Internet Explorer 8 Problems

Many users are complaining about some frequently seen Internet Explorer 8 problems that have been restricting the effectiveness of this web browser. There are many new security oriented features on Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), but more and more people are complaining that the browser takes too much time to load, or just freezes randomly. Admittedly this can be distressing, but there are some measures that can be taken up in order to fix this.

IE8 is the latest web browser being offered by Microsoft (it has subsequently been succeeded by Internet Explorer 9), and it was released on March 19, 2009. The web browser is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and even Windows 7. Key features of this version of Internet Explorer highlighted by Microsoft are better security measures, cascading style sheets, improvements in RSS and improved ease of use. Despite these improvements though, there are several IE8 problems that are regularly plaguing people around the world.

How to Fix and Repair Internet Explorer 8

If your browser hangs or freezes frequently, you must know that this is a problem that is not solely limited to this particular browser. Every web browser has some add-ons and plug-ins that automatically work with it, and these slow up the load time for the browser. These add-ons and plug-ins provide the basic features that you enjoy on this browser, and in order for you to make full use of them, they have to get stored up in the electronic memory first.

If you wish to see what all add-ons and plug-ins are working on your computer, follow these steps. Go to the 'Tools' menu and then click on 'Add-ons' or 'Manage Add-ons' (the keyboard shortcut for this is Control + Shift + A). You will now be able to view and manage the entire list of add-ons that are functioning on your computer. Sometimes, a corrupt add-on conflicts with a program on your machine, and this causes various problems to arise. In order to fix this you must right-click on your IE8 icon and then select 'Run Without Add-ons'. If the browser works perfectly now, it means that there is a corrupted add-on present on your machine. You can also run it without add-ons by going to the 'Start' menu, clicking on 'Run', typing 'iexplore.exe -extoff' and then hitting the Enter button.

In order to fix this, you must disable all add-ons and then enable them one by one and then use the web browser. This is a process that will take some time, but it will help you locate the corrupted add-on that is causing the problem. The presence of some computer viruses or malicious software can also lead to some IE8 problems. Not responding to any of your commands is just one of the many effects this will have on your machine. To get around this, install and upgrade a reliable antivirus software on your machine. Sometimes there are some settings on the antivirus software itself that will prevent IE8 from working. You will have to check this out by turning off the antivirus program and surfing some secured websites.

You can even choose to reset the Internet Explorer 8 browser, and this will restore all the settings of the application. If you are still facing problems after this, maybe you should just try another web browser. There are many different types that you can choose from.

Things to be Aware of

You must know that when any new program or application is released, there are bound to be some bugs and problems, initially. Over time, as more and more people face these bugs, the problems are solved by the creators. Sine IE8 is a relatively new application (though it is more than a year old now), some problems with Windows 7 and Adobe Flash have also been recorded.

Microsoft itself offers a guide to fix IE8 problems on their website, but the point is that your Internet browser needs to be working properly in order to access that page. It is sort of ironic, but this is something that Microsoft are notorious for. Also, since Microsoft has changed the way in which the web pages are rendered (or displayed) now, there are many websites that do not open properly because they have designed themselves to appear nicely in, you guessed it, earlier versions of Microsoft web browsers. This can severely restrict your ability to visit some pages over the Internet.

If your IE8 problems persist after many attempts to repair it, our advice is to simply switch to a different web browser. There are many choices available to you, and choosing a web browser created by Google will cause less glitches in your machine.