Why won't Internet Explorer 9 let me access certain websites?

Q  I have recently upgraded from Internet Explorer (IE) 8 to 9, with Windows 7. Unfortunately, I am now unable view my British Gas online account because, I’m told, its website is not compatible with IE9.

Is it possible to downgrade to IE8, or make any changes to IE9, until British Gas updates its website? I suppose each time Microsoft upgrades Internet Explorer, issues like this will keep occurring.
Dave Wilks

A  Such problems are seldom due to a genuine incompatibility between a certain version of a web browser and a website. Much more likely is that the website is performing a check and has failed to recognise the new version of the browser you’re using.

If this check can be bypassed, the site usually works perfectly well. To this end, some web browsers offer the ability to change something known as the ‘user agent string’ – this is a little bit of code that identifies the web browser to visited websites.

Unfortunately, Internet Explorer does not – at least not by default. There are ways to change IE’s user agent string by editing the Windows Registry, but we’d rarely advocate going to such extreme measures.

There are a handful of tools that claim to automate this process, such as UAPick by Bayden Systems. Once installed, open the Tools menu and choose Set User-Agent String on the classic Tools menu to launch the add-on – then follow the instructions on the Bayden Systems website. However, the process is still far from easy or obvious.

Alternatively, Internet Explorer 9 can be uninstalled. To do this, open Control Panel (from the Start menu), click the Uninstall a program link under the Programs heading and then click the ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ link on the left-hand side of the window.

Click to remove the tick from the Internet Explorer 9 entry and click OK: this should restore Internet Explorer 8 to the PC. If not, download it again by clicking here.