Windows Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 release notes

This article includes the release notes for Windows Internet Explorer 8 RC1.

To uninstall Internet Explorer 8 RC1

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Compatibility with third-party Web sites and programs

Web site compatibility

Windows Internet Explorer 8 improves browser interoperability and advances the Web by delivering a better implementation of Web standards. Although this is a move in the right direction, you might encounter compatibility issues with some sites that still rely on the behavior of earlier versions of Internet Explorer. Common symptoms of site compatibility problems are out-of-place menus, images, or text.

Compatibility View resolves most site compatibility issues and makes Web sites that are designed for older browsers look better.

To enable Compatibility View for specific Web sites that are not displayed correctly or that are not working, follow these steps:

1. In Internet Explorer RC1, open the Web site that is not displayed correctly or that does not work correctly.
2. Click the Compatibility View icon. This icon is located to the right side of the address bar. Or, click Compatibility View on the Tools menu.

You can see a list of major sites that are best viewed in Compatibility View n the Compatibility View settings dialog box. When you visit a Web site that is on the list, Internet Explorer 8 automatically displays the site in Compatibility View.

If you use Reset Internet Explorer Settings (RIES), and you have the Delete personal settings check box selected, the Compatibility View list feature may stop working. To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Reset.
3. Click to clear the Delete personal settings check box.
4. Click Reset.
5. Close and then reopen Internet Explorer.

Intuit TurboTax Online

At this point, Internet Explorer 8 RC1 is not fully supported by Intuit for use with the TurboTax Online program.

Windows Live Login Helper Object

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 displays a compatibility warning if certain older versions of the Windows Live Login Helper Object add-in are installed on your computer. This add-in is often installed together with other Windows Live Essentials software such as Messenger or Mail.

To fix this issue, download the latest version of Windows Live Essentials. To do this, visit the following Web site:

HP Smart Web Printing

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 displays a compatibility warning when certain versions of the HP Smart Web Printing add-in are installed. This issue occurs because Internet Explorer 8 RC1 and specific versions of this add-in are incompatible, and the installation is unstable. When you disable this add-in, the functionality that this product provides is removed.

For more information and for updates, visit the following HP Smart Web Printing Web site:

Google Toolbar

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 displays a compatibility warning when certain versions of the Google Toolbar add-in are installed. This issue occurs because Internet Explorer 8 RC1 and specific versions of this add-in are incompatible, and the installation is unstable. When you disable this add-in, the functionality that this product provides is removed.

For more information and for updates, visit the following Google Toolbar Web site:

Roxio Drive Letter Access

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 displays a compatibility warning when certain versions of the Drive Letter Access (DLA) add-in are installed. This issue occurs because Internet Explorer 8 RC1 and specific versions of this add-in are incompatible, and the installation is unstable. When you disable this add-in, the main functionality of the DLA product is unaffected.

For more information and for updates, visit the following Roxio Web site:

Skype

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 displays a compatibility warning when certain versions of the Skype add-in are installed. This issue occurs because Internet Explorer 8 RC1 and specific versions of this add-in are incompatible, and the installation is unstable. When you disable this add-in, the main functionality of the Skype product is unaffected.

Make sure that your version of the Skype add-in is 2.2.0.193 or a later version. To do this, click the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, point to Manage Add-ons, and then click Enable or Disable Add-ons.

For more information and for updates, visit the following Skype Web site:

Real Networks RealPlayer 11

There is a known application compatibility issue that occurs when you use Real Networks RealPlayer 11 with a beta version of Internet Explorer 8 on Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or on Windows Server 2008. To resolve this issue, install hotfix 957055. The system automatically receives this update when you install Internet Explorer 8 RC1.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
If you want to install both Internet Explorer 8 RC1 and RealPlayer 11, you must install RealPlayer 11 first.

If you install RealPlayer 11 after you install Internet Explorer 8 RC1, you may experience some application compatibility issues. To resolve these issues, uninstall Internet Explorer 8 RC1, and then reinstall it.

Asus NBProbe

There is a known issue with Asus NBProbe V3.0.39 or older. This optional utility program shows CPU temperature information. When you load the NBProbe utility, it starts an ActiveX control that is not recognized by Internet Explorer as Safe for Scripting or Safe for Initialization. To allow the control to work with the NBProbe program, set the following registry key to bypass the ActiveX control verification:


Important Modifying or editing the registry can cause serious problems if done incorrectly. Make sure that you follow the steps carefully. For added protection, we recommend that you back up the registry before you modify it. This allows you to restore the registry if a problem occurs.

For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Issues that occur with Windows Search

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 has a new address bar that searches the titles and addresses of the history, the Favorites, and the RSS feeds as you type. This feature enables you to find the sites that you want quickly and easily. This feature works best when Windows Search is installed and is enabled.

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 works with Windows Search 3 and with later versions of Windows Search. Windows Vista already contains Windows Search 3. You can use any Windows operating system to add Windows Search 4 to obtain the full benefit of the address bar search functionality.

To obtain Windows Search, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about Windows Search, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Internet Explorer 8 RC1 automatically starts to use Windows Search for the address bar search procedure as soon as Windows Search is installed. Internet Explorer 8 RC1 and Windows Search can be installed in any order.

If you experience stability or performance problems with Windows Search 3, we recommend that you upgrade to Windows Search 4. This process resolves many issues that are associated with Windows Search 3.

To obtain Windows Search 4, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

How to use the developer tools with Internet Explorer RC1

If the developer tools are enabled before resetting Internet Explorer to default settings, the developer tools will not be hidden as expected. To correct this, you can hide the toolbar manually by pressing F12. Pressing F12 again toggles the toolbar back on.

When you use the developer tools, please be aware of the following additional items:

Inspecting HTML elements

• Contents of an IFRAME cannot be inspected using the HTML tree view if the first child node of the IFRAME is a comment.
• When using the select element by click command, the selected element is not highlighted if that element already has focus in the HTML tree view of the toolbar.
• Executing a Jscript command in the address bar will disable the HTML tree in the developer tools. To work around this, refresh the page.
• Refreshing an RSS feed while using the developer tools will cause the HTML tree to be hidden. To work around this, close and re-open the developer tools.
• Child HTML elements of OBJECT tags do not appear in the HTML tree view. To work around this, right-click on the page and choose View Source. Then navigate to the line containing the OBJECT tag of interest. Alternatively, load the HTML of the OBJECT tag in a separate browser window and then use the developer tools HTML tree view to examine the source.
• In the attributes tab of the developer tools, toggling "show read-only properties" disables the ability to add new attributes. To work around this, refresh the page.
• When working with XML documents, the HTML tree displays the source Internet Explorer uses to render the XML, not the original XML markup. To view the original source, right-click on the page and select View Source.

Debugging CSS styles

• In the Trace styles tab, displayed styles are calculated using the Internet Explorer 8 standards mode. Switching the Browser or Document Mode will not change the logic used to calculate traced styles.
• If a page references the same CSS file from two or more style blocks, the CSS tab will display duplicate entries for the file.

Using the Script debugger

• Although the Script debugger can be used for debugging any engine implementing IActiveScript interfaces (like VBScript), only JScript debugging is supported.
• We do not recommend that you use the JScript debugger when multiple tabs are open. The behavior in multiple tab scenarios is undefined and could cause the browser to stop responding. To work around this issue, use only one tab per Internet Explorer instance when debugging.
• When in a breakpoint, changing the Internet Explorer document mode or browser mode will cause the browser to stop responding. To avoid this, change the document mode or browser mode before reaching a breakpoint, or press F5 to continue and then change the document mode or browser mode.
• When in a breakpoint, Internet Explorer is paused and is waiting for input from the script debugger. Therefore, it does not respond to any user interaction. The Internet Explorer window is not updated, and other developer tools features, such as the HTML and CSS tabs, do not function. This condition occurs because the tools depend on receiving data from Internet Explorer.
• After you click Start debugging, JScript errors continue to display error dialog boxes. This behavior occurs even if you click Stop debugging. To stop the dialog boxes from appearing, check the box next to Do not show this message again and click No in the Internet Control Panel.
• Expandos that are added to DOM objects are not shown when you view these objects in Locals and Watch windows.
• If you start script debugging while the developer tools are pinned, the toolbar may hang on Windows XP. To avoid this, unpin the developer tools prior to launching script debugging.

Using the Script profiler

• Although the Script profiler can be used for profiling any engine implementing IActiveScript interfaces (like VBScript), only JScript profiling is supported.
• We do not recommend that you use the profiler when multiple tabs are open. The performance data in multiple scenarios could be misleading and incorrect.
• Source information (URL and line number) is not available if script debugging is disabled in Internet Explorer. To work around this, uncheck the Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer) entry in the Internet Options.
• When you export a profiler report, the Functions view is shown. All available columns are exported in a default order. This is also the case even if the current view of the report is set to some other view.

Using the default page source viewer

• When saving a page from the default source viewer that is encoded in Japanese UTF-8/JIS, garbage is appended to the file following the element. To work around this, edit the saved file and remove all content after the tag.
• When using the default source viewer, screen readers do not properly render source code as a webpage. To work around this, press F7 while focus is in the view source window to turn off caret browsing. Then press ALT+TAB to lose window focus, and then press ALT+TAB again to return focus to the source viewer window.

Language of JScript errors on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

When the language of the operating system and Internet Explorer 8 RC1 are not the same, JScript errors from hosts such as CScript and WScript will appear in the installed language of Internet Explorer 8 RC1. This only occurs on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

For example, installing the English version of Internet Explorer 8 on any non-English Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 machine will cause all JScript errors from CScript and WScript to appear in English rather than the language of the operating system.

To work around this issue, reinstall Internet Explorer 8 RC1 in the same language as the operating system.

Online Help in Windows Vista

In Internet Explorer 8 RC1, Help content is complete, but is only available with offline Help. To see Internet Explorer 8 Help in Vista, you need to turn off online help. If you are getting Internet Explorer 7 Help in Internet Explorer, follow these steps:

1. Open the Windows Vista Help pane (press F1 in Internet Explorer).
2. Click the Online Help link at the bottom right of the window, and then click “Get offline Help.”
3. You will now get Internet Explorer 8 Help in Vista.

Note Be sure to turn online Help back on when you are finished to get updated online Help for Windows Vista.

Known issue: The Print Preview Help link will always return Internet Explorer 7 Help. To view Internet Explorer 8 Print Preview Help, do the above steps, and search for Print Preview in the Windows Help pane.

Assistive technology

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 is incompatible with versions of Job Access With Speech (JAWS) prior to 9.0.2169 and versions of Window-Eyes prior to 7.0.1.

If you are using an earlier version of JAWS or Window-Eyes, menu and web content reading in Internet Explorer 8 RC1 may not function correctly. Uninstalling Internet Explorer 8 RC1 will restore full functionality to JAWS and Window-Eyes.

Alt text display in image maps

When images are disabled in Internet Explorer and an image map is displayed on a webpage, the alt text for each region of the map is not displayed.

Installing Search Providers and Accelerators in Vista

If you try to install a Search Provider or Accelerator from a webpage that requires you to log in using HTTP authentication or cookie authentication, the installation will fail. To work around this limitation, temporarily turn off Vista Protected Mode. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools, and then click Security.
2. In the Security tab, clear the Enable Protected Mode checkbox.
3. Restart Internet Explorer.

We strongly recommend that you re-enable protected mode when you are done installing Search Providers and Accelerators.

Out-of-box Accelerators

If you disabled any out-of-box Accelerators in a prerelease build of Internet Explorer 8, such as Beta 1 or RC1, those Accelerators will be re-enabled when you upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 RC1. Any deleted out-of-box Accelerators will remain deleted after installing Internet Explorer 8 RC1.

Applications using Top Level Domain Determination

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 supports better determination of top level domains (TLDs), particularly in the case where the right-most label of the host is less than 3 characters. The TLD determination is exposed for developers through previously released public APIs. Additionally, applications can use the Internet Explorer 8 RC1 TLD logic by using the FEATURE_USE_IETLDLIST_FOR_DOMAIN_DETERMINATION feature control key.

By default, Internet Explorer 8 RC1 TLD determination is turned ON for applications on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, applications will have this feature control key turned OFF which results in the applications utilizing IE7 TLD logic. There are known issues with applications using the Internet Explorer 8 RC1 TLD logic in conjunction with Internet Explorer 8 RC1 running on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It is recommended to keep the feature control key turned OFF for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 in the release candidate.

Problems when upgrading to Internet Explorer 8 from Internet Explorer 7

If you receive a message that all add-ons are disabled every time you start Internet Explorer, follow these steps to help resolve the problem:

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Reset. Follow any on-screen directions.
3. Close and re-open Internet Explorer.

If Internet Explorer 8 flashes and closes immediately when you try to start it, there may be some settings in Internet Explorer 7 that were not working correctly. To resolve the problem, follow these steps:

1. Uninstall Internet Explorer 8 (see instructions elsewhere in this document).
2. Restart your computer, and then open Internet Explorer 7.
3. In Internet Explorer, click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
4. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Reset. Follow any on-screen directions.
5. Close Internet Explorer 7.
6. Reinstall Internet Explorer 8.

You cannot view Windows Internet Explorer Group Policies on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP 64-bit Edition with Windows Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1

Symptoms

You will not be able to view Windows Internet Explorer Group Policies on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP 64-bit Edition with Windows Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1. If you open the Group Policy Editor (GPEdit.msc), you will see a warning dialog stating that the inetres.adm file could not be loaded. You will still be able to view and configure Group Policies unrelated to Internet Explorer.

Cause

The problem occurs because the Group Policy Editor on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP 64-bit Edition cannot parse a particular line in the inetres.adm file.

Resolution
This problem will be fixed in the next version of Internet Explorer 8.

Arabic EULA correction

In the Arabic (ARA) release of Internet Explorer 8 RC1, the terms of use are stated incorrectly as ending on March 15, 2008. The correct date is March 15, 2009.

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products. Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.