Internet Explorer 9 - is it any good/better/different from IE8?

[PrincessFiorimonde]

I'm being asked if I want to change from IE8 to IE9.

Please could anyone else who has made this change tell me if this is a good or bad thing to do.

(I'm hesitating because I remember people saying 'wait and see how it works' when IE8 first arrived.)

Thanks in advance for all comments.

Not sure about IE9 but would recommend Firefox over IE- seems more user friendly to me and doesn't seem to crash as often.

It's crap. Avoid it at all costs. I never really use it but was having trouble getting something to load in Firefox so I tried IE, which had updated to 9 yesterday.

It started right out with an error message.

I am going to try to revert to 8.

As I am not using Windows 7, the question is a bit academic - just a warning for anyone else with Vista or Win XP, MSIE v9 will not be available for us, so Microsoft is perhaps just wanting us to upgrade.

Fortunately, have just seen the news that the new cheap "get people on the net" machines for 95 and 135 pounds (or thereabouts) will be running Ubuntu or Win XP (but buyers of the XP machines will need to be in receipt of benefits - the 'internet for all' scheme needs to ensure that the budget machines go to those most in need). It at least ensures there will be lots of people with Win XP and MSIE v8 around so v8 support won't die completely and any important websites will exclude v8 at their peril.

Maybe that's why it's not working, NG. I'm running Vista. But I would think it wouldn't even have the upgrade if it's not made for Vista? It was part of a bunch of updates.

Any idea how I get back to IE8? Although I rarely use it, I do need it sometimes!

Actually, I just checked. It is compatible with Vista. It's only XP and earlier it won't work with.

Tee - sorry for your problems, which I hope you resolve , but you've suggested to me that perhaps I won't try to change to IE9 any time soon.
Zimbo - umm. Am sure you are right re: the different browser, but I am so technologically illiterate that I don't think I could change to another browser without bringing the whole blimming thing crashing around my head.
NetworkGuy - similarly, thanks for your message, but I just don't understand what you say.

sorry, Tee - my mistake over Vista - I suppose you might be able to restore IE8 if you use system restore to go back to before your install of IE9.

Princess - don't worry about my ramblings - was really a bit of a criticism of Microsoft, but hey, they are no longer supporting Windows XP (or Windows 98, and I have a laptop running that !!) so it is not in their interest to make IE9 work on any old XP systems anyway.

As for 'bringing the whole thing crashing around your head' - I would still strongly suggest you 'give it a try'. Just click here for Firefox and download for your version of Windows. Try it, you may like it, and any bookmarks ('favorites') that you have saved in Internet Explorer can be imported into Firefox so you won't lose them.

If you decide you don't like it, you just go back to using MS Internet Explorer, and really there's no harm done, and maybe you've spent a maximum of 20 to 60 minutes (most of that trying Firefox, hopefully). It's there in reserve if you visit a site and Internet Explorer doesn't display anything sensible, or crashes, and it doesn't use any extra electricity, won't bite you, or kick your cat, so just does no harm sitting idle on your PC's disk drive :)

NetworkGuy, thank you for taking the time and trouble to post that for me, and I'm sorry for not acknowledging your post sooner. I might indeed follow your suggestion some time soon.