Is my PC ok to run IE7/IE8 without slowing right down?

[nicola b]

I've got an old PC running XP. It's not bad but it's not real fast.

AMD Duron 1800 cpu (approx like a 2100+ Athlon)
Via SV266A chipset on Syntax mobo
768MB SDRAM memory

Am still on Internet Explorer 6. Will my machine be ok to run IE7
or even IE8?

Is there a simple and honest explanation of the pros and cons of
these later versions of IE? I don't want to end up with a bloated
browser and no real benefits!

 

[R. McCarty]

Simply stated IE-8 is more secure. Actually you don't have to use a
single browser. I use IE, Opera and Google Chrome. All of them are
good browsers that have unique features.
Upgrading is reversible. If you load IE-8 and learn it's new features
but decide it's not for you it can be rolled back to your previous IE.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

What's New in Internet Explorer 7
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms649487.aspx

IE7 Release Notes
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/aa740486.aspx

=======

What’s New in Internet Explorer 8
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.ie8.aspx

Release Notes for IE8
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/dd441788.aspx

IE8 System Requirements
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/support/system-requirements.aspx

IE8 FAQ
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/support/faq.aspx

IE8 Quick Reference FAQ (including Keyboard Shortcuts)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie7/quickref.mspx

IE8 Tour
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/tour/default.aspx

IE8 Videos
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/videos.aspx (Silverlight)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ie8videos&view=videos
• Overview:

• Security Features:

• Easier Browsing:

• Compatibility View:

• History of the Internet:

IE8 Features: Accelerators; Performance; Favorites & History Management;
Instant Search; Web Slices; Automatic Crash Recovery; InPrivate Browsing;
Security; and more. See the 3 tabs (i.e., Faster; Easier; Safer) on this
page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/features/faster.aspx

About IE7 (and higher) Installation and Anti-Malware Applications
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/10/11/IE7-Installation-and-Anti_2D00_Malware-Applications.aspx

About IE7 & IE8 and Windows XP Service Pack 3
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/05/05/ie-and-xpsp3.aspx
--
IE-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
www.banthecheck.com

 

[nicola b]

Thank you. That's good info but I need something simple and honest.

Microsoft's announcements are not simple.

Microsoft isn't exactly neutral when it comes to judging their own
browsers.

I'm still not sure if IE7 or IE8 gives me bloat or benefit.

Can anyone help?

 

[Bill in Co.]

In addition to what has already been posted:

You can try it out, and if you don't like it, revert back to IE6 (although,
like anything, it's a good idea to have an image or clone backup of your
system to restore to, should anything go astray in the upgrade or
retrograde). Your CPU speed and memory are plenty sufficient.

The bottom line is both IE7 or IE8 have more features, but I wouldn't say a
lot more bloat, and some websites are, or will be, discontinuing support for
IE6. (But I'm one of the holdouts still using IE6, just because I like it
better, and it's a bit more customizable. The downside is that a few
websites can be problematic for me, but so far, not enough to make me
upgrade).

 

[Richard Urban]

What I consider benefit you may consider bloat.

Would I receive a benefit trading in my Crown Vic for a Cadillac. You can't
possibly begin to answer that question.

 

[Jon Danniken]

In addition to what has already been posted:

You can try it out, and if you don't like it, revert back to IE6
(although, like anything, it's a good idea to have an image or clone
backup of your system to restore to, should anything go astray in the
upgrade or retrograde). Your CPU speed and memory are plenty
sufficient.
The bottom line is both IE7 or IE8 have more features, but I wouldn't
say a lot more bloat, and some websites are, or will be,
discontinuing support for IE6. (But I'm one of the holdouts still
using IE6, just because I like it better, and it's a bit more
customizable. The downside is that a few websites can be
problematic for me, but so far, not enough to make me upgrade).

Also still using IE6 here. The ability to compress the top toolbar into
only one bar is important, as is the ability to "auto-inline" complete
through the address bar (don't know if they are still implimenting the
latter).

Jon

 

[Zorro_2k]

I've found no problems with IE7 so I suggest you install it.

I've foundIE8to work ok on some machines and poorly on others.

If you decide to try it and it does not work right or your system
becomes unstable...then you can uninstall it.

Word of caution: do not use System Restore...
just uninstall through the control panel

" Word of caution: do not use System Restore..." no shit !!!

I did that ...ONCE !!!

 

[nicola b]

The simple answer is yes it is more bloated, because it has
more features. There is also the changing user interface
but it is not hard to get used to moving from IE6.

The bloat is not much really, while your listed system is
not fast by modern standards it should be fast enough for
IE7 or 8, in use you might never notice a difference in
speed, though I expect 7/8 do some things faster and render
pages more correctly than IE6 does.

Another option you might consider is Firefox. The add-ons
it can have added are very nice, easy ways to block
scripting and advertisments for example can speed up surfing
and get rid of ad annoyances on webpages, in addition to
adding to security.

One nice thing about Firefox is it happily co-exists with
IE6, both can remain installed and functional and you choose
which to use and which to be the default browser. However
Firefox does take a few seconds longer to load than IE
because it isn't integrated into windows (loading part of
itself at boot time), but that is only the first load,
subsequent loads and spawning new windows or tabs is fairly
fast.

I have Internet Explorer 6 on XP Pro.

Is it possible to run both IE6 and IE7?