http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6066650.stm







Microsoft's browser gets upgraded







IE 7 will be the browser that ships with Windows VistaMicrosoft has made Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) available to the general public.
The new version is the first upgrade to the web browsing program for more than five years.
New features include tabbed browsing, the ability to search the net directly and an anti-fraud system to thwart phishing attacks.
The new program is available as a free download on 19 October, but many will get it as an automatic update to Windows XP in November.
Phish fighter
The new version of the browser has gone through a long testing regime and five test or "beta" versions have been made available in the last 14 months.
Despite this IE 7 is still seen as an attempt by Microsoft to catch up with rival browsers as it includes features that have long been seen in competitors such as Firefox and Opera.
With the new version, it is possible to open up tabs rather than windows for new webpages and subscribe to RSS feeds via the browser.
One controversial new feature is the addition of a box that lets people search the net directly from the browser rather than through a dedicated webpage.






The Firefox browser has been eroding IE's market shareThis defaults to Microsoft's own search engine, but in a last minute change the software company is letting users choose which search site this feature should call upon.
Built in to the browser is an anti-fraud system that changes the colour of the address bar to red when a user visits a known phishing site. Other warnings will pop-up if an IE 7 user strays onto a site displaying suspicious activity.
The security features on IE 7 mean that many people will get the browser as part of the monthly updates Microsoft issues to address bugs in its software. Home users will get the option to install the browser, and businesses will be able to block its installation on their machines.
Version 6 of Microsoft's browser has regularly been hit by a series of attacks by malicious hackers that attempt to exploit weaknesses in it to take over users' PCs.
IE 7 will also be the default browser for the next version of Microsoft Windows, known as Vista, that is due to be launched in 2007.
The release comes at a time when the numbers of people using Microsoft's Internet Explorer are shrinking. In 2004, 93% of net users browsed the web via IE. Now that proportion has dropped to 86%. Much of that market share has been taken by the Firefox browser, which is used by 11% of net users.
On the day IE 7 was released, a trial version of Version 2.0 of Firefox was also put online for downloading. The finished version is due to be released in the next couple of weeks.

Hmmm...I will be ignoring IE7 for now. Just will have to wait and see. Using Firefox and Opera now.

has any one installed this version of windows

what is it like?

LadyDay wrote:
A mate who builds PCs has a beta version installed. He says it runs well, but you need plenty of RAM (2GB plus) to get the best from it, plus a decent graphics card (256 MB-plus memory). Takes up nuff hard drive space, too.

Personally not convinced of the value of switching (ditto IE7 - Firefox & Opera for me too)....do we really need it? All about more dollars for MacroScam......

OK

i guess i will just stick with wha i got for now

It seems like Microsoft is getting help from Yahoo! in promoting this browser.

Check the home page.

It seems browsers are moneymakers for search engines.

However the only benefit would be for web page makers in using content layout with less backward compatibility and more standardization.

Hi Lady day -- I am one of those people that got an automatic upgrade on my system to IE7. I actually used the MSN browser which I liked lot because I had all my email accounts in one place. I also got an automatic upgrade to the new MSN 9which has failed on my system. I have tried all the fixes/process that the MSN people have suggested but I think it is time for me to give up on MSN.

Which brings me back to IE7.

It's got tabs which is a nice feature but I have had so much trouble with viruses and with my memory being sucked up since I started using IE 7 to replace my beloved MSN that I dont think I can stay with IE 7. In fact Hubby has been telling me for months to switch to Firefox. He actually gave me an ultimatum last night: switch to Firefox or stop complaining to me about computer problems!

Since I live to complain to him, I have no choice but to switch to Firefox.

I thought you might enjoy this link, Lady day

http://www.msfirefox.com/

Also found myself with an automatic upgrade to IE7 on one of my machines, and hate it - slow, less features than IE6, ugly to look at. I will uninstall it if I can.

From what I gather the changes were made partly to win back Firefox fans, but I think it will fail - for me Firefox is far superior.

soul rebel -

what do you like most about firefox? and what do you hate most.

can I get all my emails in one place like I did with MSN?

Happiness wrote:
Likes:

- Safer than IE - fewer security holes, blocks pop-up windows and spyware (and did it before IE introduced this)

- Tabbed browsing - so you can easily have several windows accessible at the same time - might be the answer to getting your emails in one place if you're using webmail like MSN or Yahoo - you can set up your most visited sites on a toolbar which is visible as soon as you go to your homepage - easy to access them all from there

- Lots of useful add-ons (extensions and themes)- these change the on-screen look, speed up page loading, and loads of other stuff

- It's not a Microsoft product - anything that can be done to weaken the stranglehold they are trying to impose on computer usage is a good thing as far as I'm concerned

- It's free - and open-source, so you can even tweak it yourself if you've got the programming know-how.

Only one dislike - can't post on this site when I use it - no idea why. No problem with logging in & viewing pages. Have also found that some other sites don't work quite as they should when using Firefox - seems that most designers assume that visitors will use IE as the norm, but this is changing as Firefox becomes more popular.

Overall, I've found that IE looks and feels extremely limited once you get used to Firefox - it really is a better product. Opera (which I'm using now) is also pretty good - has many similar features to Firefox, though again doesn't work with some sites.

On the email issue, another alternative is using an e-mail client called Thunderbird (also from Mozilla, makers of Firefox) - it's their version of Outlook, and you can set up multiple accounts to receive mail from a number of sources - so if you have Yahoo and Hotmail addresses, for example, you can configure Thunderbird to download your mail from both into separate folders within it. Takes a little setting up, but it's a good way of having a single collection point for all your mail regardless of the number of addresses you have.

Think your husband has a point!niceone.gif

Scrub what I said about not being able to post here with Firefox.....

@ Soul Rebel - LOL!

Thank you -- that was very helpful and informative. Hubby also told me about the email client so I defintely will try that out.

once I have completed my virus scan I will install firefox.

did u look at the link I posted for lady day?! what do you think? could that happen?!!

@ Soul Rebel - LOL!

Thank you -- that was very helpful and informative. Hubby also told me about the email client so I defintely will try that out.

once I have completed my virus scan I will install firefox.

did u look at the link I posted for lady day?! what do you think? could that happen?!!