dailyApps

This had to be the funniest thing to happen today for Microsoft. The newly released IE8 Beta 1 blocks access to Windows Update if you prefer to run it from the browser. If you visit the Windows Update site from IE8 this is what you get..

Thank you for your interest in obtaining updates from our site.

To use this site, you must be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later.

To upgrade to the latest version of the browser, go to the Internet Explorer Downloads website.

If you prefer to use a different web browser, you can obtain updates from the Microsoft Download Center or you can stay up to date with the latest critical and security updates by using Automatic Updates. To turn on Automatic Updates:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Security.
2. Click Security Center, and then make sure Automatic updating is turned on.

To enhance the security and performance of your computer, make sure Windows automatic updating is not turned off.

I was kinda shocked to see that message, but again IE8 is in beta and errors like this are bound to happen. Well at the moment the solution is to emulate IE7 Mode and access Windows Update. Meanwhile Microsoft is updating the Windows Update Site to support IE8.

For curiosity sake I checked the HTTP User Agents of both IE7 and IE8 and here’s what I got :

IE7 : Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506; InfoPath.2; Zune 2.0)

IE8 : Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506; InfoPath.2; Zune 2.0)

Pratically there’s no difference in the User Agent Strings other than the browser version. Come on Microsoft do you need so much time to just add one User Agent Check on Windows Update site. Seems silly to me…

Via Computer World