Windows Internet Explorer 8 (known as IE8) is the successor to Internet Explorer 7, and will be the last version to be supported on Windows XP. The advertisements emphasize how easy it is to use, better security and new advances in RSS, Style Sheets and enhanced support. But many other improvements were highlighted in this release.

Accelerators

Accelerators allow a user to access an online service from any other page using only the mouse. Accelerators have eliminated the necessity of copying and pasting content between web pages. IE8 uses an XML based encoding, which allows a web application or web service to be invoked as an Accelerator service.

Autocomplete changes

The address bar highlights domain names for additional security. Domains at the top-level are shown in black, but other parts of the URL are in gray. This may not be turned off by a user. Other features include the ability to paste more complicated URLs, and an new way of inserting selected words, or entire URLs in the Address bar.

Tab crash recovery

If a website or add-on causes a tab to crash, only the tab involved is affected. The browser is still stable and other tabs are unaffected. If a tab closes inadvertently or even if it crashes, the content will automatically be reloaded.

Favorites Bar

The Favorites Bar has been redesigned, and can now support content such as slices, feeds and documents, in addition to any website links.

Inline search within pages

The Find dialog box has been replaced with a Find toolbar (CTL + F). IE8 will highlight all found words, even while the user continues to navigate.

Privacy Mode

InPrivate is the new security feature in IE8, with two excellent features: Browsing and Filtering. These prevent your browsing history, temporary files, cookies, and user names and passwords from being kept in the browser. The filtering feature provides an additional control level for information that third party websites can use to track browsing activity.

Performance and stability

Internet Explorer 8 has introduced a number of features in its architecture to enhance performance. Using a proprietary feature, it maintains the browser and tabs in separate processes, preventing glitches and hangs from bringing down the whole browser. In addition, permissions for controls are more flexible; you now have the option of allowing controls on a per site basis, instead of enabling/disabling them globally.

SmartScreen Filter

SmartScreen Filter improved the phishing filter to give you protection from socially engineered malware. Each website you visit or download is checked against their list of popular websites that are considered legitimate; if the site is not listed, the information goes to Microsoft so it can be checked further. If it is considered a harmful site, IE 8 flashes a screen prompt letting you know that the site has been reported as harmful.

There are many other features that developers and webmasters have requested and r

received, but the primary new features of IE8 are designed to make the browsing experience fast and enjoyable for all users.

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