10 Best Tips For Internet Explorer 8

Microsoft’s newest browser Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) is the smartest challenge to Mozilla’s Firefox. Within a short period of its launch in March 2009, IE8 boasts of a 17% share worldwide in web browser market now. For the latest, IE8 would be the default browser for upcoming Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, except in Europe.  In the latest browser Microsoft pulled out all stops to enhance the security and ease of use. If you are the one who likes playing with browsers, we would like to provide you 10 performance tips to make the best of Internet Explorer 8.

1. Accelerators

IE8 introduces Accelerators that allows you to perform a number of useful functions based on the text you select on a web page. There’s a host of facilities offered by Accelerators that include stock quote and look up for the definition of a word or phrase, map location, convert currencies, create a shortened URL and much more.

What’s more, you can share the selected text on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Let’s see how to use the accelerator

Step 1: Select any piece of text on a web page. Accelerator button with an arrow pointing to right will pop up

Step 2: Click the button to see Accelerator menu

Their results can be seen in a pop-up window and others will appear in a new tab.

IE8 offers several in built Accelerator and the third party developers are producing new ones. To know about the available options go to Microsoft Accelerator Gallery.

2. Speed up your work browser with Chrome Frame

Internet Explorer 8 could breeze through JavaScript ten times faster using a Google Chrome Frame plugin. It seamlessly offers Goolge Chrome’s open web technology and speedy JavaScript engine to Internet Explorer. With the plugin installed in IE8 you can start using open web technologies like HTML5. Further, the improvement in JavaScript performance would make the apps faster and more responsive.

The plugin is available in Google site

3. Increase browsing speed

There is a simple registry hack that will allow you speed of browsing

Step 1: Go to the registry from regedit in the run box

Step 2: Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

Step 3: Navigate through Software ->Microsoft->Windows ->Current Version->Internet Settings.

Step 4: Change the value to 8 or 10, close the editor and reboot.

With any new browser release, we have to expect issues and usually problems revolve around slow behavior. Try the above and see if it makes a difference to your new browser life.

4. Decoding the Status Bar

Most of you might have overlooked the Status bar at the very bottom of your IE8 window. The Status Bar contains a wealth of information that is labelled in any way. The unlabelled boxes in the Status Bar offers some handy tricks that you need to know.

There are five of them which can be assessed by clicking

Box 1: It shows nothing

Box 2: With a single click you can turn on or off the Pop-up Blocker. It also allows you to modify the Pop-up Blocker’s settings

Box 3: A double-click will open the Manage Add-ons screen

Box 4: It might contain the Privacy Report icon.  In case it does, double-click it to see a Privacy Report. It will show the list cookies that have been blocked.

Box 5: In case you don’t have the Privacy Report icon in Box 4, it might be here. For most users a double-clicking on the blank box will makes IE look for a security certificate.

Box 6: With a single click you will see a menu where you can conduct a safety check on the site you are visiting with the help of Microsoft’s SmartScreen Filter service. You can turn on or off the SmartScreen Filter, or report a site as malicious.

5. Check for Active Scripting, ActiveX and Java appalets

Make sure that Active Scripting, ActiveX and Java appalets are not blocked. Here are steps to set the security

Step 1: Click on the Tools and then click Internet Options

Step 2: Click on the Security tab

Step 3: Check if the slider is set to Medium-high. If it is not set, click on the Default Level button

Step 4: Click on Apply and OK

6. Increasing download limit

Internet Explorer allows only two simultaneous downloads to ensures that your bandwidth is used as effectively as possible. However, if you own a faster connection you might look to increase your download limit. Microsoft offers a simple wizard that can increase the download limit to 10.  For this you can visit Microsoft’s help and support page and click the FIX it

7. Better ways to Search

IE8 offers search suggestions that suggests different queries while a user types in the search box. In most other browsers and add-ons the search suggestion includes mainly of text suggestions for related terms that you might are looking for. Internet Explorer 8 has improved upon the search suggestion by providing a query string, a link, or a visualization suggestions. In IE8 a particular visual suggestion is highlighted by displaying a thumbnail image.

Further to better the query results do the following: type a question mark, followed by space, followed by your search terms into the address box.  Make sure you don’t press Return after typing the query.
This will show you the steps that you will see on the list of the most common search. This would make search easier for you.

8. Enabling the visit to the page option

To enable the Every visit to the page option follow the steps below

Step 1: Open new Internet Explorer window

Step 2: On the Tools menu, click Internet Options

Step 3: On the General tab, click Settings under the Browsing History

Step 4: In the Temporary Internet Files. Click the Every time I visit to webpage option

Step 5: Click the up arrow on the Disk space to use option for the maximum setting (Usually: 50 to 250 MB)

Step 6: Click the OK button

Step 7: Click on OK again to close the Internet Options window

9. See the incompatible pages

Microsoft claims IE8 as the most compatible browser. Most of the web pages that exist were written for the earlier versions of IE. In IE8 some web pages might appear wonky. However, there’s an easy trick to fix this anomaly.  It is quite simple.

Click the button to the right of Address Bar that appears like a torn sheet of paper. Your broken page should put that back to-gather.

10.  Bookmark info with Web Slice

IE8 comes with a new add-on Web Slice. With the add-on you can subscribe to a frequently updated part of a web page such as sports scores, headlines or current weather. If the site developers have designated that part of the page as a Web Slice.

While viewing a page with Web Slice it offers a green icon that appears on the toolbar next to the Home icon. The same icon would appear next to the Slice-ready content on a web page when you hover the  mouse over it. Clicking the icon in either location shows a dialog box asking if you would like to add the content to your Favorite bar.

Adding the Web Slice button allows you the Favorites bar that opens a small drop-down box with the updates information from the original page. This would allow you to see the weather, traffic or anything else while continuing with your work in your browser.

To have the Web Slices you can go to the Microsoft’s Add-On Gallery.