Fast Fix for IE8 Crashes, Sluggishness on Windows 7 [Tips]

A reader of ours emailed me a few days ago hoping that we can help to solve his IE 8 problem on his Windows 7 computer. I was running Vista and recently switched over to Windows 7.  Now, I intermittently but frequently cannot access web pages because Explorer 8 is not responding.  It seems to [...]
Fast Fix for IE8 Crashes, Sluggishness on Windows 7 [Tips]

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A reader of ours emailed me a few days ago hoping that we can help to solve his IE 8 problem on his Windows 7 computer.

I was running Vista and recently switched over to Windows 7.  Now, I intermittently but frequently cannot access web pages because Explorer 8 is not responding.  It seems to happen most often when some media file is involved with the web page.  It checks to diagnose for problems when I shut it down but never comes back with anything found or recommendations.

While it’s hard to troubleshooting problem like this without sitting real in front of the computer, I was only able to provide 2 options that I would normally do if I had the same issue.

  1. Try the same website on the different browser like Firefox or Google Chrome, to narrow down the problem whether or not the issue is strictly with IE or system wide.
  2. Disable all add-ons installed on IE and re-able them one by one to narrow down where the issue is.

Not too bad,  but what Ed Bott suggested actually are better and more comprehensive. First of all, he suspected that the problem may be caused by the Adobe Flash Player, and suggested that

Updating the Flash Player is also a great way to ensure that you’re running the latest version of the Flash plug-in. That’s a crucial step in making sure you’re protected from the many security holes that have plagued this omnipresent add-in.

He also explained a step-by-step instruction for how to get Flash absolutely up to date.

Step 1: Remove all traces of the currently installed Flash player.

Step 2: Restore Internet Explorer to its default settings from Internet Options –> Advanced tab.

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Step 3: Reinstall the Flash Player.

Step 4: Re-enable previously installed Internet Explorer add-ons.

To recap:

Most of the issues in IE are caused by the add-ons. So if you have some weird problems in IE, add-ons are usually a good place to start. Using the same technique described above usually can solve most of the problem. Also, cleaning up temporary files and cookies is a good approach as well. You can do so in Internet Option | General tab.

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Lastly, because the add-ons are the source of the most issues, the less you have installed in IE, the better.


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