Internet Explorer 4.51 and Outlook Express 5.01 Internet Update is out

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 4.51 and Outlook Express 5.01 Internet Update.

This update is comprised of a patch for Internet Explorer 4.5 and Outlook Express 5 for the Macintosh. It's designed to update certain certificates embedded inside Internet Explorer that will expire at midnight on December 31, 1999, and to provide more secure JavaScript support for certain sites in Internet Explorer (see previous MacFixIt item). Also fixed is the Outlook Express security issue. There is a separate update for the 128 bit version of Explorer. These More Info and FAQ pages provide additional details.

Update: A Microsoft representative informs us that "Hotmail service has now been restored. Customers can now properly integrate Outlook Express 5 Macintosh Edition with their Hotmail account."

Explorer version number glitch? Matt Smith noticed that, after installing the updates, the version number for Outlook Express changed to 5.0.1, but the version number for Explorer did not change ( 4.5(0408)). He is not sure whether or not this is intentional or indicates a problem with the update installer. John Darrow confirms the version number glitch.

Several other users now confirm this as well, both for the standard and the 128 bit versions.