IE8 RC1 Top Features & Adjustments

Hey Now Everybody,
I've wrote 7 easy steps to download & install IE8.
Here is a list of some items about IE8 that stand out.

1. Favorites Bar Toolbar
2. IE8 RC1 Memory Usage vs. IE7
3. Tabbed Grouping
4. Ad Blocker
5. Accelleraters
6. Find (Ctrl+F)
7. Mulitple Monitor Install
8. Search (Ctrl + E)
9. Webslices

After more UATing (user acceptance testing)

1. Favorites Bar Toolbar is the best feature of IE8 RC1. Especially in full screen streamlined view (F11) since the favorites bar is visable when a user uses auto hide checked.

2. IE8 RC1 Memory Usage vs. IE7

IMHO I think IE8 uses more memory. I always felt IE had a big memory useage advantage over other browsers, since IE was better at using less memory & providing good funtionality. IE8 RC1 Memory Usage has been adjusted similar to some browsers out there now like Chrome, which uses more memory, multithreaded & multiprocesses. There are multiple iexplorer.exe processes when there are mulitiple tabs. Tabbed Grouping is a great feature & is also a factor with memory useage since a group may have a new process. Please understand there are advantages of this such as when one tab crashes you don't have to burn the whole browser a user can just close the tab, however currently when people's have less then a Gig a RAM it could be a memory hog (personally I enjoy .5G ,2G, 4G & 8G depending on PC I'm using). Few sinerios to explain:

a. Close the tab & the process doesn't end - When the group is closed the memory is not always free & the process may not end quickly, not using mem efficently.

b IE8 RC1 uses Multiple processes Example 4 tabs in IE8 can have 4 iexplorer.exe processes running (Total 300meg = 50meg, 70meg, 80meg 100meg) & in IE7 it would only be one iexplorer.exe process. (120 meg 1 process)

c. IE8 Minimizing doesn't saves memory any longer - When minimizing the app in IE7 it free'd a good percent of memory (example IE7 is open using 100meg then window is minimized & the mem usage is only 20meg). In IE8 when minimized there is no memory free'd (example if there are 3 iexplorer.exe process are running 120meg, 70meg, 52meg them minimized the prcesses will have have the same mem useage 242meg)

3. Tabbed Grouping is nice feature that color codes groups of tabs (I think there is four colors then they repeat Green, Purple, Yellow & Blue).
4. Ad Blocker - IE8 has an add blocker similar to other browsers out there now. This will make a Google ad not dislay so the content on the screen is not going to be an ad.
5. Accelleraters are good. This is how I've been using them. a. Highlight text(example 123 main street ), b. Right click, click accelerator (ex. Google maps) c. View map of address
6. Find (Ctrl + F) is better similar to webkit with yellow highlight.

7. Multiple Monitors Restart install with multiple monitors for me required adjusting the display properties --> settings resolution. Not a big deal but I felt like mentioning it.
8. Search (Ctrl+E) is improved with images by the providers the user selects.
9. Webslices I haven't used much yet.

As Always All Comments Welcome
Bye for now,

Catto