Ok, I ran into my first significant issue with Windows 8.1 specifically, IE 11. On all my machines, I use the MVP HOSTS file, which blocks ads at the system level by redirecting requests for common ad-serving websites to your local machine, which should be “not found” and just continue on.
Well, using IE 11, whenever a page had an element that was blocked by the HOSTS file, the browser would hang for as long as 3 seconds waiting for a reply, interrupting the load of the page. Even on the Dilbert website, it would take sometime 10 seconds to load up.
So I had to find out why this was. I compared my Windows 7 IE to my new Windows 8.1 IE and disabled all the settings that were new. The one that fixed the problem: Enable Enhanced Protected Mode. This is found in the Advanced setting of Internet Options.
I did very little research on this after I discovered that it was the fix, but from what I understand, this mode is made to prevent unintended execution of code. So I guess I can understand that a call from a page from a remote web site, linking to a file on your local computer could be considered suspicious. But regardless, it is a problem for me.
This is the network trace that I would expect. These websites are blocked in my HOSTS file, so they return 404 errors because they are not found on my local machine.
When I have Enhanced Protected mode on, these requests have a status of Aborted, but that’s after seconds of waiting.
So, that solves that mystery. IE is now just as quick as ever, and I’m pretty sure I’m still going to be safe.
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