What if I can’t upgrade to IE8?

Having spelled out the virtues of IE8 and how I like to configure it, the question remains, what if IE8 isn’t an option. Do not despair! If for some reason you’re not yet able to move off IE6 or IE7 (or, perish the thought, some *other* browser) there is still hope. And no, in case you’re wondering, “I find change unsettling” is not a reason to stick with any old browser version…

Some of the tools I mentioned in my previous post will still work:

Lose some extra pounds

Same deal – any add-ons you don’t need, bin ‘em (well, don’t be rash – disable them).

Searches little helpers

You’re going to have to do things the old fashioned way here. Either add Bing, MSDN and Wikipedia to your favourites or make them part of the your start page group (IE7). You may find a command-line utility like SlickRun makes a big difference to your workflow. Slickrun allows you to create “magic” words that invoke complex actions. For example, to search MSDN for MVC I could type something like “m mvc”. This would launch IE on the MSDN search page passing mvc as the search term.

Essential debug tools

You’ll have to wave goodbye to the IE8 Developer Tools but, as compensation, you can always say hello to the IE Developer Toolbar which has some of the same functionality. Fiddler, Visual Web Developer Express and the viewstate tools should all work just fine.

Other stuff you might find useful

Channel 9 web slices wont work but apart from that, everything else should be fine.

Still more stuff

All those mentioned should work okay. One other add-on you might want to take a look at is IE7Pro which adds a whole range of new functionality to IE.