Browser check

In IE's previous to 7 and 8 there was a definite "Help" menu item in the menu bar. Click that, then go to "About Internet Explorer", and the version window would pop up.

IE 7 and IE 8 did away with the menu bar, (although it is still available in an open IE window by pressing the ALT key), but Tools is still there, and to the right of Tools is a ? question mark in a blue circle. Click that, and you get the usual Help topics, including "About Internet Explorer".

How often to update Belarc? I never have,

But I suppose that checking Belarc's web site every now and then for an update would be a good idea.

Hope that helps.

Mark

One of the MOD's on this board told me about Belarc Advisor last year when I was having trouble finding the configuration on a Dell laptop which I received two years ago. That Belarc Advisor is one very detailed site, very detailed. Now back to the IE8 matter, I'll have to decide whether to upgrade from IE7 to IE8 or not. What browser or browsers do you use on your computers? I've heard Firefox, Google Chrome and another one which doesn't come to mind. Thanks for your post.

That's an easy one for me. I will always upgrade any browser that I use, as soon as an upgrade becomes available. They are always being improved and made more secure, and while visual improvements or extra 'bells and whistles' don't bother me that much, the additional security does.

IE 8 is more secure than IE 7 so as far as I am concerned that's a no brainer. In your case, if a web site is asking you to upgrade to IE 8 to get the full capabilities of the site, then it seems you may have to do that. Most web sites should work with most browsers, but there are the occasional ones that works better with a specific browser.

I've used many other types of browser, Firefox, (my current browser), Opera, Chrome, SeaMonkey, and started out with the now discontinued Netscape, the forerunner of Firefox.

Mark

So you would recommend upgrading from IE7 to IE8. Yahoo was the website asking me to upgrade to IE8. I just checked my Dell laptop through Belarc Advisor and the laptop already has IE8 but my desktop doesn't. If you changed your browser would your browser show up differently when entering a website like a discussion board website? Just curious.

The code that makes up web pages, (HTML code), is the same whichever browser is used.

There may be some minor differences between browsers because of the way web browsers render the code, but good web site developers will add in extra code to cope with the differences, and what you see in one browser will look exactly the same in another. Yahoo will have done all this behind the scenes, and you should not notice any difference.

Mark

You tell you have 2 machines, a laptop and a desktop, one with IE7, one with IE8. So you're in a very good position to compare these 2 browsers. Just put your laptop next to your desktop, visit the same sites and compare.

Kees

Thanks. Another question, if I update the IE7 to IE8 on my Dell desktop PC, before doing so do I need to temporarily disable my AV, AS, Malwarebytes and A-Squared Free softwares or leave them as is and do the update? Will I need to uninstall IE7 before installing IE8 or will IE8 install right over IE7?

I have never had to disable any security software to install Windows updates. That's what this IE update is, in effect, a Windows update.

And no, no need to uninstall IE 7 first. The update procedure will do all the necessary work.

Mark

Thanks for the info.