Today Microsoft officially released Internet Explorer 7.0 to the general public as the successor to the five-year-old IE6. You can go the the official Internet Explorer 7 webpage by clicking here. Alternatively you can download the browser directly:
* IE7 for Windows XP SP2
* IE7 for Windows Server 2003
* IE7 for Windows Server 2003 ia64
* IE7 for XP Pro. x64 and Server 2003 x64
I have several notes I would like to make as well:
1.) Internet Explorer is superior to its predecessor due to a series of added features and, more importantly, numerous changes to the way Internet Explorer handles security threats. The top changes include:
* Tabbed-browser support to reduce clutter and system resource usage.
* A built-in search bar for quick and easy web searches.
* New RSS support for receiving web feeds directly to your browser.
* Redesigned printing capabilities make it easier to see and customize what you are printing.
* An opt-in system for ActiveX controls helps prevent drive-by installations.
* A phishing filter helps detect and block websites designed to look like legitimate websites.
* An option to clear all private data has been added so that you can quickly and easily sanitize any information stored since you started browsing.
* The ability to undo changes made to your browser makes it far easier to recover from your browser being hijacked.
* Security has been tightened so that the address bar can no longer be hidden, the status bar will always display the URL instead of customized text, etc preventing a malicious site from hiding its own identity.
And more.
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2.) IE6 will continue to be supported for the foreseeable future, receiving security and stability patches as needed. Thus, while you would miss out on receiving the new security features you are not required to upgrade to IE7.
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3.) Internet Explorer 7 is still not compatible with all websites and programs, so if you run across one that you rely on that specifically requires IE6 you can click here to download the User Agent String Utility 2.0, which can make IE7 identify itself as IE6 temporarily to facilitate support for the task at hand.
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4.) If you do install IE7 and then wish to revert to IE6 you may do so. The simplest solution is to simply go into Add/Remove Programs and uninstall IE7, which will automatically restore IE6. It can, however, be removed manually if the uninstaller fails.
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5.) Internet Explorer 7 will be added to Windows Update and downloaded automatically as a priority security update next month unless you take steps to prevent it. Here you have two options:
* Disable Automatic Updates in the Security Center on your computer and when you go to Windows Update online make sure that you run the custom scan instead of the standard one so that you can uncheck IE7.
* Click here to download an IE7 blocker, which will prevent the automatic download/installation of IE7 indefinitely unless you tell it otherwise.
Microsoft is advising that you make these changes prior to November 1, 2006, but automatic installation should not begin until November 9th.
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6.) IE7, when running on Windows XP/2003, lacks the ?Protected Mode? and enhanced parental controls that IE7 for Vista includes. This is due to the added features included in the upcoming successor to Windows XP.
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7.) Remember, IE7 requires that you are running Windows XP with SP2 installed, Windows XP Professional x64, or Windows Server 2003 with SP1. It also requires that you validate your installation of Windows during the installation process.
Hope this helps,
John
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Internet Explorer 7: Downloads and notes...
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"A vulnerability has been discovered in Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by malicious people to disclose potentially sensitive information.
The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of redirections for URLs with the "mhtml:" URI handler. This can be exploited to access documents served from another web site."
Full text may be found from Secunia by clicking here.
[sarcasm]Looks like it is indeed the most secure version of Internet Explorer yet.[/sarcasm]
John
Microsoft's response to Secunia's announcement: ''These reports are technically inaccurate.'' Instead, they have indicated that the flaw lies in Microsoft's Outlook Express, which can be exploited from within both Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7. Securnia first reported this flaw in April, a mere 6 months ago.
John
Source: PC World
I know that all vulnerabilities such as this are posted in V&S, but considering IE7's recent release, imminent automatic download, and professed high security I'll be posting these here for a while.
"A weakness has been discovered in Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct phishing attacks.
The problem is that it's possible to display a popup with a somewhat spoofed address bar where a number of special characters have been appended to the URL. This makes it possible to only display a part of the address bar, which may trick users into performing certain unintended actions.
Secunia has constructed a demonstration, which is available at:
http://secunia.com/internet_explorer_7_popup_address_bar_spoofing_test/
The weakness is confirmed in Internet Explorer 7 on a fully patched Windows XP SP2 system."
This one Microsoft has acknowledged, calling it "an issue."
John
Source: Secunia
Yahoo actually released their Yahoo-branded version of Internet Explorer 7 a few hours before Microsoft went live, but here's the follow-up.
What makes this version different?
1.) Two automatic homepages are created, which open in tabs: Yahoo! and Yahoo News!.
2.) Yahoo! Search is set as the default search engine instead of MSN/Windows Live.
3.) The latest version of the Yahoo! Toolbar is included, which adds one-click access to the most popular Yahoo pages, additional pop-up blocking, e-mail notification, and more.
Please note that the bundled Yahoo software adds 1.9MB to the download.
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If you would like your browser to be customized by Yahoo, you can click here to download it. (Note: The customization may be reversed at a later date.) However, if you don't you can download IE7 directly from Microsoft and then customize it yourself later if you so choose.
Hope this helps,
John
P.S. The system requirements posted on Yahoo's site do not coincide with those recommended by Microsoft. For the official system requirements please click here.
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