Eight ways to improve browsing with IE8
When Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 8 it made much of the web browsers new features that were intended to provide greater security and ease of use. We've put together eight tips will help you take advantage of these new and enhanced features.
View incompatible pages
Although Microsoft touts IE8 as its most standards-compliant browser ever, the web is littered with millions of sites that were written with IE's earlier, sloppier handling of web standards in mind. If you come across a page that seems a little wonky, try the Compatibility Viewer, Microsoft's concession to its own less-than-wholesome past.
Just click the button to the right of the Address Bar that looks like a torn sheet of paper and your broken page should put itself back together.
Decode the Status Bar
The Status Bar - the strip at the very bottom of your browser window - contains a wealth of information that is not labelled in any way. There are six tiny blank boxes in the middle-right portion of the Status Bar (just to the left of the larger box with the internet icon).
These unlabelled boxes in the Status Bar have some useful tricks up their sleeves.
Five of these, it turns out, have functions that are accessed sometimes by clicking, sometimes by double-clicking. Here's what each does:
Box 1: Nothing.
Box 2: Single-click to turn the Pop-up Blocker on and off, or to modify the Pop-up Blocker's settings.
Box 3: Double-click to open the Manage Add-ons screen.
Box 4: This one might have an icon in it. If it does, double-click it to see a Privacy Report that will list cookies that have been blocked. If it's blank, double-clicking does nothing useful.
Box 5: If you don't have the Privacy Report icon in Box 4, you might have it here. For some users, double-clicking the blank box makes IE look for a security certificate.
Box 6: Single-click to see a menu, where you can run a safety check on the site you're visiting via Microsoft's SmartScreen Filter service, turn the SmartScreen Filter on or off, or report a site as malicious.
NEXT PAGE: Customise the interface
Comments
jon said: Not tried W7 yet as cant afford a new OS at the momentI agree Frank Firefox does seem to have slowed a bitand still leaking like an old bucketlolIf you want simple amp fast browsing without the add-ons though I suggest trying the test version of Minefield mozillaorgprojectsminefieldIt is still testingbuggy etc so if you use it remember to back up all your data
Frank said: I also agree Jon but Im increasingly finding that Firefox 3 now 353 is getting slower to load even in XP The article here aimed at and fine for IE users I suppose
Frank said: I also agree Jon but Im increasingly finding that Firefox 3 now 353 is getting slower to load even in XP The article here aimed at and fine for IE users I suppose
Anthony said: Agreed Jon Im an Opera convert However I find it a bit slow to open in Windows 7
jon said: If you wish to enhance your browsing experience simply use opera or firefox