Which IE should i be using?

[Little-Miss]

Here's another daft question...

Which IE should i be using in my primary school?

Suppose there isnt a right or wrong, what is recommended that i use?

Ta!

[Galway]

Depends on what software your using.

At a guess id say IE8 should be the place to start testing.

Id check anything that uses a browser for the recommended browser, and go from there.

In secondary schools there is allot of online testing that can balk on certain browsers so be carefull, as IE6 is generally the most compatible.

[Michael]

At the very least IE7 if not IE8. IE8 has some nice additional features and is a little more secure than previous versions.

I think one of my favourite features of IE8 is if the browser crashes (for whatever reason), it gives you the option of restoring all tabs you were viewing.

As you're a Birmingham school BGFL seem to be recommending Firefox more these days, but unfortunately you cannot manage or control it via Group Policies. There's also no central way to patch it either.

[achedgy]

I'm running IE8 across all the schools i look after with no significant issues

[mac_shinobi]

At the very least IE7 if not IE8. IE8 has some nice additional features and is a little more secure than previous versions.

I think one of my favourite features of IE8 is if the browser crashes (for whatever reason), it gives you the option of restoring all tabs you were viewing.

As you're a Birmingham school BGFL seem to be recommending Firefox more these days, but unfortunately you cannot manage or control it via Group Policies. There's also no central way to patch it either.

Firefox MSI

Deploy and manage Firefox with...Active Directory Group Policy?

To simplify setup here is a quick walk through etc

http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/mcs/FirefoxADM/Readme.htm

[Michael]

Are the number of policies available anywhere near that of IE? On that first link someone's posted they cannot change proxy settings and most schools use a proxy. There's also no mention of how you can centrally patch Firefox either.

To be honest it's a nice effort, but if Mozilla were serious about challenging Microsoft (even more so than now), they themselves would make their software fully manageable and customisable. Someone must be going to the effort of creating a new MSI when a new build is released.

[mac_shinobi]

Are the number of policies available anywhere near that of IE? On that first link someone's posted they cannot change proxy settings and most schools use a proxy. There's also no mention of how you can centrally manage Firefox either.

To be honest it's a nice effort, but if Mozilla were serious about challenging Microsoft (even more so than now), they themselves would make their software fully manageable and customisable. Someone must be going to the effort of creating a new MSI when a new build is released.

fair enough - that was only a quick google would be nice like you say if mozilla made more of an effort

The first user probably did not RTFM 100% as there must be full documentation on what to enable etc to lock the proxy setting.

[DaveP]

I have just finished preparing for the new term with new images throughout. I have deployed IE8 in the new images and I have spotted a potential issue: Compatibility view.

I have only tested a few sites and I have found a few not displaying properly. Even when I have clicked the 'Compatibility' button that appears above the tool bar the issue is not resolved [can't remember the URLs that gave issues at the moment]

Still investigating...

[FN-GM]

It might be worth noting that if you install chrome and set the proxy settings in group policy they apply to chrome. Also it trusts certificates you set in group policy. pretty good if you ask me.

[DaveP]

...you install chrome and set the proxy settings in group...

I had considered deploying Chrome but deferred to FireFox instead thinking that Chrome would not work because of the Per-User settings that Chrome seems to need.

Playing with Chrome Portable ATM. Trying to get it to stop asking if it should be the default browser. Works for one user but if another runs it from the same central location it repeats the same 'dumb' question to the new user.