Microsoft giving away Internet Explorer 7.0 free
Microsoft just lunched its Internet Explorer 7, the first major upgrade of IE, in five years period. The release late Wednesday brings Microsoft's browser more in line with competing products such as Opera Software ASA's Opera and Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox. Internet Explorer 7 adds features such as tabbed browsing, which lets people open several Web pages without cluttering their desktop with multiple open browser windows.
Microsoft has been heavily testing the new browser, releasing five beta versions over 14 months, and has periodically offered security updates for IE6. Still, a lag of more than five years between official releases has cost the company market share & losing more ground to Firefox browser. A year ago Firefox was head and shoulders above Microsoft's current offering, and I think even with IE7 it's mostly playing catch up.
Besides tabbed browsing, Microsoft has improved security to help keep users from falling victim to things like malicious software attacks and phishing scams. Microsoft products are a near-constant target of Internet attackers, and some people have recommended switching browsers because a less high-profile product might be more secure. IE7 has added a box in the browser that lets people search the Internet without going to a separate Web page, much like Firefox.
In a last-minute change, people who are upgrading from the previous version of the browser will now have a clearer way to choose whether they want to use Microsoft's search engine or a competing one from companies like Google Inc. or Yahoo Inc. The change announced Friday was one of several aimed at soothing antitrust worries in Europe, where Microsoft faces a long running regulatory battle.
IE7 will be available as a free download beginning Wednesday evening. Next month, the company also will begin delivering it to Windows XP users who have signed up to automatically receive security fixes. Security updates typically download with little or no user intervention, but with IE7 people will get an extra opportunity to elect not to upgrade. Also, even people using automatic updates will have to agree to let Microsoft check whether their copy of Windows is pirated before they can get IE7, same like SP2 upgrade of windows XP. The browser also will be a fundamental part of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, due out for big businesses in November and for consumers in January.
Let’s take a look at the major features that is offered by Internet Explorer 7.0:-
• Tabbed browsing, same like Firefox with some twist of new features like Tab grouping, Quicktab (Thumbnails view of Tab contents)
• Built in RSS feed reader with options like book marking, searching, subscription, sorting etc.
• Instant search boxes where you can choose the search providers like Google, yahoo, Alexa, A9 etc. no need to open different browser to search them.
• Security status bar feature, the major breakthrough of IE7. It enhances awareness of website security and privacy settings by displaying color-coded notifications next to the address bar. IE7 changes the Address Bar to green for websites bearing new High Assurance certificates, indicating the site owner has completed extensive identity verification checks. Phishing Filter notifications, certificate names, and the gold padlock icon are now also adjacent to the address bar for better visibility. Certificate and privacy detail information can easily be displayed with a single click on the Security Status Bar.
• And off course new slick looks, that will give you feel of floating. Aero style looks of IE7 is just a preview of what is going to be the Windows Vista. Total CSS used graphics which made IE7 a lot faster than its predecessor. In my test it’s loading 50% faster than IE6. This will be great relief for Microsoft fans, after shamefully overwhelmed by Firefox for several years.
Download: You can download Internet Explorer 7 from this location.
IE7.0 with killer looks & Aero interfaces
IE7.0 With TAB browsing
Besides tabbed browsing, Microsoft has improved security to help keep users from falling victim to things like malicious software attacks and phishing scams. Microsoft products are a near-constant target of Internet attackers, and some people have recommended switching browsers because a less high-profile product might be more secure. IE7 has added a box in the browser that lets people search the Internet without going to a separate Web page, much like Firefox.
IE7.0 with Color Coded Security
In a last-minute change, people who are upgrading from the previous version of the browser will now have a clearer way to choose whether they want to use Microsoft's search engine or a competing one from companies like Google Inc. or Yahoo Inc. The change announced Friday was one of several aimed at soothing antitrust worries in Europe, where Microsoft faces a long running regulatory battle.
IE7 will be available as a free download beginning Wednesday evening. Next month, the company also will begin delivering it to Windows XP users who have signed up to automatically receive security fixes. Security updates typically download with little or no user intervention, but with IE7 people will get an extra opportunity to elect not to upgrade. Also, even people using automatic updates will have to agree to let Microsoft check whether their copy of Windows is pirated before they can get IE7, same like SP2 upgrade of windows XP. The browser also will be a fundamental part of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, due out for big businesses in November and for consumers in January.
Let’s take a look at the major features that is offered by Internet Explorer 7.0:-
• Tabbed browsing, same like Firefox with some twist of new features like Tab grouping, Quicktab (Thumbnails view of Tab contents)
• Built in RSS feed reader with options like book marking, searching, subscription, sorting etc.
• Instant search boxes where you can choose the search providers like Google, yahoo, Alexa, A9 etc. no need to open different browser to search them.
• Security status bar feature, the major breakthrough of IE7. It enhances awareness of website security and privacy settings by displaying color-coded notifications next to the address bar. IE7 changes the Address Bar to green for websites bearing new High Assurance certificates, indicating the site owner has completed extensive identity verification checks. Phishing Filter notifications, certificate names, and the gold padlock icon are now also adjacent to the address bar for better visibility. Certificate and privacy detail information can easily be displayed with a single click on the Security Status Bar.
• And off course new slick looks, that will give you feel of floating. Aero style looks of IE7 is just a preview of what is going to be the Windows Vista. Total CSS used graphics which made IE7 a lot faster than its predecessor. In my test it’s loading 50% faster than IE6. This will be great relief for Microsoft fans, after shamefully overwhelmed by Firefox for several years.
Download: You can download Internet Explorer 7 from this location.
