Review: Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2

Microsoft's release of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) brings with it plenty of new features.

With a revision of the basic code of Internet Explorer, this new beta offers better security as well as the more obvious, and long-awaited, addition of tabs and RSS feed integration.

The most important improvement is undoubtedly security. The golden padlock has been moved to a more visual slot right next to the address bar. Clicking on it reveals more information about the security of the site and whether it should be trusted.

Unsecure content on mixed pages is now blocked and ActiveX options are disabled by default.

IE7 now always shows the address bar - although it is markedly smaller in some pop-up windows. This is a definite improvement as, without the address bar, it's hard to tell if a pop up is from a different site to its parent.

Opera can already do this, but the address is hidden by default.

Tabbed browsing is now an integral part of IE and it has been implemented well. The new tab button is always visible and IE can be set to open addresses in new tabs rather than windows.

A useful feature is the Quick Tabs view. At the press of a button, a thumbnail preview of all open tabs is displayed. The size of the thumbnails depends on the number of pages open.

The user-defined homepage also benefits from tabs. It's now possible to set your home page to be a selection of sites rather than just one.

The interface as a whole has been completely changed. Gone are the familiar dropdown menus, while the various buttons have been redesigned.

We feel it's a vast improvement on previous versions and gives other browsers a run for their money. The dropdown menus can be re-enabled, but it's unlikely that you will want to do this.

The installation process shouldn't cause any problems. You'll need to run the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool, but this is only a problem for those off the straight and narrow. The new IE7 shortcut icon appears on the desktop once you've restarted your PC.

This is a complete upgrade and it is not possible to run the old version at the same time. For this reason it should only be installed on computers where the loss of IE6 will not present a serious problem.

It's true that many of the new features have been done before by other browsers and some, such as the security notification to the address bar and the tabs, are long overdue. One feature that's notable by its absence is mouse gestures.

However, Microsoft has done a good job of implementing the various changes within IE7 and it's dominance of the browser market looks set to continue.

Take a closer look at IE7 in our image gallery .

System requirements:
Windows XP or later
Internet Connection

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