I started having [this problem][1] last September (IE8 under XP). I uninstalled several major software components - applications, device drivers, fonts, etc. (then re-installed most from scratch), after which the problem went away for some months, but reappeared just before Xmas.

This time I just didn't have the energy to go through all that uninstall/reinstall stuff - I never knew which component was critical, and obviously it was likely to fail again later. I switched to Google Chrome - within 1/2 hour I was finding Chrome just as easy to use (and **much** faster) After a day or so I was fully up to speed with Chrome, and I can't believe I put up with IE8 for so long just to avoid learning a different (and vastly superior) user interface on my browser!

TL;DR: Dump IE8 and switch to [Chrome][2]! You won't regret it!


  [1]: https://english.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2073/compatibility-view-problem-with-xp-ie8
  [2]: https://www.google.com/chrome/?installdataindex=nosearch&hl=en-GB&brand=CHMA&utm_campaign=en-GB&utm_source=en-GB-ha-emea-uk-bk&utm_medium=ha