Thread: Internet Explorer 8

The latest version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer is now available to download, and we've been taking a look at the newly released browser.

Overall, IE8 is a welcome improvement over previous Microsoft browsers, and we believe it is on a par with rivals such as FireFox 3.5 and Safari 4 in terms of features, perfonnance and ease of use. This may not be enough to tempt back users who have defected to FireFox over the last few years, but it is definitely worth the upgrade for those still using older versions of IE.

Unlike an earlier review of an IE8 beta release, we had few problems with content not displaying in IE8. In fact, we found it difficult to locate any sites that showed any problems at all.

IE8 is also not lacking in terms of performance, with no perceptible difference in page load times between it and FireFox. New in IE8 are Accelerators and Web Slices, both of which are useful but not must-have features. Accelerators provide links to functions when you highlight text on a page. Others are available online from the "Get More Add-ons" button on the toolbar.