Is IE7 worth downloading?

[hdawg06]

I have been under constant debate on whether to download IE7. I have heard of a few bugs running around on it, and am not sure if it will be worth getting. Please discuss.

 

[ALANMAN]

It is less buggy than Beta 2 and 3 and RC1, and installing it actually fixed a few conflicts that my IE 6 had (upon streaming anything IE 6 would crash). I really like it. If you're really unsure about using it then I recommend using Firefox 2. Keep in mind that IE 7 will eventually become a mandatory update in the next year or so (if you have windows update setup Automatically then windows will soon get it for you).

IMO it's not as bad as IE 6 was it launched.

 

[bacis]

hi.
if you are not going to use it why downloading it?
use firefox or opera.

 

[fattony]

it's becoming mandatory in nov., i made a post about it earlier:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/software/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=232537&highlight=internet+explorer+7

so get the blocker if u don't want it

anyway...i think ie7 is great and all too, but i'd give it a couple of months then get it, while everything gets worked out on it, at the same time if u plan on going ie7, as it was suggested, definately have another browser prior to upgrading, firefox is probably the best choice, incase ie fails or something, u're not left without any working browsers

 

[Zoron]

I've been using it since the second beta and never had any issues with it. If it's going to be a mandnatory update anyway, you might as well install it.

 

[RichPLS]

The current Final Version seems very stable and well designed.

 

[frankienyc123]

Why bother with IE when you can get Opera9 or Firefox2?? I dont think I could ever go back to IE. I use mostly Opera9 now but Firefox is equally as good. With the release of IE7 i figured id give MS another shot. I installed it and used it as my main broswer for a few weeks, its a definite improvement iver IE6 but wasnt good enough to make me want to switch back to IE over Opera or Firefox. So if your currently using IE6 id say go for it, buit if your an Opera or Firefox user than you probably wont be all that impressed buy IE7.

 

[fattony]

didnt firefox stop the implementation of windows media player files embedded within the browser for streaming

 

[bacis]

hi.
didnt firefox stop the implementation of windows media player files embedded within the browser for streaming
i think yes .
today i was browsing some pages with firefox and want to see an animated page,it is says that i must use explorer.
the result i didn't the page

 

[marshahu]

Well IE7 has a couple of handy features, except for me it seems very unreliable

www.sportinglife.com/racing/liveshows, www.ladbrokes.co.uk and various other sports websites which my dad uses worked great under IE6 with maybe the odd crash if we really pushed our luck. These website display sports odds so they are automatically refreshed as part of the script. It seemed under IE7, so much as Alt Tabbing would cause meltdown under all these sites. Even just going for a coffee and leaving it un attended would cause a problem. I had crashes every minute with IE7, and it even started on my usual websites.

That was the final straw - One system restore later and I am now back with IE6. I miss the tabbed browsing a little (Windows Live toolbar gives me that feature in the meantime) and the ability to view websites in thumbnails was a nice idea, and my dad did like the zoom ability without having to use large fonts and distort the formatting of the website. But if you cant use these features for more than 60 seconds without a crash then its REALLY not worth it. After all, back when I had Windows 95, I was so tempted to move over to 98 to get USB support and the lovely new desktop themes and screensavers, just so I could have some new eye candy and also be the big showoff showing peeps my PC and them going "ooooh you got Windows 98". But after I discovered that the BSOD rate would quadrouple and after Mr Gates public embarassment with USB under 98, it really wasn't worth it!!

As for other browsers - I don't wish to complicate things and overburden my PC with more than one browser. It's bad enough having 4 or so media players all doing the same tasks and competing for which one is going to be default. IE has always been the defacto browser for every webpage so I will stick to IE.

Now, is there anything wrong in my thinking? or have I been given the duff version of IE 7??

 

[ALANMAN]

Well I can't blame you for thinking that of IE7, but I personally have NOT yet had a problem with the Final Build of IE7. Maybe in the future I shall experience that, but for now it seems very stable and secure.

 

[Zoron]

I've got both those websites open right now... the only issue that I can see is the zooming messes some of the text up. I've been alt-tabbing between the two and no crashes.

 

[frankienyc123]

didnt firefox stop the implementation of windows media player files embedded within the browser for streaming

The only page ive found that doesnt work for streaming on Firefox is Yahoo's music videos. Other than that media player works fine with firefox.

 

[ALANMAN]

I liked Firefox 2 until one day i found that trying to stream ANYTHING would make it crash. Maybe it's just me though

 

[marshahu]

How on earth did you manage that - is your rig identical to mine? Could it be something to do with me having Media Center Edition 2005 instead of XP Pro??

Anyway I havent had any more problems to this date using IE 6 and I have forgotten all about IE7 and probably will do until next year!!

 

[Jeff68005]

It seems to be a bit faster on the most common websites we go to.

My big displeasure is the new tab bar that I cannot seem to kill nor move nor make disappear. I prefer to have the space for web browsing rather than GIGO. That is a personal preference item.

Personally, we won't install it on any more machines until we learn how to take the tabs and related GIGO out of view.

 

[ALANMAN]

It seems to be a bit faster on the most common websites we go to.

My big displeasure is the new tab bar that I cannot seem to kill nor move nor make disappear. I prefer to have the space for web browsing rather than GIGO. That is a personal preference item.

Personally, we won't install it on any more machines until we learn how to take the tabs and related GIGO out of view.

WOW, picky arsehole. That tab bar is the greatest strength of IE7. I doubt that you've even figured out how to use it. It's not "GIGO," it's something useful and keeps the taskbar from cluttering up.

 

[Zoron]

How big is your monitor? What resolution do you run? At home I have a 17" LCD running 1280 x 1024 and find I have plenty of real-estate for web browsing. At work, I've got a 15" LCD running 1024 x 768 and it's defintately a little more cramped... but still not bad.

If you're running anything below 1024 x 768, then you're going to be severely cramped. Most pages are designed to display at that resolution.

 

[diplomat696]

well really though the other browsers are so much better than IE7 and IE7 doesnt even look that good either which is sad

personally I am not going to bother updating something which I dont make use of and to the person who was saying that IE7 will be a mandatory update isnt it only mandatory if nyou use microsoft's automatic updates which I cant stand either???

if you pick and choose your updates you dont have to keep on using what they say you should be using.

 

[fattony]

it's a high priority update, yeah one way to avoid is to disable automatic updates or get their blocker utility for it, blocker bumps it down to an optional component install which won't be updated by default by automatic updates / windows updates

 

[Zoron]

Meh.

To each their own. I have used Firefox in the past and I still keep going back to IE. Now that IE has a good chunk of Firefox's features... it's even less incentive for me to install it again.

 

[dunklegend]

I use Firefox 2.0 and for the sites that doesn't show well in Firefox I install the IE Tab extension.
That extension let's you open a certain link in a tab in Firefox but using internet explorer.
That would give you the best of both worlds.