Microsoft released Windows Internet Explorer 8 today at 12 noon EST. I downloaded, checked it out and here’s what I have to report.

First I’ll say that I’m not going to rehash what’s going to be on hundreds of other blogs out there. I’m only going to concentrate of the nitty-gritty of what matters to most people in question-and-answer style.

Q: Does it work with Microsoft Update?

A: Yes. In all honesty this is the one thing that kept me from running IE 8 betas and RCs. It was well known that the update was "broken" with the pre-release versions, hence why I absolutely would not use it.

The official release of IE 8 does and does so well. And faster.

Above: This is what I like to see. IE 8 working just fine with Microsoft Update, the way it should.

Q: Is it faster than IE 7?

A: Yes. You will immediately notice that the tabs launch and close much quicker, pages render faster and overall performance is better.

Q: Can you move the buttons on the right to the left?

A: Yes.

Right-click, if "Lock The Toolbars" is checked, click to uncheck. Then drag it wherever you want.

Check this out:

Above: Large icons selected, icons on the left. It’s a thing of beauty.

Q: Is there a "porn" mode?

A: Yes. This is called "going incognito" in Google Chrome and in IE 8 it’s called "InPrivate". Open up a new tab and select "Browse with InPrivate", like this:

You get a new window with this:

This is jokingly called "porn mode" for any browser that offers this, and now IE 8 has it. Yes, it’s a good feature. I particularly recommend it for any web site that has to do with your money, such as banking web sites.

Firefox officially has to play catch-up now. Google Chrome and IE 8 have the edge with this feature. I’m sure with FF 3.1 it will be there. Watch for it.

Q: Should you get it?

A: Yes. IE 8 beats the crap out of IE 7. It’s leaner, faster and just plain better. This is a no-brainer upgrade. Get it. Even if you don’t use IE, if you use a Windows operating system, get it for better/faster update capability.

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