Computer News No. 123 Sep.-Oct. 2006
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Computer News No. 123 Sep.-Oct. 2006 |
A First Look at Internet Explorer 7
1. Introduction
Microsoft has released the latest version of its web browser, Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), in October 2006. It will come with the new operating system Windows Vista to be released in late 2006. There may be a Windows Update of Windows XP which updates IE6 to IE7. In short, IE7 is coming.
IE7 includes enhancements to the look and feel of the user interface of the browser to provide end users a better browsing experience. IE7 also includes advancements in performance, security and application compatibility. There will be some changes in its security behaviour from IE6. The new features and the security behaviour are highlighted in the following sections. For details, please refer to the Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 site.
2. New features of Internet Explorer 7
IE7 includes the following new features which provide a better browsing experience.
- Streamlined User Interface
The screen layout of IE7 is reorganized to make it less cluttered and more streamlined by removing items that are not commonly used. The new user interface maximizes the screen space devoted to the web pages that users want to see and makes it easier to perform common browsing tasks.
- Tabbed Browsing
IE7’s tabbed browsing feature allows users to view multiple sites in a single browser window and easily switch from one site to another through tabs at the top of the browser frame.
- Improved Search Functionality
The search function is improved. Users can now enter their search key terms directly into a search box within the browser frame. Users can easily choose a search provider from the drop-down list or add more providers.
- Page Zoom
The Page Zoom feature allows users to enlarge or zoom in on individual web pages, to focus on specific content or to make content more accessible to those with vision impairments.
- Instant RSS feeds
IE7 provides integrated support for RSS feeds. It automatically checks RSS feeds on sites by lightening an icon on the toolbar. A single click on the icon
allows users to preview and subscribe to the RSS feed of a web site which IE7 is showing, and then be automatically notified as content is updated. Users can read RSS feeds directly in the browser. IE7 also allows users to update all their RSS feeds on demand.
Figure 2: RSS feed icon
3. Security and privacy protection features of Internet Explorer 7
IE7 includes major security enhancements to protect users from fraudulent websites and malicious software. The security enhancements include the following and it will make you feel different when browsing some sites:
- Phishing Filter
IE7 includes Phishing Filter to protect users against fraudulent web sites and blocks access to the sites if necessary. Users have the option to activate or deactivate the Phishing Filter in IE7. If Phishing Filter is activated, the filter is updated several times an hour via an online security service run by Microsoft and industry partners. If a web site is on the listed of reported phishing websites, IE7 will display a warning page and a notification on the Address Bar. However, this feature raises Internet privacy concerns by some users because IE7 sends users’ browsing activities to Microsoft servers for checking against lists of phishing websites.
Figure 3: A phishing web site is blocked by Internet Explorer 7
Phishing Filter.
- SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Encryption
SSL is used when a user visits a web site with URL starting with "https://...". Data transmission between a browser and the web site server will be encrypted. The encryption relies on a SSL web server digital certificate based on public key infrastructure (PKI) technology.
By default, IE7 will pre-trusted some certificate authorities (CA) which issue server certificates. IE7 will show the warning message as shown in Figure 4 to warn that IE7 is visiting a web site with non-pre-trusted server certificates. If a user trusts the web site (e.g. by knowing the URL is trustworthy, he can click the link "Continue to the website (not recommended)" on the web page to visit the web site.
Figure 4: Warning Page for site with invalid SSL certificate.
A user can check the information of a web site certificate (or called 'security certificate') by clicking the lock icon on the address bar of IE7 as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Lock icon to show a web site certificate
- ActiveX Opt-In
By default, IE7 disables ActiveX controls to prevent potentially vulnerable controls from being exposed to attack by malicious web pages. Users can easily activate or deactivate ActiveX controls as needed through the Information Bar (appeared as the yellow bar under the IE7 tabs in Figure 6) and the IE7's Add-on Manager.
Figure 6: ActiveX controls are disabled by default.
4. Some changes of Internet Explorer 7 from Internet Explorer 6
IE7 behaves differently from IE6 in the following usage:
- Auto-Hide File Menu Bar
IE7 hides the "File" menu bar by default. Users can make the menu bar appear by typing ALT-F. Users can also turn off the "File Menu Bar Auto-Hide" feature by clicking on the right-hand side toolbar, as shown in Figure 7, Tools => Menu Bar. Although the auto-hide feature maximizes the screen real estate, users may find it difficult to navigate in Internet Explorer 7.
Figure 7: "File" menu bar is auto-hided by default.
- FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
The current version of IE7 does not support FTP. The FTP option in the file menu of IE6 to “Login As” a user to an FTP server is no longer available. Instead, users are required to visit the FTP site in Windows Explorer by typing the URL ftp://uid@server-name (e.g. ftp://uid@hkusua.hku.hk) in the Address field of Windows Explorer and then login with the password.
5. Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 7 to Windows XP
Note that Microsoft may distribute IE7 via Automatic Windows Update besides users manually downloading from the Microsoft Update web site. It is available for users of genuine Windows XP SP2, Windows XP 64-bit Edition, and Windows Server 2003 SP1. IE7 is coming, whether the users like it or not. For details on IE7, visit the Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 site.
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