Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) lost my favorites (or ‘bookmarks’ as some may refer to them). Apparently it’s a problem others have encountered, as I discovered from a post in a Yahoo forum. The resolver suggests reverting back to IE7, saving the favorites, and reinstalling IE8.

But I’m not going to do that. I’m going to call Microsoft and use up support staffer time to get a resolution. I want the company to hear me, experience my frustration, understand how much they’ve inconvenienced me. So that it won’t happen again.

You wouldn’t imagine it would be so terrible - losing your favourites - but it is. It’s not just the favourite sites I’d placed in the favourites bar. No, it’s the whole kit and kaboodle - all of ‘em.

It’s terrible because suddenly you’re back in 2003 and using Google to get to news sites that you’ve visited a thousand times before.

Which may not be a bad thing, if you hold that being forced to take an alternative position for a while can enlarge your horizons.

Because without my favourites I feel as though it’s not even a browser. You get used to knowing that your preferred sites are just a menu nav away. You get complacent. You get lazy.

Naturally enough, many people don’t want to have to start surfing to find pages they usually just click and scroll to see.

But looking on the bright side it’s an opportunity to explore, to step outside the boundaries, to get your feet wet again. Because a folder full of favorites is like a set of stepping stones across the damp expanses of the web.