People say that Internet Explorer is a terrible browser, I think they are wrong. Anybody with me?

[jhoff80]

The UI on Windows Phone's IE is pretty terrible in my opinion. The rendering engine though is great. I think the big thing that prevents people from using IE in general these days though is the lack of extensions. Personally, I don't have the need for any, but there are definitely some really popular ones out there (and not just Adblock, but Xkit for Tumblr, Reddit Enhancement Suite, all sorts of random stuff).

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

I use IE 11 as my preferred browser but for my personal forum( Chaosreads ) and a few sites, they don't work well with IE so I use FF as a secondary browser.

Can't stand google or Chrome

 

[mrcraggle]

I think on WP it's pretty terrible. Why does the page reload if I go back and forth or change tabs? It's super jarring and makes no sense.

 

[Nerdy Woman]

I often find that when websites can't be viewed in IE, they become viewable when I unblock tracking or allow 3rd party cookies. To me, that means the web dev is to blame, not the browser.

I like the security options, the interface with OneNote and Office apps (for image searches), and I love ❤ the frameless, big real estate feel of the IE Modern browser. I still use the desktop version when I know I'm going to want to create shortcuts on the desktop temporarily (i.e., how to fix the washing machine videos). Only IE makes that as easy as a right click.

 

[jojoe42]

On my Windows 7 desktop I use Chrome, but on my Surface and phone I use IE. Chrome hates the Surface Pro 2 (chews battery and tiny UI)

 

[Dave Bhullar]

It's better than what most people think, but it still lacks a lot of add ons that chrome and Firefox have. Adblock on IE doesn't work very well for me, so I use Firefox. I think adblock is the only thing right now that's keeping me from using IE primarily.

 

[Cryio]

IE11 is the best version of IE to come out of Microsoft but they still have work to do.

On WP8.1 at the current time it's still dodgy. On PC it keeps forgetting to save the last session after a while so needs to reset the browser every couple of weeks. It still lacks a certain smoothness in the UI operation which all other browsers seem to have. The way tabs work still seem like a bug to most people, lol. It sure did to me when I started using IE10 more. Sure, it is hella-fast but it feels lacking in places. You can't choose between icons only or names of favorites in the bookmark bar. Unfortunately, the browser still doesn't work in a single process which can isolate multiple tabs. I don't know if it's possible but still. It's scrolling bar does not respect UI guidelines in W7. It's close to 1 year old from RTM and 9 months old since official launch. It will be exactly 1 year old when it launches officially (and hopefully stable and bug free) on WP8.1

Sights of a release of IE12 are nowhere. There is a developer preview but it's a barebones app. It doesn't even look like IE AFAIK. We really need IE12 before the end of the year.

 

[NokianWP]

IE+Bing=the best. I used chrome before it, is all preference. I like IE and Bing better now. Plus Bing rewards.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

IE+Bing=the best. I used chrome before it, is all preference. I like IE and Bing better now. Plus Bing rewards.

Yeah those Bing rewards come in handy lol. It is how I am paying for my books I buy from kindle haha.

 

[girishN]

For me IE is the best looking browser or there, and syncing of favourites is pretty handy as well, but ads kind of ruin my experience with it. I normally use Firefox and cloudfox on my phone to get those bookmarks.
Still IE is my default browser, sometimes I need IE metro to resume my session from phone.

 

[jeff armstrong1]

I was a die hard IE user until The Maxthon Cloud Browser was introduced, it is the most Customizable, Double Layer Security Browser to date in my opinion. I am an online gamer also and the Maxthon Cloud performs impressively. Just my experience.

 

[rluka]

For touch IE is unbeatable no other browser comes close to it. For desktop I prefer Opera (Presto engine) and SRWare Iron for day-to-day stuff.

They abandoned Presto and use Webkit though.

Don't use Chrome, only IE, Firefox and Opera.

The best feature of Firefox is AdBlock Plus. Other than that I can be browser agnostic.

 

[b_plus]

Well people say android is better than wp :grin:

 

[kalo88]

I used to think IE was a piece of crap but... moved back and really like it. I wish Adblock played nicer with it (Plugins in general, I wish they functioned like firefox and chrome) so I make do with TPL as they sync between my Thinkpad 8 and Dell laptop. Very pleased with IE though, its quick and sleek. Could it be improved? Of course but... I hear they're making quite a few changes to it soon.

 

[WanderingTraveler]

It's a meme.

 

[Tummala Rahul]

I was one of those who opened ie only to download Firefox or opera or chrome (I even used flock for some time)... but that was during ie's worst period, ie6-8, so don't hold that against me. It was slow, crashed easily, and has serious security concerns. Then ie9 was introduced and though I didn't use it regularly, at least I was okay with some applications forcing me to open ie and I found it good enough. Then came windows 8 and more importantly ie10 with the modern interface. Absolutely loved the performance and full screen ui. Now it is my main browser except for watching YouTube videos due to lack of proper adblock support. Other than that, ie is currently right up there with the best in performance and is the best in security and privacy.

 

[Guzzler3]

I've been a Firefox user for so long I can't remember. Mainly for AdBlock+. With that add on it really sped up my browsing and allowed me to delve into questionable sites.

But when I moved to W8.x things changed. I kept Firefox on my laptop at first, but then I noticed that IE was noticeably faster rendering web sites. Then I found the Privacy settings in IE that allowed me to add the same Easylist ad blocking lists that AdBlock+ used. After that, I use IE 99% of the time.

I still keep Firefox around for when I have to dabble with minor web editing (still use Microsoft Expression Web, still the best WYSIWYG HTML editor out there) to verify that things render properly. And when I need to look at questionable web sites (when I have to figure out why someone's computer is all horked up. Look in their history and go prodding around.) Also, I do run into an odd site that just doesn't render properly in IE, so it's back to Firefox for that one site.

I still get pop-under pages with IE. I really wish MS would fix that.

 

[Guzzler3]

I figured out how to get rid of the Pop-Under's!!!!! Whooo Hooo!!!

Microsoft set the default for Pop-up's to low by default. Just need to make a quick change:
Alt+T, Pop-Up Blocker, Pop-Up Blocker Settings, Blocking Level: High: Block all pop-ups

 

[Laura Knotek]

I've been using Firefox almost exclusively for the past 7 years.

Lately, I've noticed Firefox has been sluggish and uses more resources in Task Manager than IE11. I haven't experienced any sluggishness in IE11, even with 20+ tabs open. I'm giving IE11 another chance now, since Firefox has gotten slow and hogs memory.

 

[Vineet Choudhary]

IE 11 is mind-blowing