you could ask the same question about firefox, opera and all of the rest. i know people that have uninstalled all of the above, so take their downloads and installations numbers with the same skepticism you do about ie7.

Urr... IE7 has problems with Wi-Fi connections? IE doesn't care about your connection, it uses the TCP/IP stack of the OS. Judging from the comments, this problem is mostly situated in front of the monitor, not in the software.

IE7 works like a charm on all the XP (and Vista) machines I've installed it on. I still prefer Firefox, though, mostly because of its (still) superior standards support, and a number of extensions I've grown dependent of.

I hate IE7's locked toolbar layout and the lack of animated Windows logo!

gary:
You could ask exactly the same thing of any other bit of software. Not just web browsers.

The main difference is that none of those pieces of software are pushed upon a user's system by Windows Update.

This is the real problem. The change of interface to a major system component, and the fact that it's probably recieved along with a bundle of other updates which may also have caused problems.

And even if none of those things breaks something - when someone goes to try and do something which worked six months ago, and finds it's broken - well, what's changed recently?

IE7.

Microsoft screwed that up. They should have tried to ship just an improved rendering engine and other IE subsystems, creating an IE6.5 that was identical in interface to IE6. Then they could have offered an IE7 as an optional download, but still have satisfied the need to secure IE6.

They should also have made the secure version available as an optional download for one month longer, in order to give websites time to catch up and get compatible.

Instead, they made a very sudden and visible change - so no wonder all kinds of problems, related and unrelated, are being blamed on it.

Come on Joe. Stack up the number of complaints against the 100 million installations and you'll see that the ratio of installs v problems is extremely low.

The Microsoft support forums are not collapsing under the weight of disgruntled users, nor are third party support forums. In short, IE7 is an extremely successful release. Problems are to be expected, and *always* occur with new or updated software because it is impossible to test against all the various software scenarious that exist in the world.

My company develops software using Microsoft Access 2003. Many of our customers have come to us with issues like desktop shortcuts not working, and the inability to print vertical text. Each time a customer calls with a problem we've not noticed before, our first question is if they have IE7 installed or not. Nine times out of ten, after they uninstall IE7, their problem is solved. Even though I like Microsoft, I think its a shame that they have compatibility issues with their own software.

I have been using IE 7 since they released their beta. Though I hated the beta, the RC releases have worked for me like a charm. With due respect to some users who complained about wifi etc., I think the problem is with the people associating any problem with IE 7. There is no way I can get rid of IE 7 now! Btw, I still have problems with Firefox and lot of my banking websites - but what can you do...

I installed IE7, and I like it so much, that I dumped Firefox.

I love IE7's interface; it makes Firefox look clunky and old fashioned. I like the way the IE7 handles RSS feeds, the Quick Tabs view, the New Tab function, and lots of other things. And, of course, IE FINALLY has shrink-to-fit printing.

I run IE7 on WinXP SP2.

I have IE7 and Firefox both at work and home. I only use IE7 when I have to; the same as I did for IE6. I do not, and have not experienced for either browser what some people report. I do run multilevels of protection - firewall, antivirus, ads, and anti-spyware, spend lots of time scanning and blocking. I also limit my plugins and add-ons to a minimum; those that help out with security and make normal activities easier. I let the features of the OS or apps do their designed job vs central control via the browser such as controlling multimedia via the browser. It seems the reports I've read (machines I've examined) are filled with extensions, add-ons or machines loaded with spy, ads, viruses and bloated registry. My stand is the problems are more with the 3rd party software and users not educated in troubleshooting or aware of what is happening to their machines.

A loyal IE user for just over 10 years, I installed IE 7 when the final version was released a few weeks (months?) back. Suddenly, using IE went from a mundane everyday experience to something I dreaded. The UI guys really did a number on this one. They added buttons and toolbars I didn't want or need, and then they shoved them down my throat by making the UI so stiff and inflexible that I no longer had any control over what my browser looked like or what I had instant access to.

The day I installed IE 7 was the day I switched to Firefox, and I haven't looked back since.

It took a day or two getting used to the new interface but now I'm actually enjoying the experience and think the changes are for the better. Security seems vastly improved and as far as compatibility, no problems here. With room to improve on a few minor things I give Microsoft a B+

I've used IE7 on XP and Vista and it works flawlessly! I will never go back to 6 nor use another browser.

I've used IE7 through the betas and now the release version on XP and Vista. Overall I think it's definitely a step forward and now includes most of the basic features that made me use Firefox for a long time.

However I've been noticing some performance issues too. Especially with lots (6+) of tabs open. Opening and closing new tabs and switching between open tabs is quite slow. I've had strange issues as well where it would refuse to navigate to new pages or refresh a page. It's completely dissappeared (crashed) on me a couple of times with no notice or "send report" dialog. Seems to be quite a RAM hog as well, unless it's engineered like Vista to use whatever RAM is available and scale back as other apps use more.

Looking forward to Microsoft's supposedly faster development cycle to deliver quality updates for IE sooner rather than later or it'll be back to Firefox (which has it's own issues) for now.

I installed IE7 but I had trouble with some applications involving HP and I found it necessary to remove IE7; after removing IE7,IE6 came back to life and so did all my software applications involving HP; HP says there working on a fix; when this happens I'll being going back to IE7; just no co-operation between Microsoft and other software retailers;

I installed IE7 on my, my wife's, my mother-in-law's and my daughter's computers shortly after RTM. It worked like a charm everywhere. Only my my mother-in-law noticed that there was no menu bar and asked that I put it back.

Only had one prob with IE7 - which I've still not figured out yet - but it's most likely third-party related.
If more people started treating their boxes as "evolutionary units", upped their skill-levels to match, instead of treating their boxes as "TV sets" we'd all be better off.
MS will do what MS always has done. Users need to understand how MSs actions may impact where they are trying to go. Like it or lump it - that's the way it is.
If MS screw up - they'll pay the price.
If users screw up - they tend to say screw this I'm going for a beer. I'll offload the responsibility to someone else.
Err.. nope - you want the functionality - you gotta' pay the price !
Don't just moan yer' face off saying - this doesn't work/that doesn't work - try to figure out why it doesn't work !

The fixed toolbar layout is a bummer - as they say, making something more user-friendly makes it more user-unfriendly - I have it installed for the security features, but never run it - I just use IETab for Firefox if I need the rendering engine - much better.

Ooops - user-friendly -> power-user-unfriendly

IE7 blue-screened on my HP laptop and did OK on my Dell.

The UI is tolerable, though the layout of Favorites was clunky.

The biggest issue I have with it (as a developer) is the bugginess/incompatibilities of JavaScript, CSS support.

Tabs are cool. RSS is irrelevant for me (I use better clients).

I would recommend with XP that users manually create a Restore Point using the Windows XP System Restore utility. (Start->Programs-> Accessories-> System Tools -> System Restore.)
Click on the create a restore point button and exit.

Then install IE7 if you wish. Try out ALL your important applicatios immediately. And if some are not working, you can go back by using System Restore. (All your data between restore points will also be lost if on the same disk drive).

Many of the applications I use which have auto-updaters, or have somewhat annoying ad-ware-like features in them (Broderbond products, Avid / Pinnacle Systems video product, etc.) are reporting IE7 compatibility issues. Some of them are not offering upgrades to fix the issues..., if the application version isn't the current version...

I think it will be a very, very, very, very long time before I upgrade to IE7 based on application interaction issues.

As a non-it guy, but a power user of Internet Explorer 7, there is one thing that is bugging me - when IE 7 just simply quits!! No warning, nothing what so ever

As an IT consultant I have been using IE7 since Beta and obviously migrated to the production version as soon as it was released. Rather than choke a dead horse to death, I want to echo all the praises of IE7 that have already been posted. The only thing that I have noticed in XP is a breif slow down in loading and if you open another tab it is loaded. Sure their are some minor bugs but nothing like what I have read from those experiencing problems. IE7 is a plus and with Vista it is all it was hyped up to be!

I have IE7 running with XP It regularly crashes the browser when attachements are opened. Sometimes it happens when only opening a new web page.

I have been on IE7 for several months now.works well overall. did have problem with shortcut to a crowded desktop screen. works with fewer icons.way around problem is to right click item to go to desktop and then right click empty spot on desktop and choose item to be placed on desktop
if it does not go on with first right click.
also, press center wheel on mouse on link to
create tabs.you also dont need to show all menu
bars (hide in TOOLS). wish bars were thinner!

I have been on IE7 for several months now.works well overall. did have problem with shortcut to a crowded desktop screen. works with fewer icons.way around problem is to right click item to go to desktop and then right click empty spot on desktop and choose item to be placed on desktop
if it does not go on with first right click.
also, press center wheel on mouse on link to
create tabs.you also dont need to show all menu
bars (hide in TOOLS). wish bars were thinner!

I istalled IE7 on two of my machines (both XP) and there hasn't been any particular problems. Personally, I think the tech community is taking it easy on Firefox, which STILL has not solved it's memory problems and has problems rendering pages speedily. Having said that, I still prefer Firefox due to all the available extensions.

I work in a pc repair shop and deal with the "techno challenged person", the biggest complaint is that IE7 locks up the machine if you are still using a dial up as it wants you to fill in its "run once screen", and if you're not dialed up when you open IE7 the first time it just hangs and an uninstall of IE7 seems to be the only resolution. I have on average 5 customers a week with IE7 problems at the moment. Another complaint is the radical face lift and not being able to find favorites, toolbars etc..

i have no complaints about IE7 what so ever. so its been perfect for me. IE6 i had problems with all of the time. error's that kept shutting down the browser used to drive me crazy. my XP machine runs IE7 perfectly.

I installed IE7 on my desktop and laptop, both running XP Pro. It didn't cause any problems, but websites that looked identical in IE6, Opera and Firefox tended lo look washed out in IE7. And the interface is so poorly designed and inflexible that I rolled back to IE6 with its more logically designed interface. I wonder if MS subtracted 2 from 100 million when I rolled back? Yeah, sure.

I had installed IE 7 and then I ran into all kinds of problems with connecting to the internet, using my msn software. I ended up having to uninstall 7.0 and reinstall 6.0, and then I had to go thru and remove and reinstall my MSN software just to get it straightened out. I was even informed by MSN that their software was not compatible with IE 7.0. which all of this is amazing since I believe they are all somewhat the same company.

MS "touts" that they have the best usability lab, give their customers the ability to customize things the way "you" want it in their products - then they lock IE7 menus down and it takes 5 - FIVE! - clicks plus a WHOLE lot of scollng to save a "favorite" in one of the WORSE methods implemented that they have fielded (working on XP, likely just as bad on VISTA.)
The favorities is ONE area that people use a LOT and they created a horrible method to get to it. Looks like a High School senior lead that team. I hate to discover what other stupid "useability" features they implemented as I use it more - or maybe download Firefox and avoid having to unlearn what I have known for 7 years in IE 6.

Tom
http://www.taphilo.com

I've been using IE7 on my home computer for awhile now and compared to IE6, I don't like it. I agree with all of the comments above regarding the favorites and the menu items, etc. It really is a poor UI. My main problem is delays. I will click on a link and many times it will timeout and give me the 404 timeout and yet I can click on it a 2nd time or do a refresh and it will magically pop up. I think it may have something to do with IE7's new anti-phishing checker. It can't be my hardware, because it is an AMD 4200X2 with 2Gb RAM, etc. I did not have any of these problems with IE7 or Firefox. I may either go back to IE6 or use Firefox most of the time.

John

I've been using IE7 since beta and the only issue I've had with it also existed (in a worse form) under IE6.

The issue I have has nothing to do with IE7! It has to do with advertisers on www.foxnews.com and other advertiser supported web sites. Frequently, when going back to the main page, IE7 will lock up, but not nearly as often as IE6 would lock up!

For me, on every Win-XP system I've used, IE7 is a vast improvement over IE6!

Eric

i had to uninstall ie 7 because one of my favorite programs from QuickVerse became all but useless; they still haven't haven't figured how to fix it

the citrix client for office hookup was just fixed a couple weeks ago, but that was another reason to uninstall ie 7 when i did

i work in desktop support, both live and over the phone. at this point, ive seen IE7 leave quite a few machines noticeably slower directly after installing IE7 as a separate update.
ive also seen it decimate a couple of customer machines, and simply not work at all on others.

i really liked IE6, i dont like IE7.

IE7 wil not sort my Bookmarks as seen in the "Add" index. It may be because I have a bunch of them, but IE6 did it. I complained on a MSFT web mail site, hoping they would issuue an automatic update with a fix, but nothing has improved. Also can not collapse the sub lists to shorten the visible list.

Did anyone notice that IE7 was incompatible with users of Quicken [unless they upgraded to Quicken 2007?] $$$$ for someone.

At first, I liked IE7 so much that I installed in on all three of my machines (2 Desktops and a Laptop).
While I still preferred Opera, I found myself using IE7 more and more.

Turned out to be a big mistake as time went on.

I've since discovered that (for one thing), the Windows Help and Support Center, as well as "system information" (msinfo32.exe), now take up to 30 seconds to load.
(Uninstalling IE7 on one machine and reverting back to IE6 allows Help and Support to open almost instantly again).

I've tried EVERYTHING known to man to try and solve the problem (Even several "MS MVP's" are baffled).
Yes, I've tried no add-ons, no Phishing Filter, and a million other suggestions as well.

I've also noticed some serious 'lags' loading web pages at times, and, on one of my 'older' machines (an Athlon 1Ghz with 1GB of Ram), a noticeable system wide slowdown.

What's worse, is the 'lag' remains even after uninstalling IE7.

There are apparently many system wide changes made when installing IE7 that are all related (explorer, help and support, and lord knows what else).
Simply uninstalling IE7 and going back to IE6 does NOT return your machine to a true "before IE7 state".

I fear the only way I'll ever get my machines running the way they once were, is to do a complete format and start fresh....WITHOUT IE7.

Very discouraging.
(I have images of my drives, but like a fool I got rid of older images I had of the "before IE7 installation state", because I felt at the time everything was great).

What started out as something I felt really good about, has turned into something that I feel, for all practical purposes, has RUINED the peformance of not just my 'older' machine, but all of my machines.

fwiw, I'm not new to this stuff, my machines are completely malware free, and people a lot smarter than I am can't figure this one out.

IE7 was a BIG mistake in my case.
Again, this is on three completely different machines, all with very different hardware (and software) configurations.

Just sad.

Oddly enough, IE6 (as restored by simply uninstalling IE7 from the usual Add/Remove) worked better for me than it had done for some time. Maybe the IE7 installation somehow tidied up whatever it is that causes IE (any version) to forget settings? That only lasted a few weeks, alas.
Why uninstall IE7? For a start it refused point blank to acknowledge Ctrl+V pasting. Reaction was so slow that my just-upgraded PC felt like a 486; if it reacted to anything at all, that is. It destroyed my Genuine Windows Advantage status - which anyone who's had problems with it knows is darned hard to win back - and thus barred me from installing security upgrades. And apart from behaving badly, I hated the UI: I like my toolbars to be where everything else has them, to be visible, and to have icons I can easily recognise. OK, maybe I could have got used to them, but my wife would never have done; maybe the designers have no friends or family who only use browsers occasionally? The tabbing (on default setting) was random and thus irritatingly confusing. And finally it had reset most of the system "My Folders" to something it preferred, not just the XP defaults.
Thank goodness they had the sense to write in a decent Uninstall to restore IE6, together with all the other settings it had messed up!

My primary browser is Firefox 2.

I had downloaded IE7 for two reasons: 1) for accessing sites that didn't work without IE; and, 2) Curiousity. To see whether or not MS had finally fixed the CTL-S function. Well, one out of two...

After I downloaded the update, I realized that not much had really changed. It was still IE and you still can't save a page using CTL-S.

Right after that I found out about the IE Options extension for Firefox. It allows me to open those IE-centric sites using Firefox AND I can use CTL-S to save pages (just like in Firefox.)

So now, IE's icon is collecting dust on the shelf, as it should be.

My primary browser is Firefox 2.

I had downloaded IE7 for two reasons: 1) for accessing sites that didn't work without IE; and, 2) Curiosity. To see whether or not MS had finally fixed the CTL-S function. Well, one out of two...

After I downloaded the update, I realized that not much had really changed. It was still IE and you still can't save a page using CTL-S.

Right after that I found out about the IE Options extension for Firefox. It allows me to open those IE-centric sites using Firefox AND I can use CTL-S to save pages (just like in Firefox.)

So now, IE's icon is collecting dust on the shelf, as it should be.

explorer 7 worked ok at first then started acting up not letting me on web sites,more trouble than its worth.

Having installed IE 7, I found out it will not work with many software programs, specifically for me, Quickverse 8. When clicking a link in QV 8, the screen goes blank! Having contacted QV, I found out that it will not work with IE 7 and I had to revert to IE 6. That kind of stinks because I like IE 7. I could upgrade to another version of QV - for $300-$500 - NOT! Any fixes or updates out there for this problem?

IE7 Is not viewing any flash content on any website .... nightmare ... been through all the uninstall ... install new flash 9 and still nothing .... How can they release a version of explorer that works so BAD

I bet Firefox and Opera have never gained so many new customers as everything works fine with them ....

I installed IE 7 a week ago (after having used IE 6 for years) and for me it fits the category of a "nightmare". Since installation of IE 7, my internet connection has repeatedly been broken. I also have chronic advertizer problems, where an advertizement webpage uploads instead of the search engine listing I clicked on. Perhaps there are settings in the new software that I haven't mastered yet, but if so, the product developers were aware of this. The suspicion here is that Microsoft has exploited the "upgrade" to a new version to slip in more of what makes money for them. Time to try Firefox finally.

Some of the posters here have snidely commented that the problem is with the user not with the software. Since software by definition is the interface between machine and user, then a problem with one is a bonafide problem with the other--so condescending verbage towards users is unwarranted, and also foolish, since we consumers constitute the market for the product, and therefore the product must meet our needs, whether we are experts or not (and most users are not). Microsoft is the giant of the software industry, so 100 million downloads, while an impressive figure, may represent more the actions of a captive market than validation of a great product.