A warning about IE8 and Windows XP SP3

Michael Horowitz

Michael Horowitz wrote his first computer program in 1973 and has been a computer nerd ever since. He spent more than 20 years working in an IBM mainframe (MVS) environment. He has worked in the research and development group of a large Wall Street financial company, and has been a technical writer for a mainframe software company.

He teaches a large range of self-developed classes, the underlying theme being Defensive Computing. Michael is an independent computer consultant, working with small businesses and the self-employed. He can be heard weekly on The Personal Computer Show on WBAI.

Disclosure.

See full bio

Michael Horowitz

Aug. 29, 2008 4:31 p.m. PT

I'm no fan of beta software. Defensive Computing means never dealing with new software, be it in beta form or shortly after a major upgrade. Experimenters and the curious should use virtual machines.

Now, from Sunbelt Software comes this warning about the beta version of Internet Explorer 8 and Windows XP SP3. In a nutshell, if you install the first beta version of IE8, then upgrade Windows XP from SP2 to SP3, then upgrade to the second beta version of IE8, you are now married to both IE8 and XP SP3.

You can see the original blog posting from Microsoft or, better yet, avoid beta software as a rule.

I'm no fan of SP3 either (here and here).

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.