Community archive

Ask something
Discussion Locked

IE7 and PC Slowdowns

0 helpful
56 replies

by rwbyshe9

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I've been seeing a lot of discussion and complaints in various forums and blogs about IE7 and how much people feel it slows down their PC's.

What I'm wondering is if there is any actual hard data that supports that "position" or is it merely conjecture and misplaced frustration on the part of some people.

Thanks for your input.

56 replies

by georgeou

The biggest culprit to slowing down PCs is typically anti-virus software. I've installed IE7 on 4 of my PCs and I have not noticed any kind of a slow down.

by william_m_cox

Well, that's good to hear, George. However, I've a 1.3 Athlon system that admittedly is getting a bit long in the tooth and IE7 is certainly slower to load than was IE6, slower to load a new web page than was IE6, and the new indexing function chuggs away in the background all the time just like the old (and useless, imho) "Windows Paging Function") that we all learned to turn off in the past. I'm running McAfee virus protection and that hasn't been updated specifically since IE7 was installed, so I'm not sure that your comment the virus checking causes all the slowdown is 100% correct. For sure it does cause a slowdown, but from my experience the slowdown with IE7 is much more than that on a less than state-of-the-art system and although I normally like to keep my PC fully up to date with whatever is available I wouldn't have put IE7 on if I'd realised how much it would hobble my machine.

by richard.s

Could this delay in loading new web pages be due to the new "Anti-Phishing" feature?

Presumably it checks with the black-list before displaying the page?

Also, I've heard that IE7 complies better with web standards.

Perhaps some non-standard web pages load more slowly?

by richard.s

Could this delay in loading new web pages be due to the new "Anti-Phishing" feature?

Presumably it checks with the black-list before displaying the page?

Also, I've heard that IE7 complies better with web standards.

Perhaps some non-standard web pages load more slowly?

by dasec

I am using IE 7 on many PC's and the only slowdown is in initial page loading due to the phishing filter. Any page with multiple links will cause a slowdown. What's missing from the Phishing filter is the ability to control it by URL, the same as is done for cookies. Maybe someone with clout can suggest this to Microsoft.

by jetplane7

I am really seeing a big heart ache with IE 7 for vista beta is slow as a snails. I went and got opera for the time till they go and get a full release. for not it sucks slow.
Kevin

by mikesimpson1

I had IE7 up for about three days before I took it off!

It fouled up my internet banking (would not access) my superannuation fund (the high security bits)and my sailing club website access (would not switch to new pages in some areas - results tables and photos being two)

I eventually worked out I could access some of these pages by opening them in a new window but the broad spread of problems frightened me.

Fortunately, in spite of these problems, the removal was a doddle and the restitution of IE6 was automatic.

Mike Simpson

by mcmillej1

I had the same problem, I finally had to reinstall windows. I made the mistake of uninstall IE 7 bata to install the update. Then I had a slowdown when windows could not clear my arp cache when I needed a new IP #. After I manually cleared the arp cache IE 7 runs great.

by frank93562

I cannot login to TechRepublic with IE7 (no downloads as a consequence). Have to use Firefox or Opera. In fact I am using Opera to send this reply. Some othr sites are incompatible also, such as usg.com downloads. Their reply was that they were not compatilbe with IE7 yet.

by rkuhn040172

USG's website works fine for me and Tech Republic works fine for me as well.

Perhaps as with TR's website, you have some setting somewhere screwing it all up?

by stib120

I had the same issue I found out that the .com.com was in the restricted site page.
Once I deleted it from the restricted page it work fine

by zbatia

Folks,
If you did not learn it already (and I see some of you just learned), you NEVER install the first version of ANY software on your production (or home) systems if they are very important. Use the testing machines. Also, why would I use the IE 7.0 if there are plenty of fast, well designed browsers? If you still like the IE engine, use the Maxthon browser (my preference), quick Avant browser, or finally, FireFox 2.0. You will forget about constant IE problems (security of slowness).
...or wait until SP1 for IE 7.0 if you still are crasy about IE browser.

by rkuhn040172

You consider IE 7.0 bleeding edge since it's so new but you don't consider FF 2.0 bleeding edge when it's just as new?

by ivanredeye

It was getting to the point that I was considering going back to IE 6. It was taking longer and longer to load a page. I turned off the phishing and it helped tremendously.

by gsquared

Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced

Near the bottom of the list of options, it has a Phishing heading and 3 options. Set it to "Turn off automatic web site checking".

Watch web pages load fast again.

If you want to check a page manually, at the bottom of the IE screen, to the left of where it says what zone you're in, there's an icon for: "Click this icon to check whether this is a reported phishing site."

by efisher

I have absolutely noticed my PC is extremely slow doing anything -- especially with Outlook. It all started when I began beta testing IE7. I have NOT rolled it out to anyone else, but I definitely know that it was fine before installing IE7.

by springer

I installed IE7 on my wife's XP box.
Everything seems fine at first.
But 24 hours later the system was almost useless. Everything was slow and unresponsive.
I uninstalled IE7 and now with IE6, system is back to normal.

by kiminyme

I have the same problem with OWA provided by my workplace. It loads VERY slowly in IE7, although I do like the fact that it uses tabs rather than separate windows when I open an e-mail message. I often have one IE7 window open with multiple tabs for separate websites, then another IE7 window just for OWA, so that OWA doesn't slow *everything* down.

I have also come across a couple of websites that are not compatible with IE7--and some of them actually give me the message that I must be using IE5.0 or higher, rather than a different browser. I only noticed this during the week or so after I started using IE7, though. Since I haven't noticed it recently, I assume that those websites have upgraded to recognize IE7, or that they aren't websites that I visit often enough to notice.

I did notice the slowdown with the phishing filter, but haven't felt the need to turn it off.

by capnpauly

so far hasn't been great, but hasn't been horrible either.
I do notice that things take longer to load than they did with IE6, but that might simply be because they are following some of the web's stanrdards a little better now.
I do also find that it doesn't scale as well as Firefox or Opera with multiple tabs open (memory-wise); I'll crack open Task Manager and IE can be using 200+ MB with only two or three tabs open.

As far as 'overall' system slowdown, the only thing I've noticed is that if I double-click an IE shortcut from my desktop, when I eventually close the window, if I double-click an empty spot on my desktop (to 'release' the last used shorcut), it takes a few seconds to respond to that command.
It only seemed to start that after I installed IE7.

Weird. :p

by rkuhn040172

I have installed it on at least a dozen PC's and haven't had a single complaint.

I'm aware of some of the issues that people are saying it causes, but have yet to run into one of those. Maybe I'm just lucky :)

by d.j.elliott

I have definitely noticed a significant slowdown after loading IE7.

Taking a look at task manager, IE7 was eating up huge amounts of system resources...pushing the computer to 100% utilization. This can happen when doing simple things, such as hitting the back key in the browser.

I also use Outlook, so that may be another part of the puzzle, as mentioned by someone else.

IE7 is not ready for prime time. My PC has plenty of memory and I only run things like mail and Office on it...no games. I also keep it up to date with anti-virus software.

by rkuhn040172

I have 13 tabs open in one instance of the browser and 2 tabs in another instance and my memory usuage in the task manager is only at 59,232k.

by iogt007

Office is a very heavy user of resources as well as Norton or McAfee, especially if you have prior versions of these anti-virus programs running with the new versions.I uninstalled all Norton programs and used their online tool to remove all versions and components as well as using file search and deleting all symantec files and reinstalled the latest version and the problem went away.

by mellsworth

In every case that I have encountered where the user is complaining that IE7 is slow it has been a combination of spyware/trojan/malware installed as an ActiveX plugin trying to open up or communicate with a known phising server to communicate every click or even in one case every link the mouse hovers over.
Starting up in (No Add On's) has allowed me to demonstrate the issue to the users. Then the fun part of attempting to remove the offending software ensues.

by gnauschutz

I have also experienced a slow down with IE7 and am considereing unistalling it, going back to IE6 or possobly even trying Fire Foc 2.0

In addition, what is the best to reduce the No. of add ons and even removing the culprits?

by iogt007

I have 5 different anti-spyware programs running in addition to Norton Internet Security with anti-spyware. There is no malware on my computer. choosing no add ons will disable all active x components such as tool bars etc. which use up more resources. IE7 definitely uses more resources than IE6.More ram memory is necessary to keep the same speed or uninstall unecessary programs.Also disabling unecessary start up programs will help.

by agaetos

Security bulletins and MS Internet Explorer slowdown made me shift to an alternative browser....an award-winning Web browser, it faster, even more secure, and totally customizable to my online life...

by gilbertr14

I have found that IE7 "Looses" its connection to the net via proxy when using an automatic configuration script. Removing this via GP and having the proxy details in rectifies the problem.

by gsquared

When I first started using the beta of IE 7, I had the phishing filter turned on and it crawled. I think several page loads got rear-ended by a glacier.

I turned off the phishing filter, which MS recommends against, and the speed issues went away.

I haven't tried the phishing filter since, despite repeated warnings from Vista and IE 7 that I should turn it on for all user accounts.

So far as I can tell, the phishing filter isn't really ready for use. This may have changed since I tested it several months ago, but from what I hear, I doubt it.

So, if IE 7 is really slow for you, try turning off the phishing filter and see if that helps.

I think the phishing filter databases may be a product that could be installed on a local machine and have daily updates, like antivirus, but I think performance over the web may be too slow. It basically has to be a database search, and since it's comparing text strings, it's going to be relatively low performance. Add in millions of concurrent users, and you have a serious database use nightmare situation. Make it a simple local database (like AV) and it might peform well enough to be a real product.

MS would probably be better off adding it to their OneCare product than making it part of a Web-based solution in IE. (Should be easy enough to create a Firefox plug-in that would work that way too, I would think.)

I could be wrong about that. Maybe it can work over the Net. But I don't see that being the reality at this time.

by iogt007

I had the same problem of sluggish page loads , but I contacted Microsoft for help. My biggest frustration was it was taking 30 full seconds to get to the next web page from hotmail to an outside link. They told me to disable the unnecessary browser tool bars and go to internet options and delete cookies,casche, and history.In addition to that I think, since they were alerted to the problem,they remotely configured my computer because now everything works ok.

by rkuhn040172

But I'd say something must be wrong with your PC.

I just opened up 20 tabs in one browser window and then one tab in another browser window and the memory usuage only went up to 65,708k.

Not too bad.

I will say I did the same thing with FF, although I only have version 1.5 and it claimed memory usuage of about 29,000k.

Clearly IE is the loser, but even 65,000k isn't bad considering I'm running 1 gig of RAM.

If I was you, I'd run numerous adware/spyware scans, one by one disable any browser helper objects, etc until you figure it out.

Also, installing IE 7.0 on a dirty PC (malware) is a recipe for disaster.

by tioedong9

Maybe it's just me, but my problem with IE7 is that it freezes up and has to be shut. Is that a slow down or a crash?
I usually use Firefox, and that new version crashes too, but usually it only freezes after I've been on the internet for hours or have too many windows open. I mainly use IE7it to post to my Xanga blog, which won't open in Firefox. Alas, so far this week I've lost two posts.

by brotherjim019

Since I downloaded IE7, it's become impossible to sign into my working email addy.

I use yahoo.com, and when signing in with IE7, I do the ID and the password, and when I enter, the same page comes back to me, to be ID again and etc. That's not all: At other times, I haven't the ability to sign in with IE7, because the yahoo.com sign in page keeps disappearing, and coming back about every three seconds, and even when I have tried to enter even one letter of my ID, that doesn't enter and the in and out of the page continues, until I x it out, and go back to my firefox 2.0.

Anyone with these problems? All was well with the previous IE6 whatever, until I installed #7. I would like to hear from anyone having these problems!

by japerabbit

I recently upgraded my PC to an SATA HD, Pentium D 2800, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, PCI Express, and a new Gigabyte Motherboard. IE7 has no problems espeacially with Windows Live & Yahoo's Toolbars that have fantastic features such as form fill and the like. I also use Firefox 2 and both have proven to be sturdy and reliable. Everything is running super smooth for me, so I doubt it's the browser one should be looking at if the PC is bogging down.

IE7 & Firefox 2 are more intense with their features that make your internet browsing more simple and enjoyable; hence a bit more juice is gonna be required. You can't just plop a navigation system in a 72 VW beetle and expect it to work.

Once again, common sense prevails.

by jmgarvin

IE7 doesn't get along with some AV (Norton comes to mind) and really does not like third party firewalls.

by vineet.spikey

i hv been using IE7 for 1 month now. earlier i had opera. the differance is quite significant. i really believe this is happening because of the "phising" which takes place in IE7.

by impalacu2

I installed IE7 ON MY WINDOWS XP WITH SERVICE PACK TWO THE COMPUTER WHICH IS NOT MISSING ANY UPDATES,ON FIRST INSTALLED IT WAS RESTARTING ON AND ON AND ON. ON THE SECOND INSTALLED THE PC WAS SLOWING DOWN, WAS REALLY BAD, END UP UNINSTALLING IE7, AND REINSTALLED FIREFOX.
I DIT LIKE IE7 DESK TOP, IF IT ONLY WORKED

THE BEAR

by ronnie.chia

So far I have not notice the slow down, maybe it is due to the fact that I just rebuilt my notebook.

However, the concern is that incompatibility with other software, etc.

by mist271

computer 1 AMD unable to access programs,
freezing, and restarts, after installing IE7
solution, remove. and reinstall IE6.
computer 2 Compaq laptop, freezing and recycling, errors report to MS, unable to access to use restore Disk, it appears that the HDD will have to be removed, wiped, reloaded.
not happy at all with IE7.

by rkuhn040172

Maybe it's because IE 7.0 is so safe it doesn't need a firewall or AV :)

Kidding, just kidding. Here comes the flames.

by jmgarvin

You know, I just installed IE7 on another box with Norton and I didn't get the 0x05 error. I've NO idea what that's about. My only guess is that something was turned on/off in Norton that screwed things up.

I just donno, I think MS should have done a LOT more beta testing with IE7 and finished it...

I do like how they've actually tried to sandbox the browser and remove the integration of some insecure features (ala sandboxing ActiveX). However, using IE7 it just feels incomplete and it does have some memory issues. Apparently it also can break the ability to use Windows Explorer on some USB drives (IIRC it was if the drive was encrypted....but I can't for the life of me find the article now)

by rkuhn040172

But my guess would be that since IE is so integrated into the OS and the OS is what 5 years old and IE 6.0 is a few years old and even then some people went the upgrade path either with their OS to XP or even from IE 5.5 to 6.0 to 7.0...anyways, you get the picture.

I've installed IE 7.0 on mostly PC's that I've had pretty tight control over. No upgrade over upgrade, no years and years of gunk and crap such as malware, 3rd party addons, crappy software, etc.

In these cases, the install and use of IE 7.0 has been damn near perfect.

Grant it, that isn't the scenario your typical home user is facing but I do get tired of people having a problem and then automatically assuming it is Microsoft's fault...it probably is but one doesn't know unless and until you troubleshoot it.

For example, the guy in here that had .com.com in his restricted zone (somehow) and that caused problems with TR's website. He took .com.com out and no more problems.

Can't blame that on MS.

by gnauschutz

After reading all the reports, I descided to unistall IE7 on my home machine (yes it Pentium 4, 4.2 MHz, 1 GB Ram, etc) and what a difference in speed again, thank goodness - I thought I had a virus going. The unistall has caused a problem with Outlook 2003 (Professional Edition) and Business Contacts after the install. I did re-install the above (repair install). I need to link the folders, any advice?

by d.j.elliott

for the reply.

Funny thing, I've been playing around with free web pages by MS. They have adopted the model that you must build pages within their site builder..which ain't ready for prime time. Anyway, as I move around pages (IE6) jumps in and accuses me of phishing. Makes me wonder what MS is doing in the background.

by rkuhn040172

IE 6.0 accuses some of the sites as phishing?

Let me remind you, IE 6.0 doesn't have a built in phishing filter. That's IE 7.0.

Now, you either made a typo, you have installed a third party filter which wouldn't be Microsoft's fault, or you made a Freudian slip allowing your anti-MS hatred show your true colors.

by d.j.elliott

1) No typo; I am using IE6 at work
2) No third party filter
3) Not an MS hater...not even after 25 years working in PCs

I think it is the MS Live website that is doing the phishing...I just think it is funny that they find their own pages to be phishy...

This discussion is closed to new replies.