Slow Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) Performance

I am working on a global Dynamics CRM 2011 project and we are encountering performance issues on Internet Explorer (IE) 7.  I guess there are several options to tackle this problem.

  • Option 1: If you customer is ok with upgrading all of the users to IE 8 or 9, they will see performance enhancements for sure comparing to IE 7.  However not an ideal option since enterprise customers are not moving as fast as smaller companies on their infrastructure and on the users’ operating system.
  • Option 2: Update 2 IE settings and add a registry key to the user’s machine, I can’t believe what I am seeing.  CRM 2011 performs extremely well after the changes.  Here’s what I did.
    1. Change the Internet Explorer settings
      • Navigate to Tools | General | Tabs (Settings) .
      • Unselect Enable Quick Tabs.
      • Select Let Internet Explorer decide how pop-ups should open.
      • Click OK and then restart the browser.
    2. Add the following registry key (by default, IE only has 2 connections)
      • Click Run | Regedit.
      • Navigate to hkeycurrentuser\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\internetsettings.
      • Add new DWORD MaxConnectionPerServer with Decimal value of 10.
      • Add new DWORD MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server with Decimal value of 10.
      • Close Regedit.

Thanks to my buddy, Jim Wang, for the great tips!