Must Read: Sorry, but bringing back the Start menu won't help Windows 8

Topic: Windows

Microsoft to start pushing IE 8 to existing IE users

Summary: Microsoft already has pushed via Auto Update the final version of Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) to customers who had installed the beta version of its latest browser. Starting next week, the company plans to begin delivering IE 8 via Automatic Update to users with older versions of IE installed.

Mary Jo Foley

By for All About Microsoft |

Microsoft already has pushed via Auto Update the final version of Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) to customers who had installed the beta version of its latest browser. Starting next week, the company plans to begin delivering IE 8 via Automatic Update to users with older versions of IE installed.

From an April 10 posting to the IE Blog:

"Starting on or about the third week of April, users still running IE6 or IE7 on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2008 will get will get a notification through Automatic Update about IE8. This rollout will start with a narrow audience and expand over time to the entire user base. On Windows XP and Server 2003, the update will be High-Priority. On Windows Vista and Server 2008 it will be Important."

This doesn't mean IE 8 will auto-install on anyone's machine. As the team explains:

"IE8 will not automatically install on machines. Users must opt-in to install IE8. Users will see a Welcome screen that offers choices: Ask later, install now, or don’t install."

Microsoft notified users back in January that it would start pushing IE 8 to them via Auto Update.

Administrators also can make sure to block IE 8 from installing if they don't want it via the IE 8 Blocker Toolkit.

Topics: Windows, Browser, Microsoft

About

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

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52 comments
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  • This is one time

    In which I welcome one of MS's pushes. IF IE8 is suppose to follow the standards of the web, then finally we should start to get a web in which you don't have to walk around on egg-shells with. I hate some sites, or companies that butt-kiss MS to the point, they specifically block FF (MindBrix anyone?)

    But hey, did you know horses fly too? Just don't look up

    - Kc
    kcredden2
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft to start pushing IE 8 to existing IE users

    Good news! IE8 is much superior and secure compared to previous IE versions! It's much faster than Firefox, too!
    cnfrisch
    Reply Vote

    • Much faster than Firefox???

      Have you actually tried it??

      It is faster than IE, but still lags behind every other browser.

      And lets not talk about it being a memory hog that creates a full brand new instance of IE per tab.
      wackoae
      Reply Vote

    • Faster than FF2 and FF3.0, maybe...

      but not faster than FF3.1 or Safari 4. And Microsoft will say "well, we
      open pages up faster", but when you start adding ACID 2 and ACID 3
      codes to those pages as those standards become more widespread
      (especially with the uptake that will come of FF3.1 by the FF user base
      and Safari 4 with the Mac user base), MSIE 8 will lag behind once
      again.

      That's not to say that MSIE 8 sucks. It's a huge improvement over MSIE
      7, performance-wise, and I consider it a worthy successor to MSIE 6 (7
      was just too slow to load and run on most machines I installed it on,
      IMHO).

      So now that we have a 4-way browser war (Opera's becoming more
      well known, with some thanks to Nintendo, and Safari 4 is a viable
      browser in Windows) on our hands, it's looking like the internet
      experience will be improving on all fronts.
      nix_hed
      Reply Vote

      • Safari??

        Seriously, you think Safari is fast? I can't even use it. Perhaps my dual-core machine with 4 gigs of RAM just aren't enough, but that thing is slower than a whole herd of turtles in a sea a peanut butter!!!

        And that's not even mentioning the rendering issues.
        cwhistler
        Reply Vote

  • I have had problems with my Vista computer

    It is not bad being stuck with IE8 Beta.
    rtirman37@...
    Reply Vote

    • You shouldn't be 'stuck' with IE8 Beta

      Microsoft REMOVED the stupid 'Beta check' that they are going to use for Windows 7 RC from IE8 Final, so it should GLADLY overinstall the Beta or RC version of IE8.

      If it isn't.... I honestly cannot help you, because on all 4 computers I own, it gladly overinstalled without any hiccups.
      Lerianis
      Reply Vote

  • It's good but some sites need fixing

    I have run into a few sites with issues. A couple will not work in Compatible mode ether. But it is a improvement and I myself cannot understand anyone who would still use IE6. Not when their are so many other modern browsers that are so much better and safer. You cannot tell me that IT thinks this is a good ideal. Microsoft and the rest of the browser's need to adapt the standards and force these poorly operated sites to comply.
    jscott418-22447200638980614791982928182376
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft to start pushing IE 8 to existing IE users

    Thank goodness, we can finally stop supporting IE6. I'd have been happy if we just went that far, but to hear that we're going to be able to stop supporting IE7 also? Brilliant!
    SeanBlader
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Supporting

      You may wish to think twice before stopping support for IE6/IE7. There are a great many enterprise systems out there with proprietary software that will NOT work w/IE7 or IE8; you may find yourself cutting off a significant percentage of possible visitors.
      justanitguy
      Reply Vote

      • Well it's about time they updated

        IE7 has been out for what? Two and a half years?

        Jesus, talk about lazy!
        hasta la Vista, bah-bie
        Reply Vote

  • Some issues to watch for

    People using MS Office should disable the Research addon when they have installed IE8

    People using SpywareBlaster should update to the newest version
    People using Spybot Search and Destroy immunize feature should deactivate that immunize feature untill either Spybot S&D releases a new version or IE8 releases a new version.

    Similar incompatibility isses are reported for current versions of HP smart web printing, Sophos client firewall and Hotspot shield.

    In general if after IE8 installation the performance seems slow of sluggish solutions might be to
    * Disable addons in addon manager
    * Run IE8 without addons (iexplore.exe -extoff)
    * Update their malware protection programmes to the latest version (do this preferbly before installing IE8)
    IE9
    Reply Vote

    • The Research Add-on does break IE8

      As does Sun Java 6 Update 13... if you have it installed on your machine, go in an DISABLE the add-ons that Java installs in IE8..... otherwise IE8 will be slow as crap on your machine, no matter how powerful it is.
      Lerianis
      Reply Vote

    • Why?

      I can't understand why we should have to disable this, update that, etc., for something new that's supposed to be better. I installed it a few days ago and uninstalled shortly after because of an incompatibility with a program that I had AND I kept getting some error message popup about every 5 minutes. My PC hasn't been right since.
      LiLac22281
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft to start pushing IE 8 to existing IE users

    That's not a healthy approach to do lke this because without prior need y can i upgrade that...???
    rajeshitboys@...
    Reply Vote

    • Bull, it is really healthy!

      IE 8 is finally the first standards compliant browser by Microsoft - its a
      little behind the 8th ball when it comes to compliance with the new
      standard but I'd sooner that than people relying on broken old browsers.

      Update your damn browser - and if your internal applications break, then
      start cracking the whip on those software vendors who fail to upgrade
      their software.

      Only constant pressure ensures software companies do the right thing
      and provide updates.
      Kaiwai
      Reply Vote

  • Noble improvement for Microsoft

    I am not completely sold on IE 8. But its night and day
    from IE 6 which you have to be stuck in the stone age to
    still be using. IE 7 is a good basic browser, but really
    showed little in being competitive with Firefox. Frankly I
    could take or leave all of IE 8 new features. Accelerators
    are nice though. What is the big improvement is the fact IE
    has finally come closer to the web standards that every
    browser should be striving for.
    This will hopefully eliminate the need for having multiple
    browser's to surf the web. Standards will certainly make
    choosing a browser become just a personal preference and
    not a concern about displaying pages.
    jscott418-22447200638980614791982928182376
    Reply Vote

  • I'm on IE7 right now but it will happen

    IE8 is an exellent product.
    Gillman_Zorgman
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft to start pushing IE 8 to existing IE users

    I've seen too sites blocking IE6/7 browsers. The web is for everyone... I hope that iE8 help too in this matter. I?ve done my part by updating to IE8...and it's ... really nice...!
    iwanttoregister
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft to start pushing IE 8 to existing IE users

      [i]I've seen too sites blocking IE6/7 browsers.[/i]

      I've never seen that. Who does that?

      What I [b]have seen[/b] is Firefox being blocked by M$ proprietary websites that still insist you install their ActiveX spyware on your machine.
      hasta la Vista, bah-bie
      Reply Vote
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