After a gap of several months, Microsoft has finally released the Beta 2 Version of its popular web browser Internet Explorer 8, on August 27, 2008. This Beta 2 version is the second last release of IE version 8 until Microsoft unveils the final version, late this year.
The new IE 8 Beta 2 version is pretty different from the earlier Internet Explorer versions. Being already baffled with Firefox’s success, Microsoft has left no stone unturned in placing this new IE version into the list of the strongest contender for the best web browser.
InPrivate Browsing
The new Internet Explorer version 8 (Beta2) is fully compatible with CSS version 2.1 & HTML 4.01, & carries a bundle of new utilities & stuff that you would have never seen before, or even expected, from Microsoft. One of such utilities in Internet Explorer 8 is the “InPrivate Browsing mode” (or “Porn” mode, as some people coined it). According to Microsoft, “Internet Explorer 8 provides a simple yet flexible platform that enables customers to control how they share information with Web sites that they visit indirectly. In InPrivate Browsing mode, Internet Explorer automatically detects and blocks requests for third-party resources that can be used to track online behavior.”
While rumors are also suggesting that Microsoft has provided the InPrivate Browsing mode in order to facilitate viewing of porn stuff on those computers which are shared by multiple users, thus protecting the user’s privacy. It is also been said that, allowing the InPrivate mode in IE is actually the strategy of Microsoft to gain attention of the Firefox users as, interestingly, this feature has been removed by Mozilla in their recent Firefox web Browser ver 3. Safari is the only web browser so far which is providing this kind of facility.
CRASH RECOVERY
The new version of Internet Explorer allows you to recover the recently closed tabs without going at the browsing history. When you open a new IE window, the browser provides you the option to open your previously closed tabs. It also provides Crash recovery(like firefox). It will prompt you to restore your previously opened URLs. This can be quite helpful in case you either accidentally closed the browser or it happened due to a sudden computer reboot.
EMULATE7
The new Internet explorer 8 version also features an “Emulate7″ button which allows you to view any website in the previous Internet Explorer version 7 compatibility mode, thus allowing backward compatibility in case someone like to stick to the old UI.
SEARCH ACCELERATORS AND SUGGESTED SITES
Internet Explorer 8 also showcases some other pretty cool & usable applications such as the use of search accelerators. They are basically a list of content aggregation feed-based sites like Wikipedia, MSN Encarta, Google Search suggestions, Google define, amazon, ebay & many more.
While the “Suggested Sites” feature allows you to have alternate suggestions coming from your history, your favorites, and your feeds.
SmartScreen Filter
The SmartScreen filter, when turned ON, keeps a check on the authenticity of web sites you visit, including their source, content & scripts involved with them. The detailed report (excluding your personal details) is sent to Microsoft for review. It seems to be a great tool for keeping a constant check on fraudulent & malicious websites, including the popular phishing scams.
There are some more features too in the new Internet Explorer version 8, such as the new developer tools. They will be added here after later on after a thorough review. So guys..do keep visiting realgeek for more updates on Internet Explorer 8 & other geeky stuff. Happy Exploring!
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