IE7 - Internet Explorer 7

DOWNLOAD IE7

Microsoft Internet Explorer is preparing an update to its popular Internet Explorer web browser that will feature increased security and stability for internet users.

Originally scheduled to be released with the next Windows update from Microsoft, the new Internet Explorer 7 will be a stand-alone program. Plus, the new version of Internet Explorer will include enhanced privacy tools, anti-spyware software, built-in media players, and other features to enhance the time you spend on the Internet

Internet Explorer 7 is also expected to feature international domain name support, and improved Portable Network Graphics support (which will allow for the display of transparent, overlayed images in the browser). IE7 is likely to include a news aggregator, based on the RSS standard, as well as simplified printing features.

Internet Explorer 7.0 is expected to be available in beta format by Summer, 2005. In the meantime, you can download a customized version of Internet Explorer 6 for both Internet and intranet networks... absolutely free!

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1 includes advancements in security and browsing experience for end users, functionality and compatibility for developers and manageability for corporate network administrators. Beta 1 is intended to enable developers to begin to test the new browser for compatibility with their applications and Web sites. Read the Technology Overview to learn more.

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000; Windows 95; Windows 98; Windows ME; Windows XP

This is a Microsoft Word document. Supported Operating Systems for the Technology Overview document are noted above.

Instructions

Click the Download button on this page to start the download
Do one of the following:

To start the installation immediately, click Run.
To save the download to your computer for installation at a later time, click Save.
To cancel the installation, click Cancel.

What Others Are Downloading

Others who downloaded Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1 Technology Overview also downloaded:

Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1

IE7 SDK New Features(For Developer)

Back to Top

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 continues the Internet Explorer commitment to provide enhanced security and privacy, additional browser features, and enhanced usability for platform developers. Features and fixes described in this article explain behavior changes you can expect to find in the beta 1 version of Internet Explorer 7 for Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Microsoft Windows (code-named "Longhorn").

You can refer to the user and developer documentation on Internet Explorer 7 for full information about how to optimize Internet Explorer 7 for all developers.

In some cases, the architectural underpinnings for new features are provided for Beta 1 and user and developer-visible functionality is planned for beta updates.

Here are the changes in the Internet Explorer 7 Platform Developer software development kit (SDK).

User Agent String - The version token in the user agent string for Internet Explorer 7 is set for MSIE 7.0b for all beta releases. Web developers should check to make sure sites can access the new User Agent String.

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) - Internet Explorer 7 adds support for Alpha Channel Transparency to PNG so that Web designers can implement innovative and complex overlaid graphical designs. Note that only Alpha Channel Transparency has been added to PNG for Internet Explorer 7.
Web Feeds (RSS) - Internet Explorer 7 enables you to discover and view web feeds directly from the browser window; you can also add web feeds as favorites.
CSS Updates - Internet Explorer 7 includes fixes for issues with the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) feature. Both the peekaboo and guillotine bugs have been addressed, and work on other issues is under way to provide web developers with reliable and robust CSS functionality.
DHTML
Scriplets - Internet Explorer 7 disabled DHTML scriptlets, which were deprecated in Internet Explorer 5. If you rely on scriplets, we recommend that you use DHTML behaviors, which are more efficient. Disabling scriplets is part of our continued work to ensure that unsupported technology is removed from the product.
Status bar update - Internet Explorer 7 limits the ability of web pages to use scripts to write information in the status bar. This ability is restricted by default in the internet zone and is subject to user configurable settings in security zones. This is part of the work to ensure that users are not misled by web pages. Calls to window status will silently fail in cases where updates are not allowed.
Tabbed Browsing - Internet Explorer 7 adds the ability to set up tabbed browsing as a way to organize and manage groups of Web pages. Users can set up and open a tab, an individual page, or a combination of both. For information on how this affects developers, please see Tabbed Browsing for Developers.
URLMoniker (URLmon) library changes - Here are additions to the URL moniker library.
Functions
Interfaces
Please note that the related documentation is preliminary and subject to change. More information will be available in a future release.
Redirection control flags - Two flags have been added that determine whether redirects are allowed to proceed. For more information, see DOCHOSTUIFLAG and BINDINFO_OPTIONS.

Security

The new Internet Explorer 7 Security features include:

Architectural Base for Improved Security - Internet Explorer 7 includes architectural work that provides increased security for developers.
A Consolidated URL (cURL) API in IE7allows programmers to specifiy cURLs, rather than strings, to designate URLs.
The cross-domain barrier feature in IE7provides increased enforcement of cross domain navigational limits to prevent undersirable access to redirected data.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) - IE7makes it easier to determine whether or not web transactions are truly secured by SSL. A security report icon now appears to the right of the address bar when you view a page using an SSL connection; clicking this icon displays a report describing the encryption level of the connection, the certificate used to encrypt the connection, and the certifying authority that issued the certificate. The security report also provides links to more detailed information.

Microsoft Phishing Filter (Available only on Windows XP) SP2 Platform) - The IE7XP SP2 version includes functionality to help protect users against phishing attacks from hostile sites. A complete Microsoft Phishing Filter, including the ability for system administrators to set group policy for the entire network, will be available in IE7on all platforms in the future beta releases.
Since the Microsoft Phishing Filter is only available for XP SP2, only other XP SP2 beta sites can access the feature, so web developers can evaluate the behavior of their web pages in a closed environment during the entire Beta 1 period.
Ultimately, developers of well-behaved web sites can benefit greatly from the Microsoft Phishing Filter, because it minimizes the negative effects of phishing sites on the reputation of the Internet, and users will come to trust known web sites because of the added control they have over their environment.

Please give us feedback on all of the features and changes in Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1; many of them, including the User Interface, are preliminary and under development and your feedback is important in perfecting Internet Explorer 7 for shipment to all of our customers.

Internet Explorer 7.0 New Features

Back to Top
Windows Vista Beta 1 isn't just our first look at Microsoft's new operating system. It's also our first glimpse of Internet Explorer 7, the company's long-awaited new Web browser. Nearly four years after the release of Internet Explorer 6, in the face of growing competition from Mozilla's Firefox browser, Microsoft is finally giving the old IE platform a facelift. And if this early release is any indication, it's sure to be a real improvement.

According to Microsoft, Internet Explorer 7 will make its official debut as a Windows XP (SP2) application well before the arrival of Vista. But the company has yet to say when exactly this will happen, and though a beta of Internet Explorer 7 for XP was released alongside, Vista Beta 1, we've yet to get our hands on this release.

The "Internet Explorer 7 for Vista" beta is still a long way from the finished product, but in many ways, it's already far more powerful than the aging IE6. Most notably, it offers a tabbed interface, letting you move back and forth between loaded sites simply by selecting tabs running across the top of the window.

This is very similar to what you get with Firefox, Opera, and many browser add-ons that sit on top of IE6, but Microsoft's take on the tabbed interface is arguably even easier to useÁXand better implemented than the tabbed browsing in the current MSN toolbar for IE6.

For one, you don't have to create new tabs on your own. Each time you load a site inside one tab, Internet Explorer 7 creates a new blank tab for you. Two, if use your middle mouse button to click on a hyperlink (or CtrlÁVleft-click), , the link opens in a new tab. Yes, you can configure other browsers, including Firefox, to do similar things, but offering such features by default is a big boon for everyday users who aren't used to customizing their Web browsers.

Taking another page from Firefox, the Internet Explorer 7 beta also offers a built-in RSS reader, letting you discover, preview, and subscribe to online news feeds. When you surf to a new site, you can browse a list of available feeds simply by selecting the Feed Discovery option on the browser's Tools menu or clicking a button on the toolbar. (This button changes color when new feeds are discovered.)

If you select a feed, you can preview it. And with a third click you can add it to your list of Favorites, easily returning to the feed and checking for new content whenever you like. During testing at PC Magazine Labs, our Internet Explorer 7 beta rarely discovered all the feeds it should have, but once the kinks are ironed out, this tool should be one of the high points of the new browser.

Privacy ReportOn the more practical side of things, the beta includes a new Delete Browsing History tool, a way of guarding your privacy. This lets you instantly erase not only your browsing historyÁXthe list of all the sites you've visitedÁXbut also your saved cookies and passwords, Web form data, and temp files. With IE6, erasing all this was a multistep process, and the various steps weren't immediately obvious.

Microsoft also plans to include three new security tools with Internet Explorer 7 , but only one of them is available on the Vista Beta 1 disc. Beta 1 offers an Add-On Disabled Mode that lets you run IE with all browser add-ons turned off, but we'll have to wait for a future beta to test the two other tools: a new Protected Mode, which prevents spyware and other malware from easily interfering with other parts of your system, and a Phishing Filter, which protects you from fraudulent Web sites.

Essentially, each time you visit a site, the browser's phishing filter will check the URL against an online list of known phishing sites and a list of known legitimate sites. If there's a match, it will simply block or allow the site as appropriate. If not, it will look for "characteristics common to phishing sites" and warn you if any are found. The list of known phishing sites will be regularly updated using feedback from individual users. If you come across a site you're suspicious of, you'll be able to notify Microsoft with a single click.

At present, Internet Explorer 7 has a problem rendering some Web pages. According to Microsoft, this is caused by the sites, which need to update their detection code for Internet Explorer 7 .

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 OutLook BetaBack to Top

It's been almost four years since Microsoft refreshed its venerable Internet Explorer browser. But Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 for XP Beta isn't a Mozilla Firefox killer--far from it. Microsoft's limited availability for Internet Explorer 7 should only open the door wider for competing browsers to steal even more market share in the months to come. Given the high expectations, we're unimpressed with the Internet Explorer 7 for XP Beta.

Pros: Internet Explorer 7 for XP Beta is the first serious upgrade to Internet Explorer in four years, and it adds tabbed browsing and built-in RSS--two features that are currently available in Netscape 8, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari RSS. Unfortunately, the tabbed browsing feature in this beta is still clunky, and one of the best new features (the RSS icon lights up whenever a page has subscription content available) won't be available until the second beta (expected later in 2005). Another great feature, Microsoft's new antiphishing technology, is not part of the current Internet Explorer 7 beta for Windows Vista but is included in beta 1 of Internet Explorer 7 for XP.

Microsoft does improve printing capabilities within Internet Explorer 7 for XP. No longer will you have to contend with truncated pages; in Internet Explorer 7 for XP, the pages will be reduced to fit the printed page.

Cons: Only those running Windows XP SP2 will be able to run the latest version of IE. This is Microsoft's way of forcing non-Windows XP SP2 users to upgrade. Those still running Windows 2000, Me, or even 98 SE will be forced to continue using IE 6 or commit to a $199 Windows XP OS upgrade. This strategy could backfire, giving rivals Mozilla Firefox and Netscape an even bigger slice of the browser pie, especially among those wanting RSS feeds now.

Longtime IE users will wonder what happened to the refresh button, along with many other familiar buttons. Microsoft reduced and therefore vastly simplified the Internet Explorer 7 toolbar area; the address bar is locked to the top of the browser window so that spyware can't replace it with a look-alike toolbar. Internet Explorer 7 also does away with many redundancies between menus and buttons. All of these changes, however, will require some retraining, as old habits die hard.

Other than that, the few new features found in Internet Explorer 7 Beta are not especially innovative--other browsers have had tabbed browsing and RSS for years.

Outlook: As mentioned, unless you already have Windows XP SP2 installed, Internet Explorer 7 for XP won't be available for you. We think that's a dumb approach, and we see Microsoft's marketing fumble as a definite win for Mozilla Firefox and Netscape. We're not convinced that the security features touted in Internet Explorer 7 will be enough to stave off the almost monthly security patches required to keep IE secure.