A warning about IE8 and Windows XP SP3

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.

[johndickson]

Excellent warning! Too late for me. I downloaded the beta. Installed it. Conflict arose with google as default browser. IE8 would not run. Uninstalled IE8. IE7 will not run. Re-installed IE8, will not run. No help on Microsoft websites to restore IE7. Vista came pre installed on this machine. Thank God for Firefox.

[paizleymermaid]

All too late for me as well. IE 8 is completely disabled....and not by me. I uninstalled and reinstalled it 4 times to no avail after the update messed it up. I tried to reinstall IE7 that doesn't work either. There is no icon for IE no .exe to be found and every now and then it pops up on it's own but can't connect. Microsoft! you must know something is wrong. It's all over the Internet! Please address this issue. I'd be embarrassed if I were Microsoft.
Yes, thank god for firefox!!!

[fire4flies]

i have diabled all windowupdate from the window update website. i have this issue that each time i upgrade to XP SP 3. my PC simply keep rebooting itself. has Microsoft solved this problem yet. what is the point of telling the mass that there is a new update or software when microsoft has NOT solved those old problem yet. Microsoft, if you want people to join your band, do a good job.

[zachschneider]

I just started using IE8 w/ SP3 started off bad, realized Norton didn't like it and I couldn't connect once I connected I went to look at my Facebook and well it disables Facebook's new layout design. Well besides that it isn't too bad I still like my Firefox though.

[graymoon19]

Use the program Eax-Fix before installing any updates to your machine.

[bigpal08]

I used to use ie8, before that i used ie7. The reason change to ie8 because Microsoft eliminate addons for ie7 and changes all of it for ie8 in just one single night. Ie 8 is really suck! Not compatible with almost famous web (i.e: yahoo.com, bloomberg.com). Beware not changed to ie8 even Microsoft want you to do it. Better use Firefox 3.0.1 with a lot of addons

[krazimom]

I was one of the not-so-intelligent people who let the IE8 Beta after installing XP sp3. I didn't like it. Many website were inaccessible. I just downloaded and reinstalled IE7 and it worked like a charm.

[Jimbo_Gray]

Ok, please explain to me what exactly does IE8 do to Norton, and how does one fix it?

[Fed51]

IE8 still sucks... so does IE7 and IE6 so on and so on
i'd suggest that people should look into alternative browsers and find one they like instead of being a ballmer and using IE