Internet Explorer 9 problem - unwanted compatibility mode

I use Opera and IE9 as browsers. Since I use Windows 7 Home Premium, I can't even update my IE to the latest version. Just recently, I stopped being able to access certain sites in IE, or they got broken. For example, I'm no longer able to download anything from dropbox, sign in at imgur, watch non-live twitch streams, and formatting of mediafire went crazy. Only in IE, of course. I haven't done any update to it recently or anything, I think. I wonder, did anything happen globally? Like that many sites got an update, making them no longer compatible with IE9?

You're probably stuck on compatibility mode which breaks lots of sites by forcing IE to pretend that it's IE7.

It seems you're true. How do I get rid of it? On the affected sites (dropbox, imgur etc.) the compatibility mode icon doesn't even show, nor am I able to click on it in Tools. Clearing history didn't help.

Well first of all you could upgrade to IE11, but at the very least you can open IE's developer tools on individual sites by pressing F12 and use the browser mode -dropdown on the top of the tools' window to change back to IE9 mode (as opposed to "IE9 compatibility mode", "IE8" or "IE7"):

Thanks, but strangely, there already seems to be IE9 mode. Changing it didn't help. May the problem be somewhere else?

Internet Explorer 11 is supported on Windows 7. MS is going to drop IE9 support entirely after Dec 31, 2014, and many websites don't bother supporting anything but the latest IE anyway. Really should upgrade.

(Also their plans include Internet Explorer 12 not being released on Windows 7 if it comes out after Dec 31, 2014. An even better idea might be to switch to another browser such as Firefox or Chrome, but at the very least, get the latest IE you can.)

chungy said:

Internet Explorer 11 is supported on Windows 7.
Really should upgrade.
at the very least, get the latest IE you can.

I've tried it recently. I've tried it today again, with the same result. Once I launch the IE11 installation, it immediately tells me (in my native language): "Your operating system is not supported. You need Windows 7 SP or Server 2008 R2 SP1", and I can only close the window. :(

chungy said:

Internet Explorer 11 is supported on Windows 7. MS is going to drop IE9 support entirely after Dec 31, 2014, and many websites don't bother supporting anything but the latest IE anyway. Really should upgrade.

(Also their plans include Internet Explorer 12 not being released on Windows 7 if it comes out after Dec 31, 2014. An even better idea might be to switch to another browser such as Firefox or Chrome, but at the very least, get the latest IE you can.)

Actually after several weeks in the IT environment I can tell you most sites are NOT prepared for the IE 11 change and it is breaking stuff left and right. The Oklahoma State Immunization program's website for example, and some Medicare/Medicaid crap. You go to them in IE11 and they either tell you it's not a supported browser and refuse to render anything, or you get a blank page without any explanation at all. It's ridiculous.

IE suddenly becoming more compatible ought to be good but, going about it by causing 99% of the shitty ass websites that were hacked to hell to account for the earlier stupider versions of IE is also not getting us anywhere.

You should change your browser to Firefox or Chrome, because IE requires updates once they are released and seeing as what you said didn't work then it's better to install Firefox or Chrome since most sites support these more than IE.

scifista42 said:

I've tried it recently. I've tried it today again, with the same result. Once I launch the IE11 installation, it immediately tells me (in my native language): "Your operating system is not supported. You need Windows 7 SP or Server 2008 R2 SP1", and I can only close the window. :(

You have the original release of Windows 7 still? Go install Service Pack 1 immediately, then update to IE11. :)

Quasar said:

Actually after several weeks in the IT environment I can tell you most sites are NOT prepared for the IE 11 change and it is breaking stuff left and right. The Oklahoma State Immunization program's website for example, and some Medicare/Medicaid crap. You go to them in IE11 and they either tell you it's not a supported browser and refuse to render anything, or you get a blank page without any explanation at all. It's ridiculous.

IE suddenly becoming more compatible ought to be good but, going about it by causing 99% of the shitty ass websites that were hacked to hell to account for the earlier stupider versions of IE is also not getting us anywhere.

This is mainly a concern for corporate web sites, but I understand what you mean. Nonetheless, Microsoft is dropping support for releases of Internet Explorer older than the latest supported for a particular release of Windows (IE9 on Windows Vista, IE11 or IE12 on Windows 7, we can't tell the future yet about Windows 8.x or 10 :P).

Quasar said:

Actually after several weeks in the IT environment I can tell you most sites are NOT prepared for the IE 11 change and it is breaking stuff left and right. The Oklahoma State Immunization program's website for example, and some Medicare/Medicaid crap. You go to them in IE11 and they either tell you it's not a supported browser and refuse to render anything, or you get a blank page without any explanation at all. It's ridiculous.

IE suddenly becoming more compatible ought to be good but, going about it by causing 99% of the shitty ass websites that were hacked to hell to account for the earlier stupider versions of IE is also not getting us anywhere.

Yep. At least it's not IE10, where CSS3 shims/polyfills broke hilariously, bringing me to force IE9 mode on those browsers.

IE sucks.

chungy said:

many websites don't bother supporting anything but IE6 anyway. Why fix what ain't broken

FTFY <3