Internet Explorer 7 FINAL 7.0.5730.13

Overview

Windows 7 users are now able to upgrade their Internet Explorer to 10th edition, formerly the Win 8 users' prerogative. Times have changed, and what once was an object of mockery, now has turned into a powerful rival. Microsoft launched an ad campaign admitting its privacy offenses and encouraging users give it another chance. This just may be a successful move because Internet Explorer 10 does deserve your attention.

Users may find that IE 10 runs faster, looks better and offers some significant improvement under the hood. Privacy protection tools include Do Not Track enabled and Tracking Protection tool, a significant Pro for the security-minded. If tracking is not your concern, it should be.

Installation

It is worth mentioning that most Win 7 PCs will automatically install IE 10, provided they run Service Pack 1 and an enabled auto-update. If you do not want to wait, you can download the new edition.

Sadly, Vista users are unable to experience the new browser, not to mention XP users.

The update can take up to several minutes and depending on your system may require a reboot. However, you must realize that once you upgraded to IE 10, there is no way of exploring IE 9.

Interface

While Win 8 users report significant interface improvements, Win 7 users will not see anything new here. The improvements take place under the hood mostly.
Scrollbars were redesigned, though.

Overall, the interface has been significantly trimmed allowing users to focus on the web contents. Control occupy a single row; the address bar and the search bar are combined into one. It is possible to enable menus and toolbars manually by right-clicking on the top window border.

Tabs can be dragged to make new windows, and vice versa. Also, in Win 7 as you drag the tab to the left or right edge of the screen, it fits the half of the screen automatically.

Placing search-address bar and tabs in the same row can make a mess, but it is possible to drag the tabs to a separate row.

You can close multiple tabs from the same Close button on the bar.
IE 10 also implements a spelling checker.

Finally, IE 10 has add-ons, and it also monitors if your add-ons slow down your borwser's performance. The good old download manager with the pause option is still there, as much as a pop-up blocker.

Pros

• Performance in IE 10, as it is from the user's perspective, has been improved.
• Spell-checker and auto-corrections implemented.
• IE 10 is supposed to load 20% faster and save your laptop's battery.
• IE 10 handles HTML5 with 30 additional standards support.
• Significant improvements in the privacy and security department.
• You can even choose the Start Page as your default search engine. For example, AppContainer is similar to sandbox, where malware cannot spread its code all over the system.
• IE 10 supports touch - good news for tablet and touchscreen-enabled Win 7 laptop users.
• Fast loading time.
• A Neat interface.

Cons

• There is no built-in Flash or PDF reader.
• Firefox and Chrome devotees may find it difficult to migrate from the environment they got used to.

Alternatives

Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, Comodo Dragon and IceDragon.

Conclusion

Choosing a browser is like choosing a car. Today, browsers come free of charge, so we only choose the features, functions and usability. Microsoft has been steadily losing in popularity to Chrome and Firefox. With new IE 10, the tendency seems to revert. Internet Explorer 10 may not be all-in-one omnipotent solution, but it is a serious rival to Chrome now. A few improvements in the lacking features will probably not take long to come while privacy and security enhancements and speed may be the decisive factors for many users. Overall, we recommend all Win 7 users upgrade to IE 10. On the surface, there may be few changes, but rest assured: the makeover is in the performance.