A couple months ago I wrote this:
“I tend to keep a lot of tabs open in my browser. Some of them are pages I haven’t had a chance to read yet, while others are items I’m queuing to write about in the coming days. The thing is, I don’t want to leave my computer running just so I can keep all these tabs “live.” Nor do I want to bookmark them, as I don’t intend to store them permanently.
“Fortunately, my browser offers an easy way to keep tabs open from one session to the next. And there’s a good chance yours does, too–no plug-ins or extensions required. This option is available in Chrome and Firefox. Alas, if there’s a way to do likewise in Internet Explorer 9, I haven’t found it.”
I just found it. Electric Brain Productions’ IE Session Manager preserves tabs between browsing sessions. In fact, it does a lot more than that, meaning it actually gives IE an edge over Chrome and Firefox.
For example, in addition to saving your open tabs, IE Session Manager can save multiple instances of your browser, each with its own set of tabs. Thus, you might have a “PC World” instance with tabs for articles you’re meaning to read or want to save for later reference. Or how about a “shopping” instance with tabs for different stores? The possibilities are fairly endless.
The free demo version of IE Session Manager limits you to four browser instances and four URLs within each. If you need more, the full version costs $25. That’s pretty steep for an add-on like this, but if you eat, sleep, and work in Internet Explorer, it might be well worth the investment.
The program is compatible with Internet Explorer 7, 8, and 9.