Launch of Internet Explorer 8 heated up the new era of   Browser war.Although the war is continue going as the   announcement of IE9 from Microsoft it is difficult to judge who will be the winner but  when it comes to safe browsing IE8 is clearly a winner.Despite to take advantage still many user are stick to the IE6 web browser bundled with Windows XP. According to latest statics on w3school 10.9% of total internet user still uses IE6, This is mainly because of unawareness of new improvement,security and features brought in new version, less understanding of updating to newer versions ( i.e. How To update to IE8)

In this article I discuss how to update IE8 ,Various feature and innovation that are introduce in IE8 for making your internet experience better, secure, faster and assure you that the after reading the article the new feature are more convenient and familiar to you .

Updating Internet Explorer 8

There are several methods to update to IE8 and it can be install on PC running on following platform.

• Windows Vista 32bit and 64bit,
• Windows XP SP2 and above,
• Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 SP2 and above

Method 1: Get it via automatic update

Microsoft will distribute Internet Explorer 8 via Automatic Updates. it is categorized as high priority update(under windows XP) and important under vista.To get just turn on your automatic update on genuine windows it will show update for IE8. When Internet Explorer 8 has been downloaded after that a setup wizard will guide you to install it.

Method 2:Download installer from windows site and install it.

Secondly, Download the standalone offline installer from the following link.. or Microsoft Download Center. and follow the installer wizard to install it.

Internet Explorer 8 Improvements

The various improvement in IE8 are done in the field of user interface, browsing capabilities, security, and manageability

User Interface

Internet Explorer 6

Internet Explorer 8

Browsing Capabilities

Tab Browsing: Although this feature is introduced previously in IE7 But need to describe it for those who still using IE6 and unaware of this feature. Open a new browser window  to browse new site is old and uncomfortable technique especially for those who like to browse many site simultaneously. Tab Browsing allow you to browse many site simultaneously without opening new instance of web browser.

To open a new tab:

1. Create a new tab by clicking a blank tab or pressing Ctrl +T

Compatibility View: Browsers are updated time to time to follow the latest web standards so that we can easily browse the internet. But what about the old standards or websites that are build upon old web standards mainly these WebPages does not display correctly on new web browsers for this internet explorer 8 introduce a powerful rendering feature called compatibility View If you discover a page that does not display correctly in Internet Explorer 8, you can enable Compatibility View to render the page correctly.

To render webpage in compatibility view

1. Click Compatibility view button near refresh button on your Address bar

2. Alternately, Click Page on command bar and then click Compatibility view

If you don’t see compatibility view button it mean the website is rendered correctly. There are some site which you visit frequently and are not up to standard web mark for this IE8 provide facility to always use Compatibility View for specific pages

To configure Internet Explorer to always use Compatibility View

1. Click Page on command bar and then click Compatibility View Settings.

2. Use the Compatibility View Settings dialog and add the web address and close the dialog box.

Accelerators: Accelerators improve productivity by allowing users to select text, click the Accelerator icon, and process the selection by using a Web service For example, Internet Explorer 8 includes Accelerators that allow users to blog about a Web page, email selected text, and display an address on a map, Translate with Bing etc.

To use Accelerators

1. Select the text on the web page by drawing your mouse pointer an accelerator icon automatically appears beside selection.

2. Click the icon and choose accelerator of your choice.

Search Bar: forget to opening search engine page to search. Searching the web is easier with the new search menu that offers search suggestions, history, and AutoComplete as you type into the search box. The Search bar allows users to perform Internet searches from their current windows using a variety of predefined search engines by default, Internet Explorer 8 is configured to use the Bing search engine you can also add search engines—including almost any public search engine or even a search engine on your intranet.

Security

In-private Browsing: When users browse the Web, they leave a record of their visits on the local computer the browser records the visits directly in the history Pictures are stored on the local disk as part of the browser cache Words the user types might be recorded so AutoComplete can fill them in later.

Although these records improve performance and make it easier for users to find sites later, but it can be a good source for the person willing to find your personal and important information.

In Private Browsing provides that capability by opening a new browser window that is specially configured to not leave traces of the Web sites you visit and want to browse without leaving a record (i.e. Banking Transaction sites)

To open an In Private browsing window:

1. Create a new tab by clicking a blank tab or pressing Ctrl+T

2. Click Open an In Private Browsing Window

Alternatively,

1. Click the Safety button on the toolbar and then click In Private Browsing

2. Press Ctrl+Shift+P A new window appears showing In Private in the title and address bars

SmartScreen: Many Web sites attempt to trick users into providing credit card numbers, typing user names and passwords, or installing malicious software Some Web sites are so effective at this that they can successfully deceive even IT professionals and security experts Internet Explorer 8 includes SmartScreen, which communicates with a Microsoft Web service to check the integrity of sites before users visit them If a site is listed as potentially malicious, Internet Explorer 8 warns users before allowing them to connect to the site.

To enable SmartScreen filter

1. Click the Safety button on the toolbar then click SmartScreen Filter and click turn on SmartScreen filter.

You can also check doubtful site and report doubtful site by Click the Safety button on the toolbar then click SmartScreen Filter and click Check This Website or Report Unsafe Website.

Protected Mode: Beginning with Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 7 and later versions run in Protected Mode, which helps protect users from attacks by running the Internet Explorer process with greatly restricted privileges  Protected Mode signifcantly reduces the ability of an attacker to write, alter, or destroy data on the user’s computer or to install malicious code  Protected Mode is not
available when Internet Explorer 7 and later versions are installed on Windows XP because it requires several security features unique to Windows Vista and later operating systems.

Manageability

Installing Add-on

1. On the Internet Explorer Command bar, click Page

2. On the Page menu, click All Accelerators, and then click Find More Accelerators

3. Click the Add to Internet Explorer button next to an Accelerator you want to install

4. In the Add Accelerator dialog box, select the Make This My Default Provider check box if you want this Accelerator to appear on the Accelerator menu in place of any other in its category Then click Add.

Web Slicing :This is a awesome time saving feature that Microsoft added to internet explorer 8. We often visited some site like news,weather and sports score etc more than couple of time a day just to find what latest going on.Until now we have to do it by navigating to web  page repeatedly and manually but now using web slice all the update can available automatically and directly to our favorite bar what we only have to do is to web slice the needed content.

Web slicing the pages

1. Navigate to the web page for which you made a web slice hover your mouse over an item on a webpage If that item incorporates  Web Slice functionality, the Web Slice icon will appear.

2. Click on the icon to add this “slice” of the web to your Favorites Bar. Now you can keep up to date with this information no matter where you are on the web.

3. If the slice icon not appear it mean this feature is not available for that page.

4.To delete, right-click on your Web Slice and click Delete.

That’s All ! Hope you get it and update to take advantage. if you already then happy surfing.

Tags : IE8,IE6,Windows xp

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