IE 7 Now Available for Public Download

[Goldmember]

Internet Explorer 7 Now Available for Public Download

Erik Larkin, PC World

Tue Jan 31, 12:00 PM ET

 

 

The beta version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 is available to the general public starting today.

 

Microsoft hasn't changed much in this version of the browser since PC Worldcompared the first IE 7 beta to Mozilla's Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 1 and Opera 9 Preview 1. But version 7 is a different beast entirely than the IE you are probably using today.

 

This new iteration of the world's dominant browser adds a number of features long since taken for granted by alternative-browser users, such as tabbed browsing, a toolbar-integrated search box, and limited RSS support. Version 7 also has a much more compact and streamlined interface than its predecessor, with a strong emphasis on dedicating as much of the window as possible to the displayed Web site. Also included are a number of security upgrades, like a new antiphishing filter.

 

To download IE 7, go here, but note that this beta of the browser is compatible only with Windows XP Service Pack 2. And keep in mind that, like any still-in-development version, this beta 2 release has bugs and rough edges. Some pages don't display properly, for instance, and the browser will crash more than you'd like.

 

Different Interface

 

You'll notice IE 7's interface changes right away. A mere two slim toolbars reside up top, with navigation buttons like Back, Forward, Refresh, and Home split up to make the best use of space.

 

Preview your open browser tabs with the Quick Tabs feature in the new, streamlined Internet Explorer 7.Tabs, also new to version 7, show up on the second toolbar. You can't move the tabs around, but you'll find a nice new feature called Quick Tabs. Click a gridlike icon next to the tabs, and you'll see a thumbnail-page display of all your currently open tabs. Firefox can mimic this feature with an add-on, but neither it nor Opera has it built in.

 

Improved Security

 

New security features in IE 7 include an antiphishing filter that warns you if you happen across a known phishing site, better ActiveX management that disables potentially vulnerable controls by default, and programming changes that try to reduce the number of avenues for attack.

 

The browser also has a thorough flush feature that clears the browser history, cache, cookies, and other personal browsing data with one selection from the Tools menu.

 

RSS Features in IE 7

 

IE 7 lets you easily find and bookmark an RSS feed on any given Web page. But once you're subscribed, you have no way to get a quick preview of that feed's headlines--as you can with Firefox's Live Bookmarks--so you lose a significant part of RSS's usefulness.

 

It remains to be seen how the new IE will stack up against its increasingly popular competitors. But its release presents no downside: IE finally gets an upgrade, and the newly revived browser wars spur competition that hopefully will make all our browsers better.

 

linkage

Edited January 31, 2006 by Goldmember

[Goldmember]

First IE 7 Beta 2 Bug Found

Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

 

 

An independent researcher needed just 15 minutes to find the first bug in the Beta 2 preview release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser.

 

Tom Ferris, of Mission Viejo, California, published his findings just hours after Microsoft released the beta code. His findings are posted online.

 

Ferris discovered the bug, which causes Internet Explorer to crash when it tries to read a specially crafted HTML file, using an automated security testing tool, called a "fuzzer," that he wrote to test Microsoft's browsers.

 

"Whenever they patch, I normally run IE through the fuzzing iterations, just to see if there [is something new]," he says. Ferris posted his findings at 8:30 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, the same day IE Beta 2 was released, he says.

 

Right now the bug can be exploited only to crash the browser, but Ferris says it's likely that his attack could eventually be modified to run unauthorized code on a user's machine.

 

The vulnerability appears to be exclusive to Internet Explorer Beta 2 browser, he says. "This is a completely new bug. I've never actually seen this in any browser before."

 

Looking Into It

 

Microsoft was not immediately able to comment on Ferris's findings. A spokesperson for the company's public relations agency says Microsoft is "looking into this."

 

Ferris has previously discovered bugs in the Firefox and Safari browsers, as well as in Windows XP, but even he was surprised at the quickness with which this latest vulnerability popped up.

 

Ferris's discovery is one of the quickest such bug-findings on record, says Mikko Hypponen, manager of antivirus research at F-Secure in Helsinki. "It's probably the fastest from launch to exploit that I've ever heard about," he says.

 

Microsoft spent millions to improve its software development process to make it more secure. The company has promoted Internet Explorer Beta 2 as a more secure product. But Ferris believes that his research shows that the software giant still has work to do in this area.

 

"I think that they're still lacking very common security testing methods. I looked at it for 15 minutes and I was able to find a clean bug," he says. "They still have a lot of work to do."

 

link-o-rama

 

 

i've been using it since it has been available and have had no problems, yet, other than getting used to the new ui...