Internet Explorer 8: A Hands-on View - Downloading IE 8
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Downloading Internet Explorer 8 was a simple matter of hitting the download button and pressing “run.” In Vista, I was asked to grant approval before the wizard came on the screen. Veteran Microsoft users will not be surprised that the wizard told me that “Before you begin, we recommend that you save your files and close all programs.” Additionally, I would have to restart my computer once setup was completed.
The first step after starting the wizard involved accepting the “Microsoft Software Supplemental Licensing Agreement.” This wasn't nearly as bad as other licensing agreements I've seen, especially from Microsoft. It's shorter and more readable, as if the company made an extra effort to be understood.
And it's no wonder. The agreement includes a statement that informs you that some of the browser's features call the mother ship. Those features can be turned off or not used, but “By using these features you consent to the transmission of the information.” That last statement is in bold in the agreement. I'm glad the company is being this clear about that point. Incidentally, using the accelerators may pass some information on to the accelerator provider; likewise, when you use the Search Suggestions feature, some information may be passed on to the search provider.
Once I finished downloading I got this screen:
So IE installed without the latest Windows updates, and for that, I'd have to restart the computer, open IE, click the Tools button, and then click Windows Update. No big deal, but for some reason, as soon as I hit the restart button, my computer started downloading and configuring updates. I went through the update procedure described anyway.
I found one that needed installing...and it proceeded to take forever to install. Up to this point it had taken maybe 10 minutes, if that long, but for some reason, Microsoft was installing .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 and something else related to the .NET Framework. I honestly don't know why I needed this update.
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