Internet Explorer 8 is here!

Microsoft's browser, Internet Explorer, just received its major update on Thursday, March 19, 2009. It has been in Beta for quite a while and the RTW (Release to Web) is finally here. It received a full 5 stars on CNET Download.com however its far from perfect. IE is easily the most popular browser obviously because it is bundled with Microsoft Windows. However, new features are not enough to drag users away from alternatives like Firefox. IE's market share will still be chipped away.

Internet Explorer 8:
85/100 (Great)
Worth Trying. Most Secure and Fastest IE Version Yet.

New Features:
Find out all new features and screenshots by clicking here.

Private Browsing (inPrivate):
A feature being added to most browsers. Web history, cookies, cache are deleted when the browser window closes.

Relative Color Coded Tabs:
A feature from IE7, tabs are color coded depending on where they are opened from. Middle click to open links in new tab, just like in any tabbed browser.

Web Slices:
A unique feature of IE8 and no other browser even with add-ons. View active live feeds rather than just the title of a web page. Examples include Suggested Sites, eBay bidding right from Favorites bar, and more.

Accelerators:
A unique feature of IE8 and no other browser. Highlight any term or phrase or easily search the term from a particular search engine. Accelerators, like add-ons can easily be installed.

Add-ons and Extensions:
At the Official IE8 Add-ons site, there is a large collection of add-ons like Firefox. However, unlike Firefox, they require administrative permissions on Vista and Windows 7 to install for they install for all users, which is significantly more difficult than Firefox. In addition, the collection is not as large.

Compatibility Viewing Mode:
A feature that was used in Beta and RC1 for viewing web pages designed for older browsers. However, its a bit strange how its still here for sites like Google and the browser is considered a final release.

SmartScreen Filter:
Basically an improvement of the Phishing Filter. Like Firefox, also protects from malware sites. Test it here. This site is NOT a real phishing site. Try clicking Continue. It doesn't work. Contoso Bank is a MICROSOFT made up company to test their filter. Don't worry, the site does no harm at all. Note that the filter might not be turned on by default.

Smart Location Bar:
More options are available in the location bar.

Smart Search Bar:
Search suggestions including a preview on various searches such as Wikipedia available.

Crash Recovery:
When the browser crashes, the tabs can be restored.

Tab Isolation:
A feature available in Google Chrome: Each tab (but not plugin like Chrome) is ran as its own process so they can't affect each other. However this often causes high resource consumption.

Domain Highlighting:
Main domains are highlighted to identify fake sites. Available in Firefox through the Locationbar² add-on. IE8's and Locationbar²'s version is more powerful than Chrome's. In Chrome, even sub-domains are highlighted which partially defeats the purpose of the domain highlighting.

Delete Browsing History:
Just like older versions, deleting history takes forever. It not only opens 2 progress windows, then closes one after a few seconds, it takes at least 15 seconds, compared to less than 3 seconds on other browsers.

Installation:
Requires a restart which is a bit annoying.

Performance:
Faster than older versions, but still quite slow. Its also slow just like IE7 in opening new tabs.

Web Standards Support:
IE8 is the last of the popular browsers to pass Acid2. However, it still fails miserably at Acid3. When the test first starts, a text box with source code opens with a score of 12 on the back. Then after around 10 seconds, the box goes away increasing the score to 20. It loads the boxes in the correct position this time however, this was not the case in IE7 (which fails miserably at both tests). IE currently scores the lowest of all the major browsers.

After around 10 more seconds:
Acid3 Score Comparison:
Firefox 3 (Gecko): 71/100 (FAIL)
Firefox 3.1 Beta (Gecko): 93/100 (FAIL)

Chrome 1 (Webkit): 79/100 (FAIL)
Chrome 2 Beta (Webkit): 100/100 however does not pass other parts (FAIL)

Safari 3 (Webkit): 75/100 (FAIL)
Safari 4 Beta (Webkit): 100/100 (PASS)

Opera 9 (Presto): 85/100 (FAIL)
Opera 10 Alpha (Presto): 100/100 (PASS)

Internet Explorer 7 (Trident): 14/100 and also destroys the rest of the page (FAILS miserably)
Internet Explorer 8 (Trident): 20/100 (FAIL-See screenshot above)

Even if you never intend on using IE, I recommend updating anyway as it is tightly integrated with your computer and it would make your whole computer safer. However, it still carries IE's reputation of being slow at security patches, one of the lowest on web standards, etc... For a safe and speedy and fully customized web experience, get Mozilla Firefox as your main browser.

Update to Internet Explorer 8 today!

Get Mozilla Firefox, the award winning browser, as your default main browser.


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