Ok. I confess. I don't use Internet Explorer 8 as my default web browser (in fact, I do not even have it installed on any of my production machines -- I do have Internet Explorer 7 on the Windows boxes). So why am I writing about it?
A client called the other day. His machine was "so slow" he wanted to buy a new computer "now". With a machine about 5 years old, and a keen interest in computing, this seems logical ... right? After all, this keen interest in computing has not only presented some unique challenges over the years ... it is good job security for me.
When Windows7 is in full release and has been out for a few months, we will get this guy a Windows7 machine. Until then, we don't need to do so. Why?
In one of his experimental moods, he installed MSOffice2007 while still running WindowsXP SP2. He allowed WindowsXP SP3 to load on the machine and has installed all of the MSOffice2007 updates -- and Internet Explorer 8. Concerned about the resource load on his machine, a couple of weeks ago, he uninstalled MSOffice2007. His machine started freezing ... Microsoft (and Windows) Update no longer ran ... etc. He though it was related to Firefox3 so downloaded Safari and uninstalled Firefox.
Ok, here's the fun. The MSOffice2007 uninstall removed many components of IE8. Admit it or not, Microsoft does have an interdependent relationship between Internet Explorer and its operating system Explorer function.
Â
So if this is happening to you ...
1. I downloaded the IE8 setup (which took quite a while to run).
2. Just for grins, I installed Google's Chrome which is now using as his default browser.
I was able to then successfuly cleanup, defrag, and backup his machine (did I mention, Norton Ghost had started erroring out when trying to backup)?
Â
The moral of the story ...
Some programs don't want to be uninstalled.
Â
Update: 1/11/2010 -- By way of disclosure, I now have Internet Explorer 8 on one of my production machines. It is moving quite stably, though I had to update some of the add-ins (like google translator) manually.
Â
Â
recommend
Facebook
Twitter
bookmark 
print
Comments: 39
The big hint here is that once IE8 is installed on XP SP3 and updated, it doesn't uninstall without major instability on the system. Sometimes its better to install it but use another browser for surfing. It isn't supposed to be as bad on Vista, but that has other issues.
May your sheep soon stop bleeting and produce keystroke responses smooth as lanolin.
Anyone using Google Chrome should be warned to NOT UNINSTALL. Back when I was running XP and IE6 my husband suggested using Google Chrome. I took the bait and installed it. As soon as I installed it I had issued with several sites. Gather being the biggest. It wouldn't keep me logged in.
I got so mad one day I uninstalled it. Bad move. It corrupted my account on my PC and I couldn't get on the internet at all. We had to wipe out my PC and start from scratch.
Chrome has gotten a lot better since it was first released. It uninstalls clean now and, more importantly, is the smoothest browser I've tried with gather (of Safari, Firefox, IE6. IE7, IE8, Opera, Chrome, Maxtron).
I've had no trouble on Gather with Firefox.
Agreed - If I am not using Chrome on Gather it is Firefox (now with version 3.5x).
Until I figured out I could fix it with Firefox I had to apologize to certain people that I couldn't visit their articles.
Sometimes things IN my computer now just don't respond - like my picture files or dial up button. At worse, rebooting fixes that every time - but I don't have to do that very often. Going slow and careful seems to be the ticket.
I use firefox but have I.E. (whatever is latest) on here.
and probably wouldn't know what I was looking at anyway.
If you got this in August, does it have Vista? If so, SP2 will help (over SP1), but another thing is getting the junk off that HP adds to get advertising revenue. Many of these programs are included in windows startup and really drag the machine down -- especially since these are usually 32-bit apps (and to use 7GB, you have a 64-bit version of the operating system). Download CCleaner, go to TOOLS, STARTUP, and disable the extraneous applications and reboot to and see if that helps. [I like CCleaner rather than using MSConfig because it is easier to enable things again if the disable was in error).
You might also see if this qualified for a free Windows7 upgrade from HP, in which case you will need to contact them to get the upgrade CD. 7 is smoother and is using memory better.