IE Versions
Internet Explorer 7.0
Released in November 2006
On February 15, 2005, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced that the new version of its browser would be released at the RSA Conference 2005 in San Francisco. Internet Explorer 7 is available only for Windows XP SP2 and later, including Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Windows Vista. Sometime in October 2006, prior to the launch of IE7, Yahoo provided a post-beta version of Internet Explorer 7 bundled with a new version of Yahoo Messenger. The first beta version of the browser was released on July 27, 2005 for technical testing, and a first public preview version of Internet Explorer 7 (Beta 2 preview: Pre-Beta 2 version) was released on January 31, 2006. The final public version was released on October 18, 2006. Version 7 is intended to defend users from phishing as well as deceptive or malicious software, and it also features full user control of ActiveX and better security framework, including not being integrated as much with Windows as previous versions, thereby increasing security. Unlike previous versions, the Internet Explorer ActiveX control is not hosted in the Windows Explorer process, but rather it runs in its own process. It also includes bug fixes, enhancements to its support for web standards, tabbed browsing with tab preview and management, a multiple-engine search box, a web feeds reader, Internationalized Domain Name support (IDN), and antiphishing filter. On October 5, 2007, Microsoft removed the 'genuine software' validation before install, which meant that all versions of Windows, whether legitimate or not, are able to install the browser.
Internet Explorer 7 provides improved navigation through tabbed browsing, web search from the toolbar, advanced printing, easy discovery, reading and subscription to RSS feeds.
Here the New features in briefs:
- Advanced printing (automatically scales a webpage for printing)
- Instant Search box
- Favorites Center
- RSS feeds (automatically detects RSS feeds)
- Tabbed browsing (view multiple sites in a single browser window)
- Quick Tabs
- Tab Groups
- Page zoom
Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 6.0 is the standard browser in Windows XP. It was released in August 2001. Windows XP is built on Windows 2000 and is the successor to Windows 98, Millennium, and Windows 2000.
Internet Explorer 5
Internet Explorer 5 was the first major browser with XML support. Version 5.5 (July 2000) for Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, and Windows 2000. Support for XML/XSL, CSS, printing (print preview) and HTC behaviors.
- Version 5.01 (November 1999) Primarily a bug fix for 5.0.
- Version 5.0 (March 1999) The first major browser with XML support.
Older Internet Explorer Versions
The oldest versions of Internet Explorer are no longer in use by any majority of users. Web developers will ignore them. Their functionality is outdated.
- Version 4.0 (released in 1997) is used by less than 1%. It has respectable CSS and DOM support, but no XML support.
- Version 3.0 (released in 1996) is now used by less than 0.1%.
- Version 2.0 (released in 1995). It is too old. Nobody uses it.
- Version 1.0 (released in 1995). Does anyone remember it?
Internet Explorer for Macintosh
- Version 5.1.7 is the latest version of Internet Explorer for Mac OS 8 and 9. It was released in July 2003.
- Version 5.2.3 is the latest version of Internet Explorer for Mac OS X. It was released in June 2003.
- Note: version 5.2.3 requires special features in Mac OS X. Mac OS 8 and 9 users must download and install version 5.1.7.