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IE's Makeover

IE's changes are long overdue, and the browser remains a work in progress, with final code not slated until sometime in 2006. But as it stands, many of its new features still don't match functionality already present in the other browsers.

The new version of IE will finally allow you to open multiple Web pages on tabs in the same window, a capability that Firefox and Opera have offered for a while. But the feature works in only a basic way for now. Microsoft says more is in store, including an option to view all tabs in a one-page thumbnail layout (absent in both Firefox and Opera). However, the ability to drag and drop tabs to rearrange them, now included in Firefox and already available in Opera 8.5, likely won't make it into IE, says Gary Schare, head of IE 7's project management team.

IE 7 lets you easily find and bookmark an RSS feed on any given Web page, but once subscribed you have no way to get a quick preview of that feed's headlines--as you can with Firefox's Live Bookmarks--so you lose a significant part of RSS's usefulness.

IE's layout is changing too, making it look more like its rivals. Included is an integrated search box similar to that in Firefox and Opera, and the toolbar and button arrangement in IE 7 is more compact.

In addition, IE 7 and the new version of Firefox each offer an easy method for deleting personal browsing data--including the cache, history, and saved data from online forms you've filled out--via one menu option. The feature already exists in Opera 8.5.

Microsoft has tightened IE's security in other ways, too. For example, an added antiphishing filter aims to warn users if they visit a known or potential phishing site--a function previously available only via third-party toolbars. You also get an add-on manager that leaves some ActiveX controls enabled but can disable IE's access to other ActiveX controls, like those within the Windows operating system, which criminals could manipulate to gain control of your computer. In addition, the company says it has modified IE's code to make it harder for hackers to exploit. The changes sound promising, but the real test will come when consumers use IE 7--and the new browser becomes a target for malware authors.