Internet Explorer 7.0
- What is new in IE 7.0?
- Is Internet Explorer 7.0 available for Windows XP?
- How does the Phishing Filter work?
- What information is being sent by the Phishing filter?
- What does Page Zoom do?
- How is printing easier in IE 7.0?
- What can I do with RSS in IE 7.0?
- How does Protected Mode protect me better?
- What does "Fix My Settings" do for me?
A. There are many new features for the newest version of Internet Explorer. Microsoft has made improvements to security by adding the Phishing Filter, ActiveX control opt-in, Protected Mode, and Fix My Settings; printing a website has become much easier with the new print preview function where you can resize margins by clicking and dragging, remove headings with the push of a button, and shrink the entire website to fit on a printed page. There are a plethora of other new features including built in RSS support, Page Zoom, and tabbed browsing. To read more on Internet Explorer 7.0 please visit the ITS Help Desk's Guide to Internet Explorer 7.
Q. Is Internet Explorer 7.0 available for Windows XP?
A. Yes. However not all functionality will be there. In Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP there is no Protected Mode, nor is there any parental controls, as those are based on the built in Parental Controls in Windows Vista.
Q. How does the Phishing Filter work?
A. The Phishing Filter in IE 7.0 automatically alerts users to the fact that they may be at an untrustworthy site. This protection works in three ways:
- The URL of the website is checked against an online database of known Phishing websites that is maintained by Microsoft's partners. This database is updated several times an hour with new information.
- The URL is checked against a list of legitimate sites that is stored on the user's local computer.
- It analyzes the site for characteristics of known Phishing websites.
If the Phishing Filter determines that the site is suspect, it will change the color of the Internet Explorer Address bar accordingly: yellow for a suspect site, and red for a confirmed Phishing site. A warning will display on the screen, further advising a user to beware. In the case that a site returns a red warning bar and is a confirmed Phishing site, the page will be blocked by the Phishing filter until the user clicks a link in the browser window to be allowed to proceed to the site.
Q. What information is being sent by the Phishing filter?
A. Microsoft says that the only information that is submitted is the URL for the site currently being visited. It should be noted that Microsoft itself is not maintaining the database of Phishing sites, instead, they have partnered with several industry leaders in Online Reputation Services. You can read more about Microsoft's Industry partners here.
A. Page Zoom is a new accessibility feature included in Internet Explorer 7.0 to help improve the user experience. You can increase or decrease the size of the entire page, graphics and all. This makes it much easier to read that tiny fine print at the bottom of many websites and can increase the size of small thumb-nail images for easier viewing. The Page Zoom feature is controlled by an icon in the lower right hand corner of the browser.
Q. How is printing easier in IE 7.0?
A. Printing has really been stepped up in Internet Explorer 7.0. The new Print Preview function makes it easy to resize margins, remove hearders and footers, or shrink text and images to fit the printed page. You can drag the margin sizes with your mouse cursor and removing headers and footers is as easy as clicking a button on the new tool bar. For more information on printing advances in Internet Explorer 7.0 please visit the ITS Help Desk's Guide to Internet Explorer 7.
Q. What can I do with RSS in IE 7.0?
A. Internet Explorer 7 includes built-in RSS feed support. If you clicked on a link to an RSS feed in IE 6, you would be looking at the raw XML data. Not so in Internet Explorer 7. When you click on a link for an RSS feed in IE 7, you'll be taken to a page where you can view a summary of the feed and choose to add it to your favorite feeds list which is now managed in the Favorites Center . You can then add these feeds to the RSS ticker Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget.
Q. How does Protected Mode protect me better?
A. Protected mode is available only to those users that are running Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista. Protected Mode forces IE 7 to run in an "isolated" space so that it does not have access to anything on your hard drive except for the Temporary Internet Files folder. This means that any malicious websites trying to install software on your computer will not be able to copy data or malicious programs to any of your important Windows system folders, only to temporary internet folders where it is easy to clean them up.
Q. What does "Fix My Settings" do for me?
A. "Fix My Settings" is a feature built into Internet Explorer 7 that warns a user when his or her internet settings are at an unsafe level. The information bar will display a warning which cannot be hidden or removed until the settings are fixed to safe levels. To fix the settings, you simply have to click on the information bar and choose "Fix My Settings" from the menu that appears.
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Last Updated: 04/24/2008