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Written by Sandy Berger
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 In the past month, I have had five calls to repair computers that were screwed up when the user tried to install Internet Explorer 8. The biggest complaint is the inability to get on the Internet after installing IE8 even though they have good Internet connectivity. But in two cases, the computers were completely messed up. In all of these cases, using Windows Restore and other simple troubleshooting measures did not solve the problem.
Microsoft has a long and involved webpage where they give suggestion for IE 8 installation problems. They even have a "FixIt" where they will try to remotely fix the problem. There are two things wrong with this. First, if you can get on the Internet, you can't use it. Second, why would you trust Microsoft to try to solve the problem when they are the ones who caused it in the first place?
Besides these "It screwed up my computer problems", I have been getting a rash of complaints about two other problems with Internet Explorer 8. The first is that it is very slow. Although Microsoft says that this is caused by other programs or add-ons on your computer, the fact is that, in my opinion, IE8 is inherently sluggish.
The second complaint about Internet Explorer 8 is that it is locking up and not allowing access to certain web pages. This is because in the past Internet Explorer had it own non-standard web conventions. Since IE has, in the past, been the most popular web browser, many websites were built so that they showed up well in IE. Now, however, Microsoft has changed the rules. They are now supporting certain standards that they should have been supporting all along. However, the effect is that some websites, through no fault of their own, do not render properly in IE8.
While there is no cure for the sluggishness of IE 8, there are solutions to the other problems. If you are using Internet Explorer 8 and have trouble accessing certain websites, go to Tools on the menu at the top right and choose Compatibility View. Here you can add any website to the compatibility or choose to display all websites in compatibility view.
If you are having problems with IE 8 and wish to uninstall it, as long as it hasn't screwed up your system, you can do so fairly easily. Removing IE8 will make your system automatically revert to your previous version of Internet Explorer.
Here are the instructions for uninstalling IE 8.
If you are using Windows XP
• Click the Start Button -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs
• Be patient, it may take Windows a bit of time to compile the list of your programs
• Find and highlight Windows Internet Explorer 8 from the list of software and click on the Remove button.
• Let the uninstaller do its work, and then restart Windows.
If you are using Windows Vista
• Click the Start Button -> Control Panel'-> Programs ( or Programs and Features)
• Be patient, it may take Windows a bit of time to compile the list of your programs
• Select View installed updates
• Find and highlight Windows Internet Explorer 8 from the list of available updates. Click uninstall
• Let the uninstaller do its work, and then restart Windows.
While I have not had any trouble uninstalling Internet Explorer 8, if you want to be cautious, there are two things that you should do before you uninstall. First you should set a restore point in Windows and second, you should install an alternative browser. The most important of these is installing another browser. Install Firefox, Opera, Safari, or Chrome. All are similar to IE. All are as good as, if not better than IE. All are free. In fact installing an additional browser on your computer is like having a spare tire in your trunk. If anything ever goes wrong with the first browser, you can always use the second one. So it is a good idea even if you are happy using IE8.
If you are putting off installing Internet Explorer 8 because of these or other problems, you are probably still being nagged to install it every time Windows does an update. There is a way to stop the nagging. I'll tell you how in my next article.
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