{"id":2924,"date":"2008-03-06T13:33:11","date_gmt":"2008-03-06T08:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T13:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T07:32:29","slug":"download-internet-explorer-8-beta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet Explorer 8: Beta History, Features and What to Use Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Internet Explorer 8<\/strong> Beta 1 arrived in March 2008 as a developer preview, so web designers could prepare their sites for Microsoft&#8217;s next browser. This article recalls what IE8 introduced, why you should not download it today, and what to use instead, including IE mode in Microsoft Edge for old sites.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-66935\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/internet-explorer-8-2026-1024x538.webp\" alt=\"Internet Explorer 8 history and alternatives guide card\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/internet-explorer-8-2026-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/internet-explorer-8-2026-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/internet-explorer-8-2026-150x79.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/internet-explorer-8-2026-768x403.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/internet-explorer-8-2026.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> Internet Explorer 8 is a long-retired browser and Microsoft no longer supports it, so installing it today is unsafe. Use Microsoft Edge, Chrome or Firefox instead. If an old website or intranet app only works in Internet Explorer, open it in Edge&#8217;s Internet Explorer mode, which Microsoft says it will support through at least 2029.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6aea4d9e1938b\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6aea4d9e1938b\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#What_was_Internet_Explorer_8_Beta\" >What was Internet Explorer 8 Beta?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#New_features_in_Internet_Explorer_8\" >New features in Internet Explorer 8<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#Should_you_download_Internet_Explorer_8_today\" >Should you download Internet Explorer 8 today?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#Use_a_modern_browser\" >Use a modern browser<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#How_to_open_old_sites_with_IE_mode_in_Edge\" >How to open old sites with IE mode in Edge<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#When_did_Internet_Explorer_8_come_out\" >When did Internet Explorer 8 come out?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#Is_Internet_Explorer_8_still_supported\" >Is Internet Explorer 8 still supported?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#How_can_I_run_an_old_IE-only_website\" >How can I run an old IE-only website?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/03\/download-internet-explorer-8-beta\/#Can_I_still_download_IE8_safely\" >Can I still download IE8 safely?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_was_Internet_Explorer_8_Beta\"><\/span>What was Internet Explorer 8 Beta?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 was a developer preview for web designers and developers. Microsoft wanted sites ready for the final release, and IE8 aimed to deliver full CSS 2.1 support, better scripting performance and early HTML5 support. Testers could also install a &#8220;Report a Webpage Problem&#8221; add-on to send Microsoft reports about rendering problems and script errors.<\/p>\n<p>The beta ran on Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows Server 2008, but not on prerelease versions of Windows Vista SP1.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"New_features_in_Internet_Explorer_8\"><\/span>New features in Internet Explorer 8<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Safety Filter:<\/strong> built on the Phishing Filter to block known phishing sites and sites known to host malicious software.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Favorites bar:<\/strong> a makeover of the Links bar, where you could keep links, feeds, WebSlices and even Office documents.<\/li>\n<li><strong>WebSlices:<\/strong> let you subscribe to part of a web page and get notified when it changed, much like a feed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Activities:<\/strong> contextual services you could call from any page, such as mapping or translating selected text, instead of copying and pasting between sites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some of these ideas lived on. The Favorites bar is still in Edge, and the safety filter grew into Microsoft Defender SmartScreen. WebSlices and Activities faded away.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Should_you_download_Internet_Explorer_8_today\"><\/span>Should you download Internet Explorer 8 today?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>No. IE8 stopped getting security updates years ago, and even its successor, the Internet Explorer 11 desktop app, was retired on most Windows 10 versions on 15 June 2022, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/lifecycle\/faq\/internet-explorer-microsoft-edge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Microsoft&#8217;s lifecycle FAQ<\/a>. Old IE installers from download sites are a security risk, and modern websites will not display properly in them anyway.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Use_a_modern_browser\"><\/span>Use a modern browser<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/edge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Microsoft Edge<\/strong><\/a>: built into Windows and Microsoft&#8217;s replacement for Internet Explorer.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/chrome\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Google Chrome<\/strong><\/a>: the most widely used browser; see why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/03\/google-chrome-replaces-internet-explorer\/\">Chrome replaced IE<\/a> on many computers.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mozilla.org\/firefox\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Mozilla Firefox<\/strong><\/a>: a privacy-focused, open-source option.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_open_old_sites_with_IE_mode_in_Edge\"><\/span>How to open old sites with IE mode in Edge<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If a legacy site needs Internet Explorer, Edge can load it with the IE engine. Microsoft&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-US\/edge\/internet-explorer-mode-in-microsoft-edge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IE mode help page<\/a> gives these steps:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In Edge, type <code>edge:\/\/settings\/defaultBrowser<\/code> in the address bar and press Enter.<\/li>\n<li>Under Internet Explorer compatibility, set &#8220;Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer mode&#8221; to <strong>Allow<\/strong>, then restart Edge.<\/li>\n<li>In recent Edge versions on a home PC, go to Settings, Default Browser, and under Internet Explorer mode pages select <strong>Add a page<\/strong>. Enter the site and reload it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>On work PCs managed by an IT department, the option may appear as &#8220;Reload in Internet Explorer mode&#8221; in the Settings and more (&#8230;) menu. Select Leave on the information bar to go back to normal browsing.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"When_did_Internet_Explorer_8_come_out\"><\/span>When did Internet Explorer 8 come out?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Beta 1 arrived in March 2008 as a developer preview, and the final version followed in 2009.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Internet_Explorer_8_still_supported\"><\/span>Is Internet Explorer 8 still supported?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>No. Microsoft no longer supports IE8, and the Internet Explorer 11 desktop app has also been retired on most Windows 10 versions.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_can_I_run_an_old_IE-only_website\"><\/span>How can I run an old IE-only website?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Use Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge, which Microsoft supports through at least 2029.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_I_still_download_IE8_safely\"><\/span>Can I still download IE8 safely?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>No. Avoid old installers from download sites; they get no security fixes.<\/p>\n<p>For a later chapter of the story, see our old post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/02\/download-internet-explorer-ie10-for-windows-7\/\">Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 arrived in March 2008 as a developer preview, so web designers could prepare their sites&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":66935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computers","category-downloads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66937,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924\/revisions\/66937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}