I got rid of IE8 by going back to an earlier image of my system which has IE7. I used the reg fix you posted, and now I can log into the secure sites I had problems with while using IE8. There's also no more broblem with the zoom feature as it's set to a normal view, rather than the over-size of IE8; which is not 100% as they say; IE8's so-called 100% is more like 110-120%!
Thanks very much for your help.
