Internet Explore 7 - upgrade needed?

[elaine.e]

Just been watching something on You Tube and a banner across the top of the screen informed me that I'm watching on IE 7 which will no longer be supported by You Tube very soon.

My only internet access is on my home PC, which is 6 or more years old and getting a bit creaky. I've been thinking of getting a new one, but maybe not until later this year. So in the meantime do I just continue with IE 7 or should I/can I upgrade to something else? I probably don't want to upgrade on my current PC if I've got to pay or if it's likely to be terminal for the poor old machine

[Holly Berry]

I've just upgraded to IE8 on my PC which runs on XP. You can upgrade for free fom the Microsoft wensite and there is a diagnostic tool that you can click on to make sure you download the correct version.

Unfortunately XP doesn't support IE9.

[JohnMcL7]

I'd definitely recommend upgrading to internet explorer 8 as I find there's an increasing number of sites don't work properly with 7 and browsers are one of the main attack vectors for malware so having a more up to date browser is better protection.  If you don't like IE8 or have any other performance issues there are other browsers (all free) you can try out such as Firefox, Chrome and Opera.

John

[elaine.e]

Thanks for the advice

If I'm feeling brave enough I'll upgrade to IE8 later today. If I'm not feeling competent enough I'll wait until my friend's very computer savvy OH can sort it out for me.

[Ian Wright]

Thanks for the advice

If I'm feeling brave enough I'll upgrade to IE8 later today. If I'm not feeling competent enough I'll wait until my friend's very computer savvy OH can sort it out for me.

Good luck please let me know how it goes as i am running 7 on an older 6yr laptop and was all so thinking of getting a new one but it is still living  and was nervouse of loading 8/9   

[JohnMcL7]

What I'd recommend before upgrading is make sure you have a second, separate browser set up beforehand such as Firefox, Chrome or Opera and just make sure you don't set it as the default browser so it won't affect Internet Explorer.  It means if anything goes wrong with the Internet Explorer upgrade you don't lose the ability to browse the internet which can be essential if you need to fix a problem, I'd always recommend having a backup browser as several times I've been asked to fix a machine where IE has broken and it's a pain without a browser unless you have a second, connected PC handy.

John