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Windows Internet Explorer 8: Get the facts

Here's the buzz

Internet Explorer 8 puts Microsoft back in the game...with Internet Explorer 8, which is bigger leap from Internet Explorer 7 than Internet Explorer 7 was from Internet Explorer 6, Microsoft is pulling out the big guns and offering features which other browsers have yet to adopt. Emil Protalinski, Ars Technica

Browser comparison chart

Here are even more ways Internet Explorer 8 is taking the competition head-on:

Internet Explorer 8

Firefox 3.0

Google Chrome 2.0

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Security

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Internet Explorer 8 takes the cake with better phishing and malware protection, as well as protection from emerging threats.

Privacy

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InPrivate Browsing and InPrivate Filtering help Internet Explorer 8 claim privacy victory.

Ease of Use

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Features like Accelerators, Web Slices and Visual Search Suggestions make Internet Explorer 8 easiest to use.

Web Standards

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Firefox and Chrome have more support for emerging standards like HTML5 and CSS3, but Internet Explorer 8 invested heavily in having world-class, consistent support for the entire CSS2.1 specification.

Developer Tools

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Internet Explorer 8 has the most comprehensive developer tools built in, including HTML, CSS and JavaScript editing, but also JavaScript profiling; other browsers have developer tools available, but either require you to download them separately, or aren't as complete.

Reliability

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Only Internet Explorer 8 has both tab isolation and crash recovery features; Firefox and Chrome have one or the other.

Customizability

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Sure, Firefox may win in sheer number of add-ons, but many of the customizations you'd want to download for Firefox are already a part of Internet Explorer 8 – right out of the box.

Compatibility

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Internet Explorer 8 is more compatible with more sites on the Internet than any other browser.

Manageability

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Neither Firefox nor Chrome provide guidance or enterprise tools.

Performance

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Knowing the top speed of a car doesn't tell you how fast you can drive in rush hour. To actually see the difference in page loads between all three browsers, you need slow-motion video. This one’s also a tie.

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