Slow running IE

Thanks for reading
I can not get my IE to run at a decent speed. I know it is my IE because I installed Opera and that runs much faster thank goodness.

I really like IE and it is like an old friend that I am familiar with and I like the tool bars and web sites are compatible with it so I would enjoy using it but I waste a ton of time each day waiting for it to load a web page. I am a rookie but I did try the thing of going into the tools and clearing my history but that didn't help.
I dont really like Opera except it blows IE away in the speed area. Can anyone offer a suggestion to get my IE working faster. I dont need it to be as fast as Opera but if it was at least in the same league with Opera it would be nice.
Last if it comes down to IE is a just a very slow browser and that is that can anyone offer a name of a browser that has the features of IE and web pages are compatible.
I tried fire fox but that has always been the same fast when I first install it and then much slower after a bit of time.
I am left with Opera and as I said the toolbar is terrible.
Thanks
Linda

 

Have you run Antivirus and antispyware programs? If not, do so. If so, and you have eliminated all the buggy stuff, there is a sneakier cause for something like this. Opera is a pretty small browser, and doesn't use much RAM. If you almost never shut the computer down, this could be a "memory thief" problem. You have two types of memory in your computer, RAM (Random Access Memory)and Hard-drive. RAM is fast, and Hard-drive is slow in comparison. When a program is started, the control program (ie. Windows) grants it the 'right' to use a certain amount of RAM, and then it loads the program from the hard drive (or floppy, or CD or the internet) into RAM,and starts it up. If the program (or website) needs more space than is available, it puts part of it into RAM, and 'pages' the rest of the requirement on and off the Hard-drive. When the program ends (or is terminated) it is supposed to signal the control program that it no longer needs the RAM. Some programs do not properly return all the RAM it has used, and the Control Program thinks the unreturned space is still being used, and it will not allow any subsequent program to use the unreturned RAM. In effect, the Control Program thinks that RAM is smaller and smaller each time this happens, and it begins to use more hard-drive memory. This makes your machine run more and more slowly. When you restart, all RAM allocations are reset,and all RAM is available again, so your machine can run at normal speed.

The only thing you can do is keep restarting the machine when it runs slowly. You might try keeping notes about which programs you have run, (and which websites you have visited) and try to figure out what is stealing memory, and avoid using them. If you find that you slow down after some particular program has run, then you know the source of the problem. Maybe you can find a different program to use, or maybe you can find an upgrade that fixes the guilty program. I hope this helps. ---911

 

Thanks 911

Thanks 911-very helpful and educational. I will try these ideas!!!!!!!!

 

I took the advice of other posters to this thread and executed the IE version (in System Tools) with no add-ons. WOW! Before, IE was a turtle with Athritis. Now it's a greased rabbit.
That made me investigate what add-ons were in my regular version. The list was huge and most of them were things I added in past months and years and were no longer of interest. So, disabling a bunch of them was in order.

I was ready to banish IE 8 completely. But now I'll reconsider.