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Microsoft Issues Windows 7 Beta Update To Fix IE8

Microsoft released a Windows 7 Beta client update that fixes problems that a small number of users were experiencing with Internet Explorer 8 on the new OS.

• By Kurt Mackie
• February 27, 2009

About 10 percent of users were affected by "reliability" problems, which mostly stemmed from third-party plug-ins to IE8, according to the Internet Explorer team's blog.

The team used data automatically reported by an error reporting system in Windows 7 Beta. They found that 60 percent of the problems were caused by the plug-ins, with the rest attributed to Windows.

Based on Microsoft's knowledge base article, it seems that the potentially offending plug-ins are Adobe Flash Player 10 and Adobe Acrobat, particularly with regard to printing PDF files. The patch also addresses a problem in which cookies were not retaining data.

Microsoft's patch is designed to fix a special version of IE8 that shipped with the Windows 7 Beta. Microsoft's Internet Explorer team described this version as "IE8 Beta 2 plus end user features that are only available on Windows 7." The Release Candidate 1 version of IE8, which became publicly available in late January, doesn't support those Windows 7 features.

Microsoft provided a fuller description of the version of IE8 running on Windows 7 in statement sent by e-mail on Friday.

"The Windows 7 beta includes a pre-RC of IE8, which enables unique features and functionality in Internet Explorer 8 including Windows Touch and Jump Lists," the statement reads. "Features still require additional product tests to ensure we are providing the best Windows experience for our customers. As such, Microsoft will continue to update the version of Internet Explorer 8 running on Windows 7 as the development cycles of Windows 7 progress."

The current RC1 version is meant to run on "Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2008 and Window Server 2003," according to Microsoft.

Those running the Windows 7 Beta can get the KB962921 patch through Windows Update or Microsoft's Download Center for x86- and x64-based clients. The patch requires a restart to take effect.