Internet Explorer 8 on Vista resizing itself randomly and losing tabs

Question

I am running Internet Explorer 8 on Vista in maximized mode on my monitor. It will then randomly 'restore' to a different size. It happens after I have been using tabs for a period of time and then navigate to a new url. It is frustrating as I lose the tabs when I re-size the window and can't get them back without closing all the windows one at a time. I can't seem to find a pattern, so can't easily reproduce.

The symptoms seem very similar to the question below.

http://superuser.com/questions/104234/internet-explorer-resizing-itself-repositioning-randomly-on-dual-monitor-set-up

Any help as to what I can try gratefully received!

Answer 1

It is possible that the resizing is being caused by the sites you are visiting. A website can use javascript to resize the window and reposition it. It's generally considered bad practice, but occasionally web developers do it; sometimes with good intentions, sometimes with bad intentions. Unfortunately, it seems that Internet Explorer does not have the ability to disable that "functionality", according to a previous SuperUser post.

In order to determine if this is the cause, try keeping a list of what sites you are visiting when this occurs, and see if it happens repeatedly when you visit the same site after reopening the browser. It may turn out to be something different, but this seems like the most likely cause.