Internet Explorer 9 64-bit - Download

I found myself hunting down Internet Explorer 9 64-bit - Download for Windows because my dad’s old work laptop still runs XP SP3 and he swears by IE8, but he just upgraded to a 64-bit system. He thought IE9 would be the next logical step. I tried it out-mostly to see what all the fuss was about back in 2011. It’s not bad, per se, but it’s like finding a perfectly functional toaster from 2005. It works, but you wouldn’t buy it today.

The good stuff

It actually loads pages faster than older versions of IE, especially with hardware acceleration turned on. I remember one time loading a complex web app with lots of CSS3 animations-like a calendar widget with smooth transitions-and it didn’t stutter. That was a surprise. The interface is cleaner too, no more cluttered toolbars. And yeah, it supports HTML5 and CSS3, which was a big deal back then. If you’re running legacy internal tools at a company that hasn’t updated since 2010, this might be your best bet. It’s stable, and it doesn’t crash every five minutes like some of the earlier IE versions did.

The not-so-good

But here’s the thing: it’s literally from 2011. Microsoft killed support years ago. No security updates. No new features. You’re basically using a browser that predates Chrome’s rise and Firefox’s modernization. Tabs are basic, the extension ecosystem is dead, and it doesn’t even handle modern JavaScript well. I tried logging into a site that uses WebAuthn-nope, not happening. And if you're on Windows 10 or 11, you’ll probably get an error just trying to install it. Plus, it’s not even officially available anymore through Microsoft’s site. You’re scraping archive sites. Not ideal.

Bottom line

If you absolutely need to run something that only works in IE9 and can’t upgrade the software, sure, download it. But otherwise? Skip it. There’s no reason to go back to this unless you’re doing retro testing or fixing a weird corporate relic. It’s free, sure-but so is going blind. Just use Edge or Chrome instead. You’ll thank yourself later.