Review #2 - Internet Explorer 7

Try to keep this one shorter than the last review…

Internet Explorer 6 was released in 2001 and during the next six years Firefox would gain large numbers of supporters who were moving away from the ceaseless security holes in Microsoft’s offering of a web browser. However, the people at Redmond have recently released a new web browser, Internet Explorer 7.

Installation of IE 7 was a breeze but took awhile as it checked for updates and scanned your computer for viruses. The download, about 15Mb, should not be any strain on the seventy-five percent of internet users on broadband.

IE 7 does little but attempt to close the huge gap between itself and other browsers. Tabbed browsing is new to Internet Explorer but has been present for years in Firefox. Each time you close IE you can check a box to have it save your tabs and open them again for next time… Similarly, you can configure Firefox to always save your tabs without the extra added mouse clicks. One feature new to Internet Explorer that Firefox lacks is the ‘Quick Tabs’ feature, where all open tabs are shown on one page as thumbnails of the actual page; useful if you are forgetful and often loose where you were or if you are looking for something quickly. From there you can click on the thumbnail to activate its page or you can close it. For those who are organised or those who do not open many tabs this feature is largely useless.

The new browser takes on a Vista-like, minimal look with its back and forward buttons and its more organised toolbars. It is obvious that Microsoft has built this browser to integrate with Vista, released in November. With the ability of having multiple tabs IE 7 can quickly run up a large amount of memory. With seven tabs open the program consumed 70Mb of memory. This amount is insignificant on the modern systems of today and will be standard for the programs of tomorrow but the older computers and notebooks will be struggling to run this larger piece of software on 256Mb of memory (or possibly even 512Mb).

The phishing filter is also new to IE 7 but is likely to slow your online experience marginally. I only noticed a small difference with the feature turned on but switched it back off as I like to squeeze for speed. RSS feeds are also new to Internet Explorer and offer users a way to check sites for updated content without actually checking the site. Annoyingly, IE 7 refuses to play the sound that signifies a updated content on my computer and I have to check the feeds section myself to learn of updated content (new content is bold). Maybe the sound is just quiet and I can’t hear it over my music, needs to be louder perhaps. Subscribing is easy, just press the orange icon on the toolbar and click ‘subscribe to feed’ at the top of the opened page (go on; try it now with my blog).

Visual effects: 3/5.
The eye candy IE 7 provides will seamlessly match Vista’s

Ease of use: 9/15.
I’m used to it, which helps; but still need to get a little practice holding the Ctrl key before clicking.

Features: 9/15.
It matched Firefox, but couldn’t better it.

Value: 6/10.
It’s free, but the time it can waste occasionally isn’t.

Speed: 4/10.
Sluggish to open new tabs on my PC, but up to par with Firefox… just…

Integration: 5/5.
This was obviously made for Vista and should fit in well with it.

Overall: 36/60.
Firefox is still the better browser for surfing the net – now is as good a time to change as any.

Test machine;
Pentium 4 1.8 GHz,
1024 Mb DDR Ram,
120 Gb HDD,
Windows XP Home SP2.

Personally, I’m stuck with IE 7 because of reasons outside of my control. One day, when Logitech updates their software, I’ll make the switch to Firefox.