Internet Explorer 9

It is finally here. If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 go ahead and download Internet Explorer 9. It is faster and more stable than the past three versions of Internet Explorer. You can finally search from the address bar. Tabs are to the right of the address bar, as opposed to being beneath. The only other thing on the screen is the home button, the favorites button, and the settings button to the right. That is it.

Anyone that relies upon Internet Explorer as their primary browser should stop playing around with Internet Explorer 8. Let us be completely honest here, Internet Explorer 8 is the Windows Vista of web browsers. Now this browser is not compatible with Windows XP, and to be completely honest, it shouldn't be because you shouldn't be running Windows XP; there are alternatives for this on XP such as Google Chrome that are just as fast as this browser. I am running it on Windows Vista right now and it is responsive. It took a minute when I initially opened it up, I will admit I had my concerns, but once it started going it took off.

Downloading the browser is analogous to doing a Windows Update. It took me about 5 minutes to download. The computer shut down, it configured the first two updates. It restarted, then configured the third update. Finally, I was at my desktop, but it did not open up automatically, as previous installs of Internet Explorer have.

The minimal appearance suggests that Microsoft is finally serious about creating a decent web browser. Now pundits will prefer to stick with Opera, Safari, Chrome and Firefox, and I don't blame them. As chic as Internet Explorer 9 is, it is a great upgrade for those who rely on it as their primary browser, but not a necessity. To be totally honest, if you are still running Windows XP I recommend using Google Chrome; that browser has a very small footprint and runs faster than Internet Explorer 9 does on Windows Vista and Windows 7. So far this browser runs faster than Chrome and Firefox on my computer, but it is a brand new installation, and that may change over time.

If you are looking for tools everything is under the gear on the upper right hand corner of the screen. Forget about looking for "tools", because you won't find it. Finding out which version of Internet Explorer you are using actually comes after Internet Options, which used to be the very last option under tools. You don't have to click under help anymore to find out which version of Internet Explorer you are running. Everything in Internet Options remains the same as before.

There are few new options, pinned sites, and the ability to add sites to the Start Menu. If you open up a new tab, it shows you your most popular sites, a feature that was lifted directly from Google Chrome. You can also reopen the last session from that page. While that is the norm in other browsers it seems to be optional here, but to be honest with you it doesn't even feel like that big of a deal, considering all of the other upgrades.

I must admit that it is refreshing to finally be able to open up intensive sites like Facebook, YouTube, MSN, Twitter and many others quickly, without any percievable delay. Back in the day these sites would have brought the computer to a crawl. I am still running software on Windows Vista with only one gigabyte of RAM, so I know that if web sites are running slow in my computer anyone doing the same or running on less than one gigabyte on Windows XP has to be suffering. That is pretty much it for discussion about Internet Explorer 9. My consensus if that if you are running on a gigabyte or less, on Windows Vista or Windows 7, you need to download Internet Explorer 9 for those in your family that insist on using Internet Explorer out of habit. If you are used to Google Chrome there is no learning curve with this browser, but there is enough of a difference that it might confuse those used to how Internet Explorer used to look. There are plenty of other articles for those interested in what is underneath the hood that just have to know, including the Wikipedia article on this subject but as everyone knows I don't get that deep in my articles because 90% of that information is not pertinent for people that just want something that works. As is the case with other versions of Internet Explorer, I would not expect to see this as part of Windows Update, but you will be continued to be harassed by web sites until you download it. But you will be pleasantly surprised when you do.