Why do people say IE is slow?

DarkNovaGamer said:

zigzag3143 said:

Again with the holy wars.

IE vs FF, vs, chrome

Mac vs PC

Ati vs Nvidia

etc, etc, etc

We all have our favorites. We all have seen these thread again and again, and again. I think some valid points were raised here just that no changed their browser just now.

Jump

Ken J

You forgot AMD vs Intel

Yeah, Yeah Steve

Instead why dont we just make a thread for entries, then when they are all in if we get the urge for a war all we have to do is post the list than every fan boy can attack the other side of every issue. Btw Intel vs AMD added

Just shoot me

Kenn J+

Not as good as FF but that's no surprise - and widely published. But like most benchmarks, it does not reflect normal use - but rather extremes.

How about listing those sites you were having problems with?

I'm not having problems with it, I just wanted to know why people say IE is slow. I tried other browsers just for fun and my verdict is:

Safari 4: User-interface is just stupid to me and you can't change the search providers.
Google Chrome: Not bad, but I didn't like the lack of a drop-down arrow with the sites you've been to recently.
Opera: This one I really liked, but adding new search providers was kind of hard (you can do it in IE with just one click). Also, with IE, if you happen to open a web page that is the same as the one you just had open, you can click Back once to go back to the previous page while with Opera, you have to click it multiple times, depending on how many duplicate pages you opened (some of you may not understand what I'm saying here. I didn't really know how to explain it).
Firefox 3.5: This was my favorite out of all of them. I don't know if I'll make a complete switch though, but I noticed that this does everything IE8 can do.

Also, with IE, if you happen to open a web page that is the same as the one you just had open, you can click Back once to go back to the previous page

Yeah, that's a nice feature. I also like how well crash recovery works, though I have not had it use but a couple times since since installing Win7. If you use IE7Pro, disable it's crash recovery as it may conflict with IE's. And speaking of IE7Pro, I use it primarily because, disappointingly, IE8 still does not include a spell checker. That said. IE7Pro's spell checker works great with IE8 and IE7Pro is the only add-on I use.

I once tried IE7Pro and for some reason, it made IE very unstable because it caused IE to constantly crash. Plus, I find the spell checker to be distracting at times.

I also found something that IE has that FF doesn't: the ability to delete an individual link from the drop-down list of recent web sites you've visited. With that said, I think I'll stick to IE since I use this feature a lot.

For me, speed isn't really an issue. Instead, it's more about the browser's features.

Wii Master 64 said:

I'm a Firefox user (just upgraded to 3.6b4!) and the reasons why I'm not with IE is because A. It's faster, B. It has awesome add-ons, such as Adblock Plus, and C. It is VERY customizable, like the ability to turn pipelining on and off. If it weren't for these things, I probably wouldn't care.

When I set up a new OS, the first thing I do is download FF, install it, install AdBlockPlus. Once I've done that, I then download the apps I use such as Thunderbird, Paint.net, etc. Turn off UAC, turn off "display delete confirmation dialog" in Recycle Bin, and a few other personalizations. NOTHING comes before installing FF!!
:)

That's why I use Opera. Am no fanboi nor zealot. LOL

I once tried IE7Pro and for some reason, it made IE very unstable because it caused IE to constantly crash.

It did for me too, until I disabled some of the other features it thought I needed - and it crashed with IE8 for me, until I disabled IE7Pro's crash recovery.

Plus, I find the spell checker to be distracting at times.

Hmmm, I find that a bit odd as the spell checker works in the background and is totally invisible, until you misspell a word - then it simply underlines it in red so that it does get your attention. A simple right click on the word provides a short list of suggested correctly spelled words, or you can add the word to the custom dictionary. You can add pre-built dictionaries (legal or medical dictionaries, for example). It seems totally intuitive to me. I REALLY like that it does "real-time" checking as opposed to my previous favorite, IESpell which I had to remember to run manually on my posts before clicking the submit button.

Perhaps it depends on how concerned one is about correct spelling and the use of grammar. To me, any writing with misspellings is a distraction, and a detraction from (1) quality and accuracy of the piece, and (2) the apparent professionalism and integrity of the writer - fair or not! No one said life was fair.

I used to do a lot of technical writing and editing of technical documents and there's no doubt that a reader's perception of the quality, accuracy, AND understanding of the work is affected by simple spelling and grammar errors. It raises questions as to whether the writer really cares, double-checked his facts, or knows his topic if he can't take the time to pay attention to details, or simply cross the "T"s and dot the "I"s.

Having a real-time spell checker do much of that detail work, for me anyway, is hugely important. Not only does it find most of my mistakes (or my fingers' mistakes - since they sometimes have their own agenda! ), but I think immediate feedback makes me a better speller in the long run.

I recommend anyone using IE8 give IE7Pro a try. It does uninstall nicely if you don't like it - just be sure to disable Crash Recovery and anything else you don't need. I also disable User Scripts, and the only plug-in I use is AccuWeather which tells me it is now is 32°F and Sunny outside.

Am no fanboi nor zealot. LOL

I'm not either. I have my preferences, but I don't buy into there is only one and all the others suck! And while I generally like MS products, including IE8, I make no bones about bashing MS, when due. But I also will defend MS, with zeal, when they are slammed unjustly - especially over security where I remind everyone that badguys put us in this security situation we are in, not Microsoft. And I remind folks that XP and IE6 came about when security was not much of an issue because the Internet was still in its infancy, most users were not networked, and customers (primarily the huge existing corporate user-base) DEMANDED legacy (read: unsecured old stuff) support of their DOS era (and expensive) hardware and software. MS certainly deserves some of the blame, but not the blunt of it.

For me, speed isn't really an issue.

If you have a half-way decent machine (average CPU, ample amount of RAM, enough free disk space for Windows to play in, something better than entry level on-board graphics), and a fast Internet connection, speed should not be an issue, regardless the browser of choice. If it is, there's probably something else wrong with the computer, or resources are being bogged down by too many other things.

Instead, it's more about the browser's features.

Hmmm. Now that's an interesting point. Rather than drive this topic off on another tangent, please see: What Function or Feature Should a Browser Support?