Upgrade your browser to Internet Explorer 8

If Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) hasn't already been delivered via Microsoft’s Windows Update service, it can be manually downloaded. Visit the IE8 home page (www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer) and click the orange ‘Download now’ button to the left. Opt to save the file to the Windows Desktop. Once the download is complete, double-click the file to start the installation process and click Next. Click ‘I Accept’ followed by Next and wait while the new web browser is installed. Restart Windows when prompted to complete the process.

Windows will spend a little time installing the necessary updates and will then start as normal. Launch Internet Explorer 8 using the Start menu or the shortcut in the Quick Launch area of the Taskbar and the browser setup wizard will appear. Click Next to continue and indicate whether the ‘Suggested sites’ feature – which can recommend interesting websites based on your browsing habits – should be enabled and click Next. Select the ‘Choose custom settings’ option and then click Next. After choosing between using your current search engine or selecting a new one, click Next, enable updates and click Next again.

For now, select the ‘Keep my current Accelerators’ option and click Next, ensure that the Smartscreen Filter is enabled to block malicious websites and click Next again. Select the option to use Compatibility View updates and click Finish. Type a website address (URL) into the Address bar at the top of the screen to visit a site – notice that even while navigating a site, the main part of the URL is highlighted in bold. As letters are typed into the Address bar, Internet Explorer will search through sites which have been bookmarked or visited, and offer suggestions in a dropdown menu.

The Favorites Center works in much the same way as in Internet Explorer 7 and can be accessed by clicking the Favorites toolbar button. To make the bar visible at all times, click the ‘Pin the Favorites Center’ button in the bar to the left of the screen. A new button in the main toolbar next to the Favorites button makes it possible to quickly add the currently opened site to the Favorites Bar for easy access. RSS feeds can also be added to the Favorites Bar to make it easier to access news stories.

Internet Explorer’s search facility has been enhanced. Use the box in the upper right-hand corner of the screen to enter a search term and just press Enter to search using the default search engine. Click the arrow to the right of the search box to opt to use a different search company. As letters are typed into the box, suggestions will be displayed in a dropdown menu. In the case of a standard search engine such as Google, search terms will be suggestion, while for the likes of Amazon and eBay items matching the search terms will be listed complete with thumbnail previews.

Internet Explorer 8 includes a search facility to find instances of words and phrases on the currently displayed page. This can be accessed by selecting ‘Find on this Page’ from the search bar’s dropdown menu, or by pressing Ctrl and F. Type a search term into the search bar that appears at the top of the page and the search will be performed. The number of instances that have been found will be shown in the bar and the term will be highlighted on the page. Use the Next and Previous buttons to navigate through them and use the cross to the far left of the search bar when finished.

Tabbed browsing makes it easier to work with multiple web pages at the same time and IE8 includes a number of key enhancements. Open a new tab by clicking the miniature tab to the right of the tab bar and the page that is displayed provides access to recently closed pages. Alternatively, simply enter a new URL into the Address bar. Right-click a link and select the Open In New Tab option and any pages from the same website will be colour-coded to aid identification. Use the right-click menu to ungrouped coloured tabs or close a number of tabs simultaneously.

Web Slices are small sections of a website that can be added to the Favorites Bar for easy access without the need to visit the site itself – they can provide access to news, weather and much more. When a site that offers a Web Slice is visited, a green icon will appear in the toolbar. Click this followed by the ‘Add to Favorites Bar’ button and a new button will be added to the bar. When this is clicked, the Web Slice will be displayed in a pop up box.

Accelerators are similar to Web Slices, providing access to handy online tools without the need to visit a particular site and some are built in by default. Highlight a portion of text and click the blue icon that appears next to it. From the menu that appears, select the action to perform, such as performing a search for the word, or looking up a highlighted postcode. More Accelerators can be installed by selecting All Accelerators followed by Find More Accelerators and then browsing through the online gallery.

Internet Explorer 8’s Suggested Sites feature may already be enabled but check by clicking the Tools button and ensuring that the option is ticked. This tool monitors the types of website that are visited and suggest other that may be of interest. The Suggested Sites Web Slice appears in the Favorites bar and can be click at any time to view a list of potentially interesting pages – just click to visit.

Internet Explorer 8 works in a slightly different way to previous versions of the web browser and it is possible that some websites may not display properly. To overcome this problem, Compatibility View has been introduced. When available, a new icon will be displayed to the far right of the Address bar – it look like a piece of paper torn in two. In many instances, Compatibility View will be automatically enabled when required.

The new Smartscreen Filter is an extension of Internet Explorer 7’s anti-phishing filter. If a malicious website is visited, it will be automatically detected and blocked by default. It is possible to override the block and visit the site anyway, but any displayed warnings should be taken seriously. Downloads that may install malicious software will also be blocked. A site can be manually checked by clicking the Safety button followed by Smartscreen Filter then Check This Website.

As Internet Explorer is used to browse the internet, cookies and the accumulating browsing history can reveal a great deal about online activities. To prevent others from discovering how you have been using the web, click the Safety toolbar button and select Inprivate Browsing. A special label appears at the front of the Address bar to indicate that the mode has been activated and as soon as the browser window is closed all internet traces from that session will be eliminated.