Internet Explorer 8

Internet Explorer 8 is considered as a fast, safe, and easy software that takes the web experience beyond the page for quicker and more reliable for browsing with peace of mind.

In Internet Explorer 8, however, the powerful search bar makes it easy to use:

Click 1: Type "Denon" in the search bar
Click 2: Click on the Amazon search icon to see visual results, which in addition to showing the items, provides pricing, ratings and any additional attributes determined by the site provider. Visual search is making it easier to refine the search.
Click 3: Click on the eBay search icon to see their search results and see if a particular model might be less expensive.

In addition, because people often use search to get back to sites they’ve visited before, Internet. Explorer 8 includes matches from a person’s History in the bottom part of the search box dropdown.

These results are included below the search provider suggestions and include matches from both the Web site address and the Web site title. The “back” button in any browser requires that our 20-something think chronologically, while the history offered in the search box drop-down provides a more elegant, faster way to navigate.

Increasingly, communicating and sharing are part of the fabric of consumer time spent on the Web. Multitasking is a very common behavior, particularly by younger people, where many Web activities are happening at the same time in parallel sessions. A teenager might be researching political events of the 1960s for a school project, and, at the same time, be on Facebook, using instant Messenger, watching a YouTube video and checking her Web mail.

In the past, if this teenager happened to click on a link in an email that led to an unstable Web site, it could crash or stall the entire browser, including other tabs the teenager had open. With Internet Explorer 8, if a Web page causes a crash, this teenager might not notice it. Unlike previous versions of Internet Explorer and other browsers, the disruption caused by an unstable site is minimal and is handled gracefully. Because the browser’s frame and tabs run as separate, isolated processes, if something causes one tab to crash or stall, only that tab is affected. Tabs that crash are automatically restored and reloaded—in most cases, without needing to login to a Web site again.

Furthermore, if someone is entering information on a Web page (such as writing an email or filling out a form) when a tab crashes, Internet Explorer 8 will recover it when it reloads the page. And in the event that the browser crashes unexpectedly, the entire session (including all tabs) is restored.

In summary, because of these Internet Explorer 8 advances, the browser itself remains stable and other tabs remain unaffected; thereby, minimizing any disruption or inconvenience, and our teenager can continue doing her homework—and everything else.

In the past, you might:

Click 1: Open a new tab
Click 2: Re-navigate to Epicurious.com
Click 3: Re-search on "chicken" (in the event she doesn't remember how to spell "emshmel")
Multiple clicks: Re-locate the recipe

Internet Explorer 8 reduces that frustration by letting people restore recently closed tabs from the New Tab page.

In this case, you:

Click 1: Clicks to open a new tab
Click 2: Hits the recipe page link to immediately return to what you were doing you will back to you planning—and the rest of your online activities—with much less frustration.

The new Accelerators in Internet Explorer 8 are there to do what the name suggests— accelerate the task at hand with fewer clicks and less frustration, blurring the lines between services and browser.

Ease and speed in the real world are measured in minutes, not milliseconds—in clicks and in frustration, not just in code. In order to build a browser to meet the needs of real life, Microsoft has focused on what people really do on the Web. New features in Internet Explorer 8 are designed to make everyday experiences—searching, communicating, shopping, reading news—easier and faster in a way that people can really feel and appreciate.

Major Features:

1. Fast and Easy
   • Accelerators
   • • How many steps does it take with your current browser to map an address, translate a word, or perform other routine tasks online? Until now it was likely a series of cutting and pasting information from one webpage to another. Now there's a better way. The new Accelerators in Internet Explorer 8 help you quickly perform your everyday browsing tasks without navigating to other websites to get things done. Simply highlight text from any webpage, and then click on the blue Accelerator icon that appears above your selection to obtain driving directions, translate and define words, email content to others, search with ease, and more. For example, with the "Map with Live Maps" Accelerator in Internet Explorer 8, you can get an in-place view of a map displayed directly on the page.
     • You can discover other useful Accelerators by selecting the More Accelerators option on the right-click menu, or visit our Accelerators gallery. You can easily delete, disable, or enable Accelerators by clicking on Manage Add-ons from the Tools button on the upper right-hand corner of your browser window.
     • Internet Explorer 8 includes a number of useful Accelerators to get you started. You can add more by going to the Internet Explorer Gallery to customize the browser with Accelerators from Live Search, eBay, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, Facebook, and other sites in a way that works for you.
   • Enhanced Navigation
   • • Compatibility View
     • • Internet Explorer 8 is a new release and some websites may not yet be ready for Internet Explorer 8. Click the Compatibility View toolbar button to display the website as viewed in Internet Explorer 7, which will correct display problems like misaligned text, images, or text boxes. This option is on a per site basis and all other sites will continue to display with Internet Explorer 8 functionality. To go back to browsing with Internet Explorer 8 functionality on that site, simply click the Compatibility View button again.
       • You can maintain a list within Internet Explorer 8 for sites that should be displayed in Compatibility View. From the Command Bar, select Tools, and then select Compatibility View Settings to add and remove sites from this list. There are also options for viewing all websites and intranet sites in Compatibility View.
     • Enhanced Tabbed Browsing
     • • Have you ever opened a large number of tabs only to find yourself overwhelmed when you go back to review them? Internet Explorer 8 introduces Tab Groups, which make tabbed browsing easier. When one tab is opened from another, the new tab is placed next to the originating tab and color coded, so that you can quickly see which tabs have related content. If you close a tab that's part of a group, another tab from the same group is displayed, enabling you to remain within the context of the current task rather than suddenly looking at an unrelated site.
       • By right-clicking on any tab, you can close the tab, close the tab group, or remove the tab from a group. From the same menu, you can refresh one or all tabs, open a new tab, reopen the last tab closed, or see a list of all recently closed tabs and reopen any or all of them.
     • Better Find On Page
     • • Internet Explorer 8 includes a completely redesigned Find On Page toolbar, which is activated by pressing Ctrl-F or choosing Find On Page from the Edit menu or Search box drop-down. Press the Alt key if you do not see the Edit menu option.
       • The toolbar is integrated below the tab row, so that it does not obscure any content on the page. Instead of waiting for you to type an entire search term and hit Enter, the toolbar searches character-by-character as you type. Matches are highlighted in yellow on the page so that they're easy to identify.
     • Smarter Address Bar. Can't remember the full address of a new website you visited last week? Type a few characters in the new Address Bar and Internet Explorer 8 will automatically recall sites you've already visited based on your entry. It searches across your History, Favorites, and RSS Feeds, displaying matches from the website address or any part of the URL. As you type, matched characters are highlighted in blue so you can identify them at a glance. In addition, you can delete any address in the drop-down box by clicking on the red X. This is especially useful for getting rid of misspelled URLs.
     • Redesigned New Tab page. The New Tab page loads quickly and provided links make it easier to get started on your next browsing activity:
     • Use an Accelerator: Now you can use an Accelerator using any text you have copied to the clipboard.
     • Browse with InPrivate: Start InPrivate Browsing and your browsing activities, history and cookies are not retained, and third party web content providers may be hindered from tracking your online activities without your consent.
     • Reopen closed tabs: Reopen a tab that you've closed in your current browsing session, which can be helpful when a tab is accidentally or prematurely closed.
     • Reopen your last browsing session: Reopen all tabs that were open when Internet Explorer 8 was last closed, which can be useful if you accidentally close the browser.
     • Improved Zoom. Adaptive Page Zoom improves upon traditional zoom-in/zoom-out functionality in the browser by intelligently relaying out the page content and eliminating the need to scroll left and right. This will improve your ability to magnify pages with small fonts and be able to read more on the web.
     • A better back button. When using rich applications such as mapping on the Internet, you may be taken to the beginning of the application instead of the previous page when you hit the back button. Now when you hit the back button, more pages will behave the way you expect.
   • Increased Performance
   • • Internet Explorer 8 includes many performance improvements that contribute to a faster, more responsive web browsing experience in the areas that matter most. Internet Explorer 8 starts quickly, loads pages fast and instantly gets you started on what you want to do next with a powerful new tab page. In addition, the script engine in Internet Explorer 8 is significantly faster than in previous versions, minimizing the load time for webpages based on JavaScript or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX).
   • Improved Favorites and History Management
   • • Enhanced Favorites Bar. Now there's a better place to keep track of your top favorites. You can save Favorites, RSS Feeds, and Web Slices to the Favorites bar that appears across the top of the browser, quickly navigating to the sites and content that you care about most..
     • One Click Favorites. Press the One Click Add to Favorites bar button and immediately add the page you're browsing to the Favorites Bar, saving you extra clicks.
     • RSS feeds on Favorites bar. The Favorites bar has been updated so you can drag an RSS feed to your Favorites bar, making it easier to see when important feeds are updated.
     • History sorting. The new Browsing History view allows you to sort your history by Site Name, Most Visited Sites, Order Visited Today, and Date, making it easier to organize and locate sites in your history.
     • History searching. In Internet Explorer 8, you can search for pages in history by typing keywords, making it easier to locate sites when browsing your history.
   • Instant Search
   • • Search suggestions. Have you ever forgotten the complete title of a book you were hoping to find or the first name of the actor in last night's movie? The new search capabilities in Internet Explorer 8 will offer relevant suggestions as you type words into the search box to help save time. Click on a suggestion at any time to immediately execute the search without having to type the entire word or phrase.
     • Visual search. Internet Explorer 8 is partnering with top search providers like Live Search, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon, and more to deliver "visual search" images that provide you with immediate answers. For example, typing "Seattle weather" with Live Search will instantly show you a preview of the current weather directly in the Search Box drop-down. Look for more visual search results with your preferred search providers.
     • More improvements
     • • Because people often use search to get back to sites that they've visited before, Internet Explorer 8 includes matches from your History in the bottom part of the Search Box drop-down.
       • An integrated "Find On Page" button also has been added to the instant search box, enabling you to search for text on the current webpage. Also, you can change the width of the Instant Search Box by dragging its left edge, making it easier to see long search strings as they are typed.
       • You can easily delete, disable, or enable Search Providers by clicking on Manage Search Providers from the drop-down arrow in the Search box or Manage Add-ons from the Tools button on the upper right-hand corner of the browser window.
   • Web Slices
   • • How many times a day do you check for updates to e-mail, weather reports, sports scores, stock quotes, auction items email and so on? Until now this was a manual process, where you had to repeatedly visit sites to check for updates or new information.
     • Using Web Slices, you can keep up with frequently updated sites directly from the new Favorites Bar. If a Web Slice is available on a page, a green Web Slices icon will appear in the upper-right hand corner of the browser. Click on this icon to easily subscribe and add the Web Slices to the Favorites Bar so you can keep track of that "slice" of the web.
     • When new information becomes available, the Web Slice will become highlighted. When you click on the Web Slice in the Favorites Bar, it previews relevant information. Clicking on the preview takes you directly to the site for more information.
     • As with Accelerators, Microsoft has taken a platform-based approach to Web Slices, enabling virtually any developer to create them by merely adding a few lines of code to existing pages. For example, eBay has built a Web Slice that enables you to monitor an auction. Microsoft is working with partners to create more Web Slices, so, look for more Web Slices to become available on your favorite sites.
     • A number of great community and partner-developed Web Slices are available today. Choose the ones that work for you at the Internet Explorer Gallery.
     • Add a Web Slice to your Favorites Bar
     • • Hover your mouse over an item on a webpage.
       • If that item incorporates Web Slice functionality, the Web Slice icon  will appear. Click on the icon to add this "slice" of the web to your Favorites Bar. Now you can keep up to date with this information no matter where you are on the web.
       • To delete, right-click on your Web Slice and click Delete.
2. Fast and Secure
   • Automatic crash recovery
   • • Tab isolation. If a website or add-on causes a tab to crash in Internet Explorer 8, only that tab is affected. The browser itself remains stable and other tabs remain unaffected, thereby minimizing any disruption to your browsing experience.
     • Crash recovery. If one or more of your tabs unexpectedly closes or crashes, your tabs are automatically reloaded and you are returned to the site you were on before the crash.
   • Browse privately
   • • InPrivate Browsing

• • • When checking e-mail at an Internet café or shopping for a gift on a family PC, you don't want to leave any trace of specific web browsing activity. InPrivate Browsing in Internet Explorer 8 helps prevent your browsing history, temporary Internet files, form data, cookies, and usernames and passwords from being retained by the browser, leaving no evidence of your browsing or search history.
    • You can start InPrivate Browsing by opening a new tab and selecting Browse with InPrivate or selecting it from the Safety button on the top right corner of the browser window. Once you complete this action, Internet Explorer 8 will launch a new browser session that won't record any information, including searches or webpage visits. To end your InPrivate Browsing session, simply close the browser window.
  • InPrivate Filtering
  • • Today websites increasingly pull content in from multiple sources, providing tremendous value to consumer and sites alike. Users are often not aware that some content, images, ads and analytics are being provided from third party websites or that these websites have the ability to potentially track their behavior across multiple websites. InPrivate Filtering provides users an added level of control and choice about the information that third party websites can potentially use to track browsing activity.
    • InPrivate Filtering is off by default and must be enabled on a per-session basis. To use this feature, select InPrivate Filtering from the Safety menu. To access and manage different filtering options for Internet Explorer 8, select InPrivate Filtering Settings from the Safety menu. To end your InPrivate Browsing session, simply close the browser window.
    • Note: Because InPrivate Filtering is designed to watch for and block only third-party content that appears with a high frequency across sites you visit, no content is blocked until such levels are detected, nor is any such content blocked which is served directly by the site you are visiting. Depending on your web browsing activity and sites visited, the amount of time it can take before such content is automatically blocked can vary widely. However, at any time, you can customize which third-party content is blocked or allowed in the InPrivate Filtering Settings option from the Safety menu.
  • Enhanced delete browsing history. Now when deleting browsing history, you can choose to preserve cookies and temporary Internet files for sites in your Favorites folder. This helps to protect your information and privacy while preserving your data on your trusted favorite sites. Your preferences and cookies are preserved, helping you to get to your trusted sites faster with greater confidence.
• Stay safer online. As the web continues to increase in complexity, so do the number of ways that hackers and malicious websites can attempt to send viruses, damage computers, obtain personal information, and monitor your online behavior.
• • Malware is software that designed to damage your computer, such as a computer virus. It may download without your knowledge or permission.
  • Phishing allows criminals to obtain your personal information (like your credit card number) by pretending to be a legitimate organization, such as your bank.
  • Internet Explorer helps protect against these attacks and more. Delivering a trustworthy browser means providing a highly secure and reliable browser—one that respects user choice and helps keep users in control of their PC and their information.
  • SmartScreen Filter
  • • Internet Explorer 8 helps protect you against inadvertent installation of malware, or malicious software which can compromise your data, privacy, and identity while also damaging your computer and valuable data, with the new SmartScreen Filter.
    • While it is recommended all users to enable SmartScreen, you can enable or disable it at any time. You can also help improve the web for everyone by reporting suspected malicious sites through this tool.
    • If the SmartScreen Filter is active and you attempt to visit a website that isn't considered safe, the below screen will appear prompting you to take alternative actions.
  • Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Filter. Internet Explorer 8 introduces the capability to detect malicious code running on compromised websites, helping to protect you from exploits which can lead to information disclosure, cookie stealing, account/identity theft, and more. These attacks have emerged as a leading online threat so we've included the new Cross Site Scripting Filter to help you stay safer online.
  • Domain Highlighting. Domain Highlighting lets you more easily interpret web addresses (URLs) to help you avoid deceptive and phishing sites that attempt to trick you with misleading addresses. It does this by highlighting the domain name in the address bar in black, with the remainder of the URL string in gray, making for easier identification of the sites true identity.
  • Data Execution Detection (DEP). Data Execution Prevention (DEP), on by default in Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Vista Service Pack 1, is a security feature that can help prevent damage to your computer from viruses and other security threats by preventing certain types of code from writing to executable memory space.

WareSeeker Editor