Browser selection screen in European versions of Windows 7
by Shijaz Abdulla on 20.04.2010 at 21:37In case you’re wondering how it looks like.
![clip_image002[4]](http://microsoftontheissues.com/cs/blogs/mscorp/clip_image0024_46ABD87B.jpg "clip_image002[4]")
The order in which the browsers are listed is random.
Source: "Microsoft On The Issues" blog
“Don’t use Firefox”, says German government
by Shijaz Abdulla on 24.03.2010 at 01:05The German Federal Office for Information Security has recommended that users stop using Mozilla Firefox, less than 2 months after it also recommended not using Internet Explorer in January.
This recommendation from the German authorities came after a confirmed vulnerability was detected in Firefox.
What do I gather? If every government starts telling users to stop using every browser each time a vulnerability is discovered, I wont be surprised if one day they tell citizens to stop using the internet altogether! 
Browser Wars: Which browser is most secure?
by Shijaz Abdulla on 18.03.2010 at 16:24NSS Labs has published three independent studies on web browser protection against socially-engineered malware. The tests were performed during first quarter of 2009, 3rd quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010.
In all three tests, Internet Explorer 8 was the only browser that improved its block rate test-over-test, successfully stopping 69%, 81%, and 85%. This shows Microsoft’s continuous commitment to strengthen security of our browsing platform against emerging threats.
As per this independent report, as of today (Q1 2010), Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 8 is most secure browser that can protect you against socially engineered malware.
Internet Explorer 8 released
by Shijaz Abdulla on 22.03.2009 at 09:13Yesterday, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server. I’ve been using Internet Explorer 8 RC for quite some time now, and here are the top 8 reasons why you should use Internet Explorer 8:
- You want a web that moves as fast as you do: Highlight an address, click the blue “Accelerator” button, and see all the things you can do instantly – like mapping, searching, and translating. Check out Accelerators from Digg, Facebook, eBay, and others.
- You want to know if it’s raining outside: Visit live.com, search for “Seattle Weather” (or any major city), hover over the search result, and click the green “Web Slice” button to add a weather Web Slice to your Favorites Bar. As of this morning there are over 1,200 Web Slices, Accelerators, and add-ons available worldwide in the IE8 add-on gallery.
- You like everyone to get along: And that includes wanting the web sites you visit to work well with your browser. IE8 is the only browser to include multiple rendering engines to address backwards compatibility— hit a site that doesn’t seem right, hit the Compatibility View button, and you’re on your way.
- You’re a visual learner: See pictures of what you’re looking for as you type in the Instant Search box – rich search results in action!
- You want to find it again, fast: To quickly find sites you’ve visited before, simply use the new Smart Address Bar which searches your history, favorites, and feeds.
- You like your privacy: Enjoy more control over your personal information and privacy on the Web with InPrivate.
- You want an edge against the bad guys (aka security): Internet Explorer 8 offers unparalleled protection against malware – it’s 10 times safer than Internet Explorer 7, 4 times safer than Google Chrome, 2.8 times safer than Safari, and 2.3 times safer than Firefox.
- You hate interruptions: If one tab crashes, you can re-launch it without affecting your browsing experience – your other tabs keep right on working.
For businesses and developers, there are several new and significant features:
- There are over 1,200 group policy settings, making IE8 the most manageable and the most secure browser available
- With Compatibility View, you can still view websites that were designed for earlier versions of the browser, which means that legacy LOB applications will still work with your new browser.
- IE8 is standards compliant, making IE8 an ideal candidate for developers to invest in.
- Accelerators and Web slices can be easily created with just a few lines of code.
Download Internet Explorer 8 today at microsoft.com/ie8.
Internet Explorer 8 RC1 released
by Shijaz Abdulla on 28.01.2009 at 08:43January 28, 2009
On Monday, January 26 at 12pm PT, Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) was be released to tech and consumer enthusiasts in a total of 25 languages.
RC1 marks an important milestone in the browser development that includes a number of bug fixes, user experience improvement and enhanced security, performance and compatibility.
Internet Explorer 8 RC1 will be available in 25 languages including: Arabic, Chinese (Traditional, Simplified and Hong Kong), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Polish, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Swedish.
Internet Explorer 8 RC1 includes improvements to performance, stability and compatibility. With this build, there are also enhancements to the fit and finish of the user interface, additional investment in CSS 2.1 and security and privacy updates to help address today’s evolving threat landscape.
Accessing FTP sites using IE 7.0 and ISA Server
by Shijaz Abdulla on 22.04.2008 at 07:37There is an issue with Internet Explorer 7. 0 while accessing FTP sites through ISA Server 2004/2006 web proxy.
You will be unable to open FTP sites from Web Proxy clients if the username or password contains special characters that need encoding. IE 7.0 has a problem that affects the encoding of characters in URLs in this scenario. To fix this problem, install this hotfix.
If you cannot install the hotfix right away, consider changing the username and password to something that doesn’t contain special characters, as a workaround.
The problem doesnt affect IE 7.0 on SecureNAT or Firewall clients.
Internet Explorer 8 – Beta 1
by Shijaz Abdulla on 12.03.2008 at 18:39I downloaded Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 yesterday. Here’s how it looks.
It looks more like IE 7.0 but it has got a few new features.
1. Activities
You can set up your activities – the online services that you use frequently for blogging, reference, etc and these will be made available on the toolbar as well as a right click.
2. Domain name highlighting:
Highlights the domain name in your URL. Helps users from being victimized by phishing sites.
3. WebSlices
These are slices of your favorite websites. Compatible websites/partners can give you a “webslice” that you can add on IE 8 and get content in a ‘slice’ at the click of a button. An example:
4. IE 7 emulation
IE 8 Beta allows you to emulate IE 7 in case you are having problems viewing certain websites. Of course, this will require you to restart your browser each time you choose to emulate. Here’s how it looks when you emulate IE7.
You can download IE8 here.
Internet Explorer 7 to be distributed via WSUS on February 12
by Shijaz Abdulla on 24.01.2008 at 18:49On February 12, 2008 Microsoft will release the Windows Internet Explorer 7 Installation and Availability update to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). IE 7.0 will be distributed as an Update Rollup package.
The update is an installation package that will completely upgrade Windows machines running IE 6.0 to IE 7.0.
If you have configured WSUS to “auto-approve” Update Rollup packages, IE 7 will be automatically approved for installation after February 12, 2008 and consequently, you may want to take the actions below to manage how and when this update is installed. You will need to take action if:
- You use WSUS 3.0 to manage updates in your organization.
- You have Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)-based computers or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based computers that have Internet Explorer 6 installed.
- You do not want to upgrade Internet Explorer 6 machines to Windows Internet Explorer 7 at this time.
- You have configured WSUS to auto-approve Update Rollups for installation.
See the Microsoft KB article for more information.
Internet Explorer 7: Re-release
by Shijaz Abdulla on 05.10.2007 at 12:49
Microsoft has re-released Internet Explorer 7.0 yesterday. The added features include:
- The Menu bar will be turned on by default (thankfully)
- Removed the Windows Genuine Advantage validation requirement for expanded availability to Windows PC users (legal copy of Windows… or otherwise)
- For first time users, the first-run experience includes a new, easily accessible overview
- For all users, the online Internet Explorer 7 tour has been updated to include how-to’s on great new features like tabbed browsing.
- Microsoft has also included a new MSI installer for enterprises that simplifies deployment for customers. IT Administrators can tailor to their organization’s needs by using the Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) and deploy the package to relevant units within their organization using e.g. Group Policies or Systems Management Server (SMS).
Microsoft takes its commitment seriously in helping protect the entire Windows ecosystem. Security enhancements to Internet Explorer 7 include a built-in Phishing Filter that prevents an average of 900,000 visits per week to known phishing Web sites!
Additionally, Internet Explorer 7 is the first and only browser to natively support Extended Validation SSL Certificates to help prevent online fraud.
How can I get it?
- Microsoft Download Center
- Automatic Updates. (Not ready for IE7? Block it.)