IE8 Problem

[Oldred]

Using XP Professional, IE8, AVG and Malwarebytes

Recently IE has been very slow to load pages, locks quite frequently and when I tried to open a PDF file on the web:-

Microsoft Visual C++ debug library
Debug error!
Program C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Iexplore.exe
abnormal program termination
(Press retry to debug the application)

followed by a runtime error message when closing IE after the page keeps trying to recover.

When I later shut down the computer I am advised that an Adobe page is still open in a web browser.

As I am able to read the same PDF without problem using Chrome or Firefox it seems as if I have conflict/non-compatibility between Adobe and IE8 and I wonder if this came about with a recently accepted update to Adobe.

Do I remove and reinstall IE8 and/or Adobe reader (I may just finish up with the same situation), is there a simpler way to resolve or am I barking up totally the wrong tree in that the Adobe situation cannot affect overall IE performance?

I know I could switch to Chrome or Firefox but old dogs/new tricks etc. and I am comfortable with IE.

Suggestions/ideas/advice (not too technically worded, please) would be very much appreciated.

[craft1948]

I prefer IE and found IE9 to be better than IE8.

[Oldred]

Thanks Craft1948 but my understanding is that IE9 does not run on XP.

[craft1948]

Ah sorry Oldred I'm on Windows 7..............

[ChuckFickens]

Uninstall adobe reader and then download and install foxit reader, it does the same job but is much smaller and loads PDFs far faster because of it

http://www.foxitsoftw...ws&referer=ReaderPage

[Oldred]

Thanks Chuck - I'll do that tomorrow and let you know how I get on.

[beso]

I preferred IE but got sick of its playing up. I have XP so IE9 was not an option.

The problems seemed to start a couple of months ago. It would lock up and and I would lose posts I was working on. It wasn't just this site either.

I have switched to Chrome. I am slowly getting used to its "uncluttered" interface. It is harder to find stuff but I am slowly getting used to it.

IE might have a better interface but a browser that crashes regularly is not worth running.

[ChuckFickens]

IE itself very very rarely crashes, it's almost always a problematic add-in that causes it to crash.

[Oldred]

Beso - Thanks for your comment. I think I'm going to finish up taking the same route as yourself unless I decide to invest in Windows 7. I haven't tried Chucks suggestion yet as following the storms my Internet service is very unreliable today.

[MarkRae]

> unless I decide to invest in Windows 7.

A good thing to do anyway, and the two aren't mutually exclusive - Chrome runs really well on Windows 7.

However, do not under any circumstances try to UPGRADE from XP to W7. Instead, back all of your documents and settings and install the new OS after that, making sure you select the option to delete the existing hard disk partition first.

[Oldred]

Performance today is so bad that I have finally lost patience and have decided on an upgrade to W7.

Thank you for your inputs which I shall keep in mind.