Internet Explorer 8 Crashes - Comments Page 1

I installed IE8 about four months ago, just to see what it would do. I really like it. It is faster than IE7, and when a tab crashes, the whole thing doesn't go down - and the tab recovers almost instantly. I should mention that people I know (not implying Bob or any reader) who are having trouble with IE8 seem to be the ones who rarely do maintenance on their computers, so it's possible that the accumulated garbage affects IE8's ability to run unimpeded. I clean up my computer daily using CCleaner before making backups of changed files. I'm running XP Pro (SP3) on a 6 year old high-end Dell with 2 hard drives, 2GB RAM (more on order), and an external backup drive with incremental backup capability.

After installing IE8, I ended up with several "iexplorer" entries in my Task Manager, and made an educated guess that there was one for each tab and one for the program as a whole. I didn't, however, know how to determine which entry was for which tab. I still can't tell you that (entirely), but I did come across a use for that information.

If you find that Internet Explorer 8.0 fails to respond but hasn't closed (IE8 rarely closes completely on its own), open Task Manager, make sure you're on the Processes tab, and click on the box that says "Image Name" at the top of the first column. This will alphabetize your processes. Go down the list to all the "iexplorer" entries, and look at the amount of memory usage each one shows. Click on the one where the amount of memory is changing rapidly and end that process. In 95% of the cases, this will fix the unresponsiveness of the program. I don't have to do this often - IE8 is really stable - but on the rare occasions that it does freeze, this is an easy fix.

I am an older very novice user and need some simple methods to counteract the freezes and slowing of my pc when utilizing IE8. Any and all help appreciated

Howdy Bob,

I must be lucky I guess. I have heard some really sad stories concerning Internet Explorer over the past 13 years. A recent sad story I have heard is the one about Windows Vista and all the problems a zillion people were having with it.

From my first laptop, with Windows 3.1, 1.5GB hard drive up to now, with Vista IE8, none of those nasty things have ever happened to me. Well, like I said, I must be lucky I guess.

Cheers!
Matthew

Users of Firefox, and other Mozilla based browsers ("chrome" browsers) that have the IE tab plug-in may also experience crashes. The IE tab allows viewing the web page in a tab that is actually IE running within Firefox.

To be safe, simply ignore those sites, or run IE directly if you need it to see those sites. Adding something that is a security problem to Firefox will only add more exploits to your browsing.

Having many problems with pc crashing and/or restarting at odd times even when not using IE8. Just have to wonder if problems are with IE8 or some other reason.

Any one have any thought please?

Bob, I have never had a problem with Internet Explorer crashing. But, I am going to take your advice and turn off Smart Screen Filter. However, I cannot find "enable protected mode" under the security setting in Internet Options. When I click on security,a page comes up with "Internet" "Local intranet" "Trusted sites" and "Restricted sites" with no box anywhere that says "Enable Protected Mode." Help!

I use IE8 plus Comcast's web mail. Almost every day Comcast will slow down and say the server is busy when it is trying to send mail, or delete mail, or just autosave a draft! Often coming out of those situations I will find that IE8 has frozen so that no clicks work anywhere on the page I'm on. If I minimize the window and then restore/maximize it, I get control of the cursor and click back. Very annoying!

My PC has started crashing alot since updating to IE8, so I was very interested to read your article on "IE Crashes" .Unfortunately, when I opened Internet Explorer, Tools, Internet Options, Security, there was no option to untick "Enable Protected Mode" Any suggestions ?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I've read elsewhere that this feature is in the US version, but not in the UK version! Strange...

I have serious problems with firefox being unstable. I have a channel on justin.tv which I use for home security. When I use firefox, it often crashes, apologizes, and ask if I want to restart it. It will often crash again if I don't restart from scratch.
I have always liked firefox, and I continue to use it, but for some reason on justin.tv and sometimes on other sites, it is unstable. Earlier versions were not a problem, and it was working ok for about a month recently. Since the last update, it is crashing again, or using way to much memory or cpu? Then the computer simply slows down, or freezes, and a restart is necessary. No problems like this with IE8 and Justin.tv Have a good day.

i thought it was only my pc that hung. several times i have to close and open the computer. it's always the case. my monitor's display became whitish and i couldn't open icons or folders then it stopped. my computer is not responding anymore. i even, have my system restored to previous date but it's the same. now i am using again my other hard drive with ubuntu. every time my windows stopped i'm obliged to use ubuntu. however, when my windows started to run again, i switched to it. by the way, i am running on windows 7RC.

Several of my clients (as well as myself) have recently noticed IE8 not accessing google.com - and yes, everything else is working OK. Is it just my suspicious nature the concludes that we have another parallel example of "DOS isn't done 'till Lotus won't run"? (With apologies to the younger folks who don't know about either DOS and/or Lotus...)

Anyone else having this problem?

I tried Firefox and found it as buggy as IE. Okay, maybe it's a little less buggy. That's like saying smallpox is less problematic than bubonic plague.

I was recently installing one AT&T's 2Wire DSL modems for a customer. When I got to the second page there was no "next" button. I simply could not proceed. I paged down to the bottom and paged up to the top. No go.

I opened Mozilla and there that sucker was. I finished in 5 minutes.

AG

You recommend Firefox, but the latest version crashes constantly, more than IE8

I have been having a lot of these problems recently with my laptop (Vista) but not the desktop (XP). I noticed problems with IE and Firefox, and also with Outlook and anything that communicated with the Internet. I came to realize it began about the time of the upgrade to IE8.
I remember reading something about part of IE being used by other software for web communication. Is this true? If so, it may be that IE8 is behind it all.
Problems include waiting for web server till time out, Firefox will not unload, software will not turn off computer (have to use switch), and other similar problems.

I have had very few problems with IE8 and I've been using it since the beta. Its a lot more stable than the latest firefox. But I suppose if people leave the default options on any program set then they deserve what they get.

I also can't find "Enable Protected Mode", and wouldn't mind a suggestion or two.
And I also have problems opening gmail, but I don't use other google doohickeys (good technical term) often, so I can't say about them. Anyway, when I try to open gmail, I always get that silly "Do you want to view only the webpage content that was delivered securely?" After I answer that, and it doesn't matter if I click "Yes" or "No", the following page reads, "This is taking longer than usual. Try reloading the page." Clicking on "Try reloading the page" finally takes me to gmail. Any suggestions?
I have XP, and live in the US.
Thanks

I have been having problems with IE8. It fails very often and when it does it is difficult to recover. Everything appears to be "locked up" I cannot get task manager to run and often have to restart my computer. Sometimes I am forced to turn off my computer manually. I tried eliminating all of the add-ons but one (I consider that one necessary). I finally reinstalled IE8, but the first time I used it, it failed. I am very disappointed with Microsoft and IE8.

I gave up and installed Firefox and, so far it is working fine.

I've generally found Google Chrome to be very good and as Bob does, using IE8 as demanded by some sites to work properly. The Google plug-in for IE8 seems to have improved things in some respects.

Would the Firefox issue be related to memory leaks (see this thread http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/fix-for-firefox-memory-leak-on-windows/)

Big thanks Bob by clarifying this to those who know less and I am one of them. Though, I haven't experienced any crash with my IE 8 and wish not. Necessary precautions need to be taken from now on.