was very very slow plus my wifi printer stoped working.
After a few days the lap top picked up speed and seems fine now . The only prob i still have though is i can not get the wi fi printer to work . I have even uninstalled it and reinstalled it to no joy, so had to go out and buy a new printer not wifi though.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by toonlight

Well it's known that IE browsers are buggy & patchy to start with so one point, but the most important is, it's get tagarted most as most people use it so less security hence why I said it pointless
Website coding has come a long way from the past form, no I don't know much about web site coding but I know & have read report pieces over the years about how in the past some still now is some still a poorly written browser IE product line was one, open source is the way to go for the future not Closed source as is IE8.

Remember back when FF was just out and IE7@ was the main player, it was nightmare to surf, on most web pages as it was all poorly written web sites build for IE software.... I do. Then the web site had to improve/upgrade for FF/others to surf site of interest, then forward on to current years, websites have come a long way but still IE8 lags behind the rest, Microsoft copied tabbed browsing from FF they copied it off Opera for comparison. All I'm saying is that IE brand is out dated & is always playing catch up with open source browser.

Ironically, you say Open Source is the way forward, but many of Firefox's best features were copied from Opera, which is a closed source browser.

Also, Firefox was already established when IE7 launched. In fact, it's arguable that the security problems in IE6 (combined with the fact that Opera was then either paid for or ad supported) caused FF to be so successful.

In fact, apart from the odd security patch, Microsoft had stopped development on IE. It was the success of Firefox that caused them to reconsider that decision and develop IE7.

Finally, please remember (when spouting about how secure FF is) that there have been several months where the number of security problems CERT advised of in FF has been greater than the number of problems they advised of in IE.

I am not saying FF is an insecure browser. It is not. What I am saying is that the security issue is not as clear cut as you appear to think.