WHEN WAS INTERNET EXPLORER 8 RELEASED INSTALL
WHEN WAS INTERNET EXPLORER 8 RELEASED UPGRADE

To start an InPrivate browsing session, users can launch a special window from the Safety menu in IE 8. When in an InPrivate browsing session, the address bar of the browser shows a special InPrivate icon. InPrivate browsing lets users open a special window and then make sure that none of the information from that session is saved in the browser cache or history. On the privacy front, the biggest new feature is InPrivate Browsing (which has been euphemistically referred to as the “porn mode”). Internet Explorer 8 also includes a whole set of new features designed to improve browser security and add new privacy capabilities for users. These features include a smart address bar that shows sites from the browser history as you begin typing, an improved inline find-in-page capability that highlights the term being searched on within a Web page, and the offering up of suggested search terms as you begin typing in the IE 8 search field. Many of the other new interface features in Internet Explorer 8 have been included in competing browsers for some time now, but they are welcome nonetheless.

IE 8 also includes a built-in suggested sites widget that shows links to sites similar to the one the user is viewing.

WHEN WAS INTERNET EXPLORER 8 RELEASED INSTALL

For example, rather than going to separate Websites to check the weather or see top headlines, users can install a Web Slice from these sites and access this information with a single click on the browser toolbar. Web Slices are a simple way for Websites to integrate content directly into the IE 8 browser. Accelerators are a form of plug-in or extension that make it possible to access advanced functionality-such as mapping, translation and search–from within the pages one is viewing without having to launch new Web pages.įor example, I liked the way I could highlight text in a page, choose a translation accelerator and see the translated text in a box within the Web page, rather than have to do something like launch Yahoo’s BabelFish service in a separate browser window or tab.Īlso new in IE 8 are Web Slices. The color-coding made it very easy to identify groups of tabs.Īlso compelling are IE 8’s new accelerators. I found this to be a very helpful during browser sessions in which I’ve opened many tabs from each of a variety of different Websites. One very good tab management feature unique to IE 8 is its ability to color-code tabs launched from the same site. This is a nice improvement over the blank tabs in IE 7, although some will prefer the speed-dial-styled options found in Opera, Google Chrome and the Apple Safari 4 beta. When opening a new blank tab in IE 8, users are presented with multiple options for Web surfing, including a list of recently closed tabs, or the options of starting an InPrivate browsing session or accessing new IE 8 accelerators. Several interface enhancements greatly improve the usability of IE 8.įor example, tab management overall has been nicely polished. Still, whether you use IE as your main browser or simply switch to it on occasion from another browser, you should definitely consider upgrading to IE 8. In fact, while IE 8 is in all ways a current-generation Web browser, it is already falling behind its competitors, which tend to be upgraded more aggressively and frequently.

Since the first IE 8 betas were released, the Web browser landscape has changed dramatically, with all of IE’s competitors releasing new versions and, in the case of Google Chrome, a brand-new major competitor entering the field.

WHEN WAS INTERNET EXPLORER 8 RELEASED UPGRADE

However, while IE 8 is a worthwhile upgrade for current IE users, it’s doubtful that it will convince users of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari or Opera to make the switch to IE 8. Internet Explorer 8 includes an enhanced user interface, tougher security features and better standards support than its predecessors. It’s a must-upgrade for any current IE user–with improved usability, security and stability–but it likely won’t entice users of competing browsers.īased on tests of the final IE 8 code, along with previous tests of release candidate and late-beta versions of the code, eWEEK Labs found IE 8 to be greatly improved over IE 7 (which was itself a big improvement over IE 6). Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is a big improvement over previous versions of the Web browser.

When was internet explorer 8 released