I.e.7

[rckershaw]

www.majorgeeks.com has I.E.7 out it's the final verstion .

[glc]

And anyone who installs it right off the bat without waiting for feedback is asking for problems. Wait till next Patch Tuesday and get it from Windows Update.

[cmillar6]

Its actually available on microsoft.com now. I just downloaded it and have already noticed one bug, HP's Director Software that is installed with HP's All in One Printers will no longer load with IE7 running. This appears to be a known issue. The browser itself seems very fast and has some very nice tabbed browsing features, I might convert back to IE from Firefox now.

[Force Flow]

This is just an example of why general users should wait a little while on this. Let the bug testers get some of these kinks worked out first.

[David M]

Wait for the black hats to figure out how to get around the security features as well. Does IE 7 seem to be any better than Firefox?

[cmillar6]

Does IE 7 seem to be any better than Firefox?

In my opinion IE7 is now at par with Firefox 1.5 Although I do feel IE7 did a little bit better of a job with tabs and it does seem a little faster than Firefox. Although I have no benchmark numbers to support this. There is the HP Director software conflict with IE7 which I managed to find a workaround for, although HP or Microsoft better patch this fast or there are going to be alot of upset people with HP All in One Printers when IE7 rolls in through automatic updates.

[thefultonhow]

There's already a vulnerability:

http://secunia.com/Internet_Explorer...rability_Test/

[Statica]

Hmm .. I'm not in the habit of using IE anyway, so installed IE 7. For my part I find that it's extremely sluggish in a lot of situations .. especially for middle of the road hardware. What I find fascinating is that IE far exceeds memory consumption. Here's a comparison for my system and task manager .. your results may vary...
Firefox - blank (with A TON of plugins) vs IE 7 (with NO addons or feeds or anything
blank(no page or tab loaded) - 17852K vs 23356K
with forum.pcmech.com loaded (one tab) 20640K vs 30552K
with 3 tabs from forums loaded 24376K vs 44592K
What I find interesting that I find IE's consumption increasing regularly.

The only difference I notice b/w FF and IE7 is the fast start-up of IE7 over FF (but that's to be expected seeing that most of the files are already in memory)

[David M]

The plugins are what makes Firefox fantastic. I can't imagine Microsoft IE providing even half the plugins that Firefox has.

[Statica]

There are plugins and there will be more once 3rd party developers bring more out .. however, there are a number of plugins that are not freeware .. so u know where we're going with that!

[Paintbait]

Does IE 7 seem to be any better than Firefox?

If the original beta for IE7 is any testament then no, but I haven't seen IE7 since the initial Beta. Although I'm going to guess it's only a marginal improvement capable of competing with Firefox (making the decision about which browser to use entirely personal preference). Although FF2.0 is really awesome, what with the inline spell checker, now there is no reason to spell anything wrong!

[glc]

The vulnerability also affects IE6 and it looks like M$ may have pushed out a Windows update tonight to fix it. My little globe just popped up and it's not even Tuesday.

[HAL9000]

Have they at least made the toolbar a bit more customizable that the beta versions... I hated the beta for that reason alone.... I couldn't put things where I wanted them.

[Statica]

Originally Posted by Paintbait If the original beta for IE7 is any testament then no, but I haven't seen IE7 since the initial Beta. Although I'm going to guess it's only a marginal improvement capable of competing with Firefox (making the decision about which browser to use entirely personal preference). Although FF2.0 is really awesome, what with the inline spell checker, now there is no reason to spell anything wrong!

I dont understand why there would be a comparison made between betas. Different betas are released for different reasons and at different devel stages with beta specific code that may be really far from the final versions.

Again, my results or someone else's results with a browser are hardly anything to go by and it is definitely a worthwhile experience for people to spend sometime trying out final versions to see what works for them. I think that IE7's true capabilities may only be realized on the OS it may have been envisioned for .. Vista. So I'm going to adapt to IE7 over IE6 for the occasional IE browsing that I do.

Originally Posted by HAL9000 Have they at least made the toolbar a bit more customizable that the beta versions... I hated the beta for that reason alone.... I couldn't put things where I wanted them.

Dont know which beta you were using .. the final build seems to be at least as customizable as IE6. The only problem I'm having is with my Adobe Acrobat toolbar (ver 7) going from an unobtrusive little button thingy to a full fledged toolbar.

[HAL9000]

I tried Beta 1 and 2..... I like having the text (File, edit, view) on top, icons (back, forward, stop, refresh, home, etc) next, address bar below that, and favorite links below that... the Beta versions refused to let me use that layout..... I'm anal about the layout ok?

[Statica]

That isn't possible in the final version.. and moving forward I think usability testing showed that the new interface is better (again very subjective to the individual). But you are going to find that this is going to be more-or-less the UI for most MS products going forward. The text menu is going to get extinct at least with the newest incarnation of the Windows platform (Vista, Office, Live products etc). I think the text menu is still put in as a legacy setting and I wouldnt be surprised if it disappeared in the future.

[PCBrandon]

I wasn't in the tech field when IE6 came out. In terms of Windows Update, what usually happens? Does IE7 show up on Optional Updates first and then move to Critical Updates down the road? If so, when? I have Windows Server Update Services installed at work and I'm going to tell it to not install IE7 on the workstations if it can be downloaded from Windows Update. Not for at least a few more months.

[Statica]

Originally Posted by Statica Hmm .. I'm not in the habit of using IE anyway, so installed IE 7. For my part I find that it's extremely sluggish in a lot of situations .. especially for middle of the road hardware. What I find fascinating is that IE far exceeds memory consumption. Here's a comparison for my system and task manager .. your results may vary... Firefox - blank (with A TON of plugins) vs IE 7 (with NO addons or feeds or anything blank(no page or tab loaded) - 17852K vs 23356K with forum.pcmech.com loaded (one tab) 20640K vs 30552K with 3 tabs from forums loaded 24376K vs 44592K What I find interesting that I find IE's consumption increasing regularly. The only difference I notice b/w FF and IE7 is the fast start-up of IE7 over FF (but that's to be expected seeing that most of the files are already in memory)

Upgraded to FF 2.0 .. memory usage is higher than with FF1.0 but still significantly less than IE7. Once it loads up, I find the rendering much faster than IE7. Again, just my personal experience. I do like the fact that "extras" like the Tabs viewer etc. are not bundled into the browser but is available through plugins.. I can make it as lightweight or featured as I want it to be. The best indication of it would be using FF in safemode .. memory usage drops further.

[glc]

It's going to be shoved out as a critical, not optional. That's what IE6 did.

[PCBrandon]

Thanks glc. Any idea on when it'll be pushed out to Windows Update?

[Stuey]

I have mixed feelings about IE7. With IE6, I can move the address bar around and the icons as well. In IE7, almost everything is fixed in position, and the tab controls aren't as easy to use as in Maxthon.

However, the memory usage has gone way waaaaay down, and that's a HUGE plus for me.

Still, there are a few additions I'd like made. For example, in Maxthon, I can open up several tabs as a group. That way I can open pcmech forums, bit-tech.net forums, and hardforums all at once. I'd like to eventually only use either Maxthon or IE exclusively, but I guess that's not going to happen anytime soon.

[Statica]

Originally Posted by PCBrandon Thanks glc. Any idea on when it'll be pushed out to Windows Update?

Should be later this year: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/07/26/678149.aspx

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by Stuey I have mixed feelings about IE7. With IE6, I can move the address bar around and the icons as well. In IE7, almost everything is fixed in position, and the tab controls aren't as easy to use as in Maxthon.

Call me overly anal, but yes, that irritated me too.

[Statica]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 I tried Beta 1 and 2..... I like having the text (File, edit, view) on top, icons (back, forward, stop, refresh, home, etc) next, address bar below that, and favorite links below that... the Beta versions refused to let me use that layout..... I'm anal about the layout ok?

Fine .. if you wanna be difficult ... this works fine. Gist: You can now get your text menu on top
create the following:

PHP Code:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerToolbarWebBrowser]
"ITBar7Position"=dword:00000001 


To follow up the blog post, the registry key still works for the final version.

[jbbrown211]

So at the end of the day, is it "safe" to download this yet? Just went through a bad virus experience not long ago, so I'm a bit overcautious about any vulnerabilities...

[Statica]

Originally Posted by jbbrown211 So at the end of the day, is it "safe" to download this yet? Just went through a bad virus experience not long ago, so I'm a bit overcautious about any vulnerabilities...

Is it stable yes it is .. on most machines. it should enhance your browsing experience at the least, if you use IE6. Is it invulnerable to malware on an XP system? Likely not .. the answer depends on your browsing habits. If you're looking for the browser to become invulnerable before installing it .. then its best to cancel your ISP account- every browser is going to be hit by vulnerabilities and exploits... at least for now!

[jbbrown211]

Understood. I was just referring to the newness of the release the potential for any bugs, etc. before patches.

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by Statica Fine .. if you wanna be difficult ... this works fine. Gist: You can now get your text menu on top create the following: PHP Code: [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerToolbarWebBrowser] "ITBar7Position"=dword:00000001  To follow up the blog post, the registry key still works for the final version.

Ok.. this might make me happier

[juppy]

Originally Posted by Stuey I'd like to eventually only use either Maxthon or IE exclusively, but I guess that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Not if you plan on going with Maxthon, because you still have to have IE installed on your system for Maxthon to work. If that wasn't the case, I would've axed IE a long time ago and just used Maxthon.

[Stuey]

Originally Posted by juppy Not if you plan on going with Maxthon, because you still have to have IE installed on your system for Maxthon to work. If that wasn't the case, I would've axed IE a long time ago and just used Maxthon.

You know, I only learned this last night. I tried to do a text search on a page in Maxthon, and the new IE7 "find" box popped up. I know it's based off of IE, but I thought it was a stand-alone program of some kind.