by Sebastian Anthony on February 16, 2011 at 04:00 PM

Microsoft has been at pains to point out just how slimline the IE9 interface is -- it's a whole six pixels more svelte than Chrome! -- but its minimalistic sparseness comes at a price: you need a magnifying glass to see the buttons, and almost everything is hidden behind at least two or three mouse clicks.
Fortunately, there's plenty of keyboard shortcuts:
Alt+C -- pop open the ...
by Sebastian Anthony on February 15, 2011 at 03:00 PM

InPrivate Browsing is Internet Explorer's answer to Chrome's Incognito and Firefox's Private Browsing. In essence, it gives you a very quick way to surf the Internet without leaving traces of activity on your computer.
The problem with Firefox and Chrome, though, is that there's no one-click way to open a private browsing window. You have to fumble with some menus or hit a keyboard shortcut, ...
by Lee Mathews on February 15, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Tracking Protection is Internet Explorer 9's kicked-up privacy protection system, a sort of evolution from IE8's InPrivate Filtering. And while there are now four lists posted on Microsoft's official site, they're not all designed to function the same way. ZDNet's Ed Bott took an in-depth look at all four, and what he found may surprise you.
One list -- provided by TRUSTe -- does very little ...
by Sebastian Anthony on February 15, 2011 at 11:47 AM

Not one to let it lie (yes, Asa, we're looking at you), Mozilla's Technical Evangelist, Paul Rouget, has produced a fancy infographic that details just how much ass Firefox 4 kicks in comparison to IE9. If you're in a hurry, here's the summary: FIREFOX RULES; IE9 SUX. For detailed analysis, read on.
For the most part Rouget relies in Firefox's pure, numerical superiority, rather than ...
by Lee Mathews on February 14, 2011 at 02:00 PM

One of the more talked-about features in Internet Explorer 9 is the addition of Tracking Protection -- which is a bit of a re-tooling of IE8's InPrivate Filtering. Now that the IE9 RC is here, Tracking Protection is ready for you to test. All you need are some lists to subscribe to, and the know-how to plug them in to your browser.
First, head over to the Tracking Protection Lists page from ...
by Lee Mathews on February 14, 2011 at 11:00 AM

Sometimes testing pre-release software leads to a bit of a headache down the road. Before you install the final release of some apps, they require you to uninstall the previous version, reboot, and then launch the finalized installer. That won't be the case with Internet Explorer 9, which should come as welcome news to the millions who downloaded Microsoft's latest browser. When Internet Explorer ...
by Lee Mathews on February 11, 2011 at 12:00 PM

One of the ways Internet Explorer 9 seeks to "bring the Web to your desktop" is by allowing sites to be pinned to your taskbar, and use jump lists to quickly and directly access specific parts of a website. A handful of big-name sites already offer Windows 7 integration, including Facebook, Twitter, CNN, Flixster, and IMDb.
Microsoft has also shared how this works (and Scott Hanselman has ...
by Sebastian Anthony on February 11, 2011 at 11:00 AM

If, by some weird quirk of fate, you missed the big news yesterday: Internet Explorer 9 RC is now available to download. If you've read our complete guide you'll know about one of IE9's neatest features: pinned websites.
In essence, it takes the Firefox and Chrome idea of pinned app tabs and goes a few steps further by actually integrating with the operating system. To pin a site, simply visit ...
by Lee Mathews on February 10, 2011 at 04:30 PM

Back in December, we learned that the second update to Windows Phone 7 -- codenamed Mango -- would be adding HTML5 and Silverlight support. Mary Jo Foley's sources have now confirmed to her that Mango's improved HTML5 support will be due to the arrival of Internet Explorer 9 Mobile (or IE mobile 9 or mobile IE9, whatever Microsoft ultimately labels the browser). Silverlight, on the other hand, ...
by Sebastian Anthony on February 10, 2011 at 10:50 AM

The Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate is now available. For all intents and purposes, this means IE9 is feature complete. Small changes might occur, but it's mostly bug stomping from here on out. Download it, give it a whirl; it might just be the first IE browser that's actually enjoyable to use.
Download Squad got its grubby mandibles on the RC a few days ago, which means we can show you ...
by Lee Mathews on February 10, 2011 at 10:23 AM

If you've been waiting to try Internet Explorer 9 until the release candidate was made available, wait no more! Microsoft has posted the 32- and 64-bit downloads for both Windows 7 and Vista.
If the rumors are correct, the IE9 RC will be made officially available later today -- in which case, watch out for a lot more Internet Explorer 9 content on Download Squad over the next few days.
...
by Sebastian Anthony on January 26, 2011 at 02:00 PM

All three major browser providers have now publicized their solution to the FTC's Do Not Track problem. Google has waded in with a thoroughly brute-force extension that was probably programmed in a few hours, and Mozilla has a much softer, "meta" HTTP approach up its sleeve. Microsoft seems to be somewhere in the middle, with a built-in solution that may prove to be the best of both worlds.
...
by Lee Mathews on January 19, 2011 at 05:00 PM

Sure, you can wade through Internet Explorer 8's security settings and flip a number of radio buttons to change ActiveX permissions in its many zones, but it's kind of a pain in the butt. It's also not also flexible a system as it could be -- but Microsoft appears ready to change all that in Internet Explorer 9.
Over at WinRumors, Tom Warren has received information that IE9 will include an ...
by Sebastian Anthony on January 19, 2011 at 05:44 AM

It's been a long time coming, but Microsoft is finally testing a new Be what's next homepage. To enable the new look, you need to visit http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/preview/default.aspx.
The layout is strongly reminiscent of Windows Phone 7's Metro UI, with not a single rounded corner to be found. There are also some design elements from Internet Explorer 9, such as the 'cut off' back and ...
by Lee Mathews on January 12, 2011 at 06:15 PM

Microsoft knows who uses Internet Explorer -- and understands that those people aren't always keen on big changes. Internet Explorer 9's updated interface could come as quite a shock to some users, with its compact address bar and in-line tabs. It seems, however, that Microsoft will add in an optional switch to impart a more IE8-style appearance.
The Internet Explorer 9 RC build is set to ...