UPDATE: DO NOT INSTALL IE8 ON VISTA HOME PREMIUM!!!!!

They implemented full spec compliance in IE8. They also included a "compatibility mode" for use with pages that didn't work in full spec compliance mode.

To do post composition here, I have to turn compatibility mode on. Otherwise all the tool icons on the composition window don't show up.

Unfortunately, with compatibility mode on, the checkmarks still show up inside the "more inside" composition window instead of below it. (In spec compliance mode they didn't show up at all.)

UPDATE: After installing IE8, when I click on a directory in an Explorer window, it opens in a separate window. I wonder what else global IE8 changed for me?

UPDATE: Which is curious, because the folder options in Explorer is set to "Open each folder in the same window".

UPDATE: The "favorites bar" can be turned off, which is nice. On the right side of the other command bar is a section which has the "Page", "Safety", and "Tools" menus, and the "Home" button, and the "Help" button. There are other things you can add in there, and of course it adjusts its size to fit what it holds.

And it places itself so that the last of the tools is always off screen to the right. I just removed about five tools from it, things I don't want or need, and the "help" button is still off screen.

There's plenty of space; the bar could be moved over to hold it. But I can't do that; it isn't under my control.

One time I figured out how to create an obnoxious page which always was just a bit wider than the browser window, so that you always had to scroll left and right to read it. This feels like that.

UPDATE: Well, this is gonna get real old, real fast. Nothing I can figure out to do will make Windows go back to opening directories in Explorer without popping a new window for them.

If I select them using the left pane, they open in the same window. But clicking them pops a new window even though I have chosen that I want them opening in the same window.

I thought maybe it was a case of something needing an edge rather than a level. So I switched to "open in new window" and rebooted. Then I switched back to "open in same window" and rebooted, and it had no effect at all.

I think it's time to go visit Windows Update.

Meanwhile, something else obnoxious: the command bar in Explorer (that is, the file explorer, not the internet explorer) now has a shortcut to the program uninstaller. Yeah, right, like that's something I do multiple times per day. Why in hell would I want that there?

UPDATE: Seems I'm not the only person to notice this. They say that I have to run IE8 once as administrator. I'll give it a try.

UPDATE: He's full of it. That doesn't fix it.

UPDATE: Even worse: middle-clicking links opens a new tab, but they don't load anything. The browser doesn't make a net request (no blink on my ethernet hub).

And no one seems to have a fix for the problem of folders opening in their own windows. That's it; IE8 is being removed now.

UPDATE: Or maybe not. I have a convenient link to the uninstall program now, but there's no entry in there for IE8.

UPDATE: And now explorer has gotten completely flaky. Right-clicking many icons in the shortcut bar leads to a hang, a timeout, and eventually that popup asking me if I want to restart it. That shouldn't happen with Explorer.

Microsoft, didn't you test this thing before releasing it onto an unsuspecting public?

It looks like I'm going to have to figure out how to revert to the last save point, whatever the hell those are called. I can't even remember the keyword, let along how you do such a retreat.

I hope it doesn't come to me having to reload from backups, because my last backup was last November, just before I installed SP1.

UPDATE: It's called "System Restore" and it's running now. I had a restore point from yesterday afternoon, the last time I ran Windows Update.

I'm posting this using my old laptop.

The Asus machine just did a reboot. Presumably that means it's done the restoration. I wonder if I just bricked it.

UPDATE: It let me log in, and it told me that the restore was successful. The boot, and the login, are taking forever. It remains to be seen whether doing this also uninstalled IE8.

UPDATE: Explorer folders no longer open in new windows.

UPDATE: And the "About Internet Explorer" popup says it's IE7. Looks like it did what I wanted it to. (Whew!)

And right-clicking on icons in the shortcut bar no longer hang up explorer. (Whew, again!)

Jesus Christ, what a piece of shit IE8 turned out to be. I didn't expect Microsoft would release something so awful.

UPDATE: I wonder if this is the reason they didn't roll it out on Windows Update? Is it still a beta?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Computers at 08:51 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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