Reliability Patch for Internet Explorer 11 Out Now

So far, the newest version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser, Internet Explorer 11, has been anything but stable. That's why Microsoft has now released a "reliability" update ahead of the next Patch Tuesday.

Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) was released on October 17, 2013. New features include the ability to load up to one hundred tabs at once, side-by-side browsing, and a Reading View tool.

However, in the week-and-a-half since its release, the new version of Microsoft's browser has faced its fair share of performance issues. (Source: maximumpc.com)

Google Pages Fail to Rend Properly

For example, last week reports suggested IE11 installed on Windows 8.1 machines was failing to properly rend Google products -- a real problem given the popularity of Google Search, YouTube, and the new Google+ social networking service.

For its part, Microsoft blamed Google. "It appears Google made some changes to its search engine that temporarily impacted the way search results rendered for some browsers," Microsoft said.

"We have already made the necessary adjustments to ensure customers using Internet Explorer are not impacted."

However, the problems didn't just affect Google pages. Even Microsoft's own Outlook Web Access webmail program was experiencing serious stability issues when run using IE11.

Microsoft was forced to create a help page for the many users experiencing crashes and slow performance. Microsoft offered users some potential workarounds for the issue, but nothing permanent.

(To view the help page, click here.)

IE11 Reliability Update Available Now

Now, that more permanent solution is available. Microsoft's new "reliability" update is available now through Windows Update.

Users of Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 will want to download and install the patch right away. Once the install is complete, a system restart is required. (Source: cnet.com)

Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't clearly outlined what, exactly, the new patch does and how it improves reliability.

To download the update for Internet Explorer 11, click here.