Which IE do you recommend -- 5.5 vs. 6?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to reply
  • Start date Start date
Spacey said:
[snip]
I'll get back to your original question. All the IE-based tabbed
browsers are dependant upon the IE rendering engine. As for IE 5.5
or 6.0, I have upgraded about 20 computers to 6.0 and have not had a
problem yet. However there are plenty of people who have had a
problem upgrading. Try upgrading and keeping the previous
configuration for a possible rollback if necessary.
Click to expand...

Why upgrade? Is 6.0 really any better than 5.5, or 5.01 for that
matter?
Click to expand...

Here is a good place to look for some upgrade feature of IE6.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;293513
 
IE 5 is so full of holes and exploits that Microsoft wants to pretend it
never happened.

Back when I still used IE, I noticed a definite better performance after
upgrading to IE 6.
Click to expand...

Really? My curiosity is sparked:

IE 6.0:
"Computer with a 486/66-MHz processor or higher (Pentium processor
recommended)
Windows 98 Second Edition:
16 MB of RAM minimum
Full install size: 12.4 MB"
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/evaluation/sysreqs/default.asp

IE 5.5:
"In order to install and run Internet Explorer 5.5, you must have at
least a 66 MHz 486 system. If you're running Windows 95 or Windows 98,
you need to have a minimum of 16MB of RAM."
http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:mA3GRNHoGe8J:www.zdnetindia.com/hel
p/howto/stories/8757.html+%22internet+explorer%22+5.5+%22system+requirem
ents%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

IE 5.01sp2:
"System Requirements
To install Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 2, your computer must
meet or exceed the following system requirements:
A 486 with a 66MHz processor (Pentium processor recommended)
For Windows 95 or Windows 98: 16MB of RAM minimum "
http://www.infinisource.com/features/ie501-sp2.html

Okay... even with your telling me so, and microsoft telling me so (which
counts for @%$%^), I still have a hard time believing IE6.0 requires
less system resources, is faster, etc. than 5.01.
"Microsoft security" may be an oxymoron, but IE 6 is way more secure than
IE 5.
Click to expand...

Ok, the topic of security just bores me to death. Guess I haven't been
burned. Spacey
 
Spacey Spade said:
badgolferman (e-mail address removed) wrote...


Thanks!
Click to expand...

met00! I saved that page. Later on I plan to read it, examine some of
its subjects, in further depth. On my new partition, I'd still not got
around to deciding 5.5 v 6.

One question off the top. The "media bar" stuff. My notebook is not
suitable for multimedia; but on some PC I move into in future, then
I might well be more into that. Would I have reason to want to use the
msie media bar, in lieu of third-party apps?
 
Really? My curiosity is sparked:
Click to expand...
Okay... even with your telling me so, and microsoft telling me so (which
counts for @%$%^), I still have a hard time believing IE6.0 requires
less system resources, is faster, etc. than 5.01.
Click to expand...


Why do you automatically assume "better performance" means faster? I meant
no crashing, better rendering of web pages, more reliable performance.

FYI, I noticed no difference in speed at all.

Naturally, it would be a mistake to try and use IE 6 on a machine with
marginal hardware.
 
omega said:
met00! I saved that page. Later on I plan to read it, examine some of
its subjects, in further depth. On my new partition, I'd still not got
around to deciding 5.5 v 6.

One question off the top. The "media bar" stuff. My notebook is not
suitable for multimedia; but on some PC I move into in future, then
I might well be more into that. Would I have reason to want to use the
msie media bar, in lieu of third-party apps?
Click to expand...

Don't know. I've never used it.
 
donutbandit said:
I would upgrade IE 5.5 to 6 as a given due to security issues.
Click to expand...

MS still releases security-fixes for IE5.5, so that's not needed.

The only reason to upgrade to IE6 I can see, is that it follows the W3C
standards better than the older versions...
 
I would upgrade IE 5.5 to 6 as a given due to security issues.

Netscape, Mozilla and Firebird all work well but all still have the same
memory leak. I'm using Netscape 7.1 now. This memory leak has been here for
ages and is something that REALLY needs to be fixed.
Click to expand...


If I HAD to choose between ANY two versions of IE, I would go with the
latest version, if for no other reason because it will render the more
jazzy sites more accurately, supporting the very latest in web
standards.

Plus, IE 6.x seems faster to me. And more stable. And the holes, while
new ones keep appearing as hackers and crackers are persistent in
looking for new ones as the old ones get plugged, keep getting
smaller.

This aside is slightly OT, but the hacker/cracker community, in its
perverse way, is doing both Microsoft and the web community a huge
favor by its relentless targeting of IE. The next generations of
Microsoft browsers will be MUCH more secure for it.

If you MUST stick with IE though, make sure you download and install
the latest version of Google's toolbar. It includes a surprisingly
effective pop-up blocker, which IE lacks. It is disabled by default,
though. You must configure and enable it.

But I like Firebird 0.7 these days. It is more stable than any other
Mozilla-derived browser. It comes as a small initial download, but
allows adding of desired extensions, making it is simple or as complex
as you like. Netscape has too much (ANY is too much) AOL junk hung on
it, and Mozilla has become bloatware IMO, plus I don't like the email
client.

I am aware of the memory leak by Netscape and Mozilla, but I
personally have not noticed it on Firebird.

Lastly, if you can write scripts, Firebird is very customizable.
Indeed, Mozilla has cut-and-paste code blocks one can use if you are
not so script-literate.
 
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