NEW YORK: Microsoft Corp. will launch the latest version of its Internet Explorer, IE7, the company revealed at the recent Digital Life conference.
Microsoft said IE7, Version 1.0 will be released Wednesday, which will be followed by Windows Update and Automatic Updates availability on 2 November.
The new browser will have several security enhancements, including a "protected mode" option to limit its access to other data stored on the system.
Precautions are being taken to contain issues like "phishing" through a built-in filter that will block access to known scam websites. The browser also allows tabbed browsing and will maintain an easily erasable history file.
Among the new security features of IE 7 are:
-- anti-phishing filter
-- improved digital certificate handling
-- Better encryption support
-- improved XSS (cross site scripting) protections
-- safer ActiveX control handling
-- improved pop-up blocking
-- support for international domain names
-- one-click Fix My Settings feature
-- single-click browser-content cache deletion
-- improved parental controls
With IE 7, Microsoft wants to take on other browsers, especially Mozilla Firefox, which has been gaining popularity among users for its simplicity and versatility. Some experts feel in spite of touting the several new features, IE 7 may not be that effective as the number of satisfied Mozilla users is going up. Its Firefox 2.0 beta has won plaudits.
Latest market studies indicated that IE has a market share of 82.1%, which is a slight scaling down, while Firefox controls 12.5% from a September 2005 figure of 7.6%.
IE 7 can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/ie.
Microsoft is also coming out with its new Media Player version, which is also available at www.microsoft.com/mediaplayer. Test versions are already available at both sites.
