First off, if you don’t have Windows XP, sorry. This new version of Internet Explorer won’t work on earlier versions of Windows. IE 7 will be standard with the next version of Windows, coming out in January, so you might want to read this anyway to see what’s coming if you use a Windows Vista PC in the future.

This is the biggest single update to IE since I’ve been using it. There are 5 main things to mention:
The top part of the screen has been redesigned. It looks sleeker and more “stylish” but more importantly the buttons have been moved around. Instead of a toolbar with lots of buttons next to each other there are circular back and forward buttons at the top left, then on the right there are buttons for printing, tools (which has a lot of the features you used to get via the menus and so on. If you don’t like this you can get the menus back by clicking the tools button and then clicking on “toolbar”.
IE 7 uses “tabs” for new webpages. If you want to follow a link in a webpage but keep the old one open, you right click it and select “Open in new tab”. It’ll keep the existing page open but also open the new page. It shows the “tabs” at the top of the window and you can click on one to view it.
It’s also useful if you are on one webpage and then want to check something else without losing the page you’re on. For example if you’re booking a holiday and want to check train times you can click on the blank tab at the top and it’ll let you go to the train times page. Then when you’re done, close that tab and the page you were on before will still be there. Handy.
Microsoft have FINALLY sorted out the printing. Previously, when you printed a website you’d often lose the right hand side as it was too wide for the page. Now it’ll shrink the webpage slightly to make it fit on the paper. At last!
The text is shown using something called Cleartype, which rounds the edges of letters to make it look more curved and less “computer-y”. It does work quite well but some people find it makes the text slightly blurred. My advice is try it and see what you think. You can turn it off via the Tools menu. Go to Internet Options, Advanced and scroll down to Multimedia.
It watches to see if websites are known for “Phishing”. That’s when a site is designed to fraudulently get your personal details. If IE7 knows the website may be dodgy, it’ll warn you not to put any personal information into it. Very nifty.

If you haven’t already got it, you can download Internet Explorer 7 here: www.microsoft.com/windows/ie
If you don’t have broadband it’ll take quite a while, so don’t do it on peak rate phone times!

Tim Wakeling is the Author of Computers One Step at a Time and Help! My Taskbar’s Vanished. He also writes a free monthly newsletter about computers for non-experts. Find out about both at www.helpfulbooks.co.uk

© Tim Wakeling, UK 2006. You may re-publish this article online and in print as long as you leave it unchanged.