Thinking of removing Internet Explorer 8 beta.

If you are like me and have been frustrated to find a lot of sites not working as they should with Internet Explorer 8 beta, there is a way to keep it installed and working.

If you have a web site, it is a good idea to test your site with Internet Explorer 8 beta, because many sites will be broken. Microsoft reportedly are moving to greater standards compliance. My feeling is this is going to hurt Microsoft in the short term, as so many sites will not work as they should. People will probably just dump Microsoft's Internet Explorer and move to a solution that just works for them, like Firefox 3 or Google Chrome.

However, if Internet Explorer 8 is more standards compliant, then it makes sense to persist and use it to check sites, because none of us want our site to cause grief to visitors. Even if our sites worked pre Internet Explorer 8, visitors won't care whose fault it is, and we will lose business if our sites don't work.

I have to admit I was at the point of regretting installing Internet Explorer 8 beta and was thinking of removing it, as it was causing too much grief. I actually run three browsers which are Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google's Chrome. Google's Chrome for speed and simplicity, Firefox for spellchecking when the others don't work as they should, and Internet Explorer as it works generally better on more sites, until Internet Explorer 8 beta that is.

In Internet Explorer 8 beta there is a compatibility mode you can run which temporarily switches the browser so it runs like Internet Explorer 7. The problem though is this feature doesn't always work as it should and it makes life even more frustrating.

The following is how I get around the problem.

When checking sites for future compatibility with Internet Explorer 8, I simply use Internet Explorer 8 beta as it has been installed.

Once I've done my testing, I set Internet Explorer 8 beta to always be in compatibility mode and this gives me a very stable experience. When I want to test again I can turn the compatibility mode off. This approach gives me the best of both worlds.

To set Internet Explorer 8 beta compatibility mode always on you do the following:

Select Tools -> Compatibility View Settings
Tick the option Display all websites in Compatibility View
Click Close

Now the frustration of using Internet Explorer 8 beta on a regular basis because of compatibility issues is gone.

For more solutions like this please check MyAnswers. When I and my clients have problems with computers I often document the solution like I have done above. Some problems can take hours to solve and I recall one problem took over twenty hours to solve. There are now nearly 2,000 solutions I've documented over the years, and having ready access to these solutions saves my clients a great deal of time and money.

Chances are if you have a problem, then others are having the same problem. You can of course search the Internet and if you are very experienced, piece together the solution. The problem with the Internet is there are a lot of solutions which are very poor and I've found through some bad experiences, that some will easily damage your computer making things worse. The solutions I provide are the solutions that actually solved the problem for the particular situation and so there is no need to go through hundreds of posts to find a solution.

You can also find MyAnswers on the front page of JustLocal.

Enjoy

- Kelvin Eldridge