Every so often, people ask us why they should upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, the newest version of Microsoft's venerable web browser. They're happy with Internet Explorer 6—it does what they want it to do and they're comfortable using it. Some are nervous about upgrading because they feel they don't have time to learn a new way of doing things. Others believe that because they only use their computers to check their e?mail and visit "safe" sites, they don't need to upgrade.
So, let's have a look at why I think you should upgrade to Internet Explorer 7. I'll also address some of the most common concerns about upgrading. (Note that if you use Windows Vista, you already have Internet Explorer 7 on your computer.)
Why should I upgrade?
Microsoft has redesigned Internet Explorer from the ground up, with better security, new capabilities, and a whole new interface. Many changes resulted from the feedback of millions of users who tested prerelease versions of the new browser.
For me, the most compelling reason to upgrade is the improved security. The Internet of today is not the Internet of five years ago. There are dangers that simply didn't exist back in 2001, when Internet Explorer 6 was released to the world. Internet Explorer 7 makes surfing the web fundamentally safer by offering greater protection against viruses, spyware, and other online risks.
Fight fraud with the Phishing Filter
Phishing is the act of luring visitors to a fraudulent webpage, usually through an e?mail message that appears to come from a legitimate company, such as PayPal or eBay. The message and webpage attempt to fool you into providing sensitive personal or financial information, such as credit card numbers and passwords. It's been a growth industry for several years now. If you receive spam, you've probably already received phishing e?mail.
Internet Explorer 7 has a new tool to fight phishing: the Phishing Filter. If you visit a known phishing site, Internet Explorer displays a warning webpage and turns the Address bar red. If you visit a suspected phishing site, the Address bar turns yellow.
| If you visit a known phishing site, Internet Explorer 7 turns the Address bar red |
Get extended validation of websites
Extended Validation SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates, or EV certificates, are another step forward in protecting you from phishers. These certificates, already being used by some financial sites, provide strong assurance that you really are visiting the website you think you are. When you visit a website with an EV certificate, Internet Explorer turns the Address bar green. The right side of the Address bar alternates between displaying the name of the legal entity controlling the website and the name of the certifying authority. For more information.
Opt in to add-ons
When you upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, nearly all previously installed add-ons, or ActiveX controls, are disabled to prevent potentially vulnerable controls from exposing your computer to attack. You must approve the add-on before it can run. This means that websites that use “drive-by downloads” in an attempt to infect a system will find it much harder to succeed.
If a website does not work after you upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, and the problem is caused by a disabled add-on, a picture of a cogwheel will appear in the status bar, and a notification will advise you that the site requires a disabled add-on.
To re-enable the add-on, click the notification. In the Manage Add-ons dialog box, click the add-on you want to enable, and then click Enable.
| Internet Explorer 7 notifies you if a website needs to use a disabled add-on |
Protect yourself from hacked websites
It used to be that we had to go looking for trouble before websites infected our systems with malicious software (malware). Many people believed that if they only visited "safe" sites, they would be protected from the bad guys.
Unfortunately, over the past few years there has been a steady increase in the number of legitimate websites hacked by bad guys. The hackers add hostile code to the website that attempts to infect visitors' computer. Vulnerable computers may end up with adware, viruses, or keyloggers that steal a victim's user names and passwords. Or, the computer may be turned into a "zombie" machine that silently sends e?mail spam without the computer owner even knowing it.
Internet Explorer 7 isn't affected by the majority of vulnerabilities affecting Internet Explorer 6 and earlier. So even if you happen to visit a site that has been hacked, the chances of your computer being silently infected are greatly reduced.
Feed your need for the latest information
I confess—I haven't purchased a newspaper or magazine for years. Instead I read news and information websites on a daily basis, sometimes checking the same sites several times a day.
When I was using Internet Explorer 6, I found it quite time-consuming to check all of those sites for updates. Yes, I could add each site to my Favorites list, but I didn't like having to visit them manually to see if they had been updated.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds and Internet Explorer 7 have changed the way that I stay informed via the Internet. Many news and information sites offer continuously updated feeds of their content. With Internet Explorer 7, I can subscribe to these feeds and access them using the Feeds tab in the Favorites Center. There, I can see at a glance whether any of my feeds has been updated—updated feeds appear in bold type. I have my feeds set to update every 15 minutes so that I can find out very quickly if one of my sites has been updated.
When I click a feed name on the Feeds tab, Internet Explorer 7 displays the contents of the feed. As an added bonus, viewing the feed (instead of the website that produces it) means I avoid many of the advertisements and all of the pop-up windows so common to many sites today. For more information about discovering and subscribing to feeds in Internet Explorer 7.
| In the Favorites Center, click the Feeds tab to see your subscribed feeds; bold type indicates an update |
Internet Explorer 7 introduces tabbed browsing—the ability to display multiple webpages in the same window. Instead of cluttering up your desktop with multiple windows and taskbar buttons, you can use a single Internet Explorer window to hold all of your websites.
| With tabs, you can open multiple webpages in a single Internet Explorer window |
When you have many tabs open at once, Quick Tabs can be a fantastic productivity tool. Clicking the Quick Tabs button displays all of your open webpages in miniature, making it very easy to find a particular page.
| The Quick Tabs feature makes it easy to see all of your open webpages |
Will Internet Explorer 7 work with the websites I visit?
The vast majority of websites work with Internet Explorer 7. In some cases, however, websites may not display properly when viewed with Internet Explorer 7.
Internet Explorer 6 has been around for a long time, and website developers took special steps to make their sites display properly in that version of Microsoft's web browser. Sometimes, those steps involved "hacks" that don't work with Internet Explorer 7, resulting in pages that appear broken when viewed with the new browser. That being said, Internet Explorer 7 was in beta for more than a year, and has been available to the public since October 2006. Many sites that were broken in Internet Explorer 7 back in October 2006 now work just fine.
Even if a site that is important to you does not work in Internet Explorer 7, that's no reason to continue using Internet Explorer 6—the security improvements introduced in the new version are too important. If there is a problem, you can use a Microsoft program called the User Agent String Utility to fool sites into recognizing your browser as Internet Explorer 6. You can get the utility from the Download Center on the Microsoft website. I also suggest you contact the owners of the broken website to let them know of the problem.
Will my toolbars still work?
If you're concerned that a toolbar you use in Internet Explorer 6 won't work in Internet Explorer 7, the first thing to do is check the publisher's website for a new version of the toolbar. Chance are that it's been updated to work with Internet Explorer 7.
If your toolbar has not been updated, check around to see if there's another toolbar that will do what you want. The Internet Explorer Add-Ons page on the Microsoft website is an excellent place to look for toolbars and add-ons.
download Internet-Explorer-7 here
