Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is currently the latest version of the browser for Windows. Since support Internet Explorer 6 is ending, your PC might have been updated recently to IE8 and the first time you open IE8, a popup window appears and wants you to make some choices for configuring IE8 before using it.
Below are the examples and suggestions for making the settings.
| 1) The first screen will look like this. |
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| Just click on the Next button or for you keyboarders, press <Alt> + <N> |
| 2) On the next screen, you can choose whether to make IE your default browser or not. I suggest not to choose it and use
Firefox instead as it is a much better browser, more secure and you can use
plugins, like AdBlock Plus to block ads in webpages. The "Import settings from my other browser after setup has completed." checkbox for when you are switching from a browser other than IE to IE and want to import things like favorites/bookmarks and some users settings to make it more like the other browser. |
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| 3) Next, is the Suggested Sites setting. I recommend turning this off, unless you like being annoyed with offers to use some other website than the one you want to go to. |
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| 4) Now you can choose "Use express settings" to automatically use the settings listed below for this option, or "Choose custom settings. I recommend the Custom setting. |
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| 5) Usually the default Search Provider is Bing (which, surprise, is Microsoft's search engine), or Yahoo. You can use
whatever search engine you prefer. I recommend Google, which means you would have to choose the 2nd option as highlighted below.
The Search Provider is what is used by default when IE thinks you want to search for something. It is also the name you'll see in the search toolbar in the upper right corner of IE. |
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| 6) Search Providers might change certain features or functions to make searching better. This setting will allow or disallow whether you receive the update. My recommendation is to allow it. |
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| 7) I suggest turning this off unless you use any of the Windows Live programs. Windows Live is not in use in the Math Dept. |
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| 8) Although it sounds good, this can make IE a little slower as it has to check with Microsoft to see if they think a website is safe or not. Again, I recommend turning this off. |
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| 9) Compatibility View allows IE8 to view websites that were stupidly written to conform to older versions of IE. Since this could be a problem with Peoplesoft, I recommend turning this on. |
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| 10) Now IE8 will take you to your home page and pop up one or more tabs. The current tab will be for the "Welcome to Internet Explorer 8" site. If you changed the default Search Provider, then you should also see another tab, "Add Search Providers to Internet Explorer", like below. |
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| 11) The "Add Search Providers to Internet Explorer" page looks like this. Here you can choose one or more of the links that will allow you to use the search toolbar with the providers you add here. |
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| For more help using or configuring IE Search Providers, see this Microsoft webpage |
That should finish the setup for IE 8.