Microsoft Internet Explorer for Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard

There is no IE for the Mac. All you can do in either Firefox or Safari is to change the User Agent to one of the IE choices, but that may not work for websites that require IE features that simply do not exist for Macs.

If you really need to access such websites then you would have to run Windows on the Mac.

Windows on Intel Macs

There are presently several alternatives for running Windows on Intel Macs.

1. Install the Apple Boot Camp software. Purchase Windows XP w/Service Pak2, Vista, or Windows 7. Follow instructions in the Boot Camp documentation on installation of Boot Camp, creating Driver CD, and installing Windows. Boot Camp enables you to boot the computer into OS X or Windows.
2. Parallels Desktop for Mac and Windows XP, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, or Windows 7. Parallels is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
3. VM Fusionand Windows XP, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, or Windows 7. VM Fusion is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
4. CrossOver which enables running many Windows applications without having to install Windows. The Windows applications can run concurrently with OS X.
5. VirtualBox is a new Open Source freeware virtual machine such as VM Fusion and Parallels that was developed by Solaris. It is not as fully developed for the Mac as Parallels and VM Fusion.

Note that Parallels and VM Fusion can also run other operating systems such as Linux, Unix, OS/2, Solaris, etc. There are performance differences between dual-boot systems and virtualization. The latter tend to be a little slower (not much) and do not provide the video performance of the dual-boot system. See MacTech.com's Virtualization Benchmarking for comparisons of Boot Camp, Parallels, and VM Fusion. Boot Camp is only available with Leopard or Snow Leopard. Except for Crossover and a couple of similar alternatives like DarWine you must have a valid installer disc for Windows.

You must also have an internal optical drive for installing Windows. Windows cannot be installed from an external optical drive.

You MIGHT get it working by changing your "user agent" information (and fooling the site into thinking you have a different browser). Safari - Preferences - Advanced - Show Develop Menu. Then, from the Develop menu, choose User Agent, then Internet Explorer.

However, if the site has specifically been written using code for Windows clients, that won't work. You'll have to use a PC, or use a virtual PC on your Mac using Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion, or Sun VirtualBox.

Matt

Best alternative is good to your local library and use one of their PC to access the report. It will be a lot easier that way.

Allan

I know I'm a little late to the party with this answer, but I'm a Mac person stuck in a Windoze world... I have a server I have to access at work that only wants me to use IE (which is two of the four letters in EVIL!). I use an older version of Opera (9.6.4) and that works fine for me to do what I need with it. Don't use the new versions - they don't work like the old one does. Hope this helps anyone in the future who has this same type of problem.

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