Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 7 is the seventh version of the popular Internet Explorer browser developed by Microsoft. It is included with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and was made available to download for users of Windows XP (SP2+) and Windows Server 2003 (SP1+) on 18th October 2006.

It is the first version of Internet Explorer with support for tabbed browsing.

Minimum system requirements include a 233 MHz processor, and up to 128 MB of hard drive space.

Security emphasis
As part of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative, efforts have been made to address previous security issues.


 * A new feature present in the Windows Vista version, called Protected Mode, prohibits unauthorized access to certain areas of the hard drive without explicit user consent. In addition, user consent is required before a webpage is allowed to open an application on the user's hard drive.


 * Phishing Filter is designed to protect users against fraudulent websites by analyzing them for common phishing characteristics, and by sending the address back to Microsoft for confirmation. If a website is confirmed to be a phishing address, Internet Explorer blocks access to the site by default and displays a red notification in the address bar. If a website is deemed suspicious, Internet Explorer displays a cautionary advisory with a yellow notification in the address bar.


 * ActiveX Opt-In prevents unintentional exposure of unused ActiveX controls while visiting websites. User consent is required to run most controls if this feature is active.


 * Internet Explorer 7 provides a single location for clearing the cache, cookies, history, and AutoComplete form history. In previous versions, users would need to access separate areas of the interface to delete this information.


 * IE 7 includes an option to run the web browser without starting add-ons.


 * IE 7 includes an option to reset all browser settings to their default condition.

Windows Genuine Advantage
When Internet Explorer 7 was launched, it could be only installed by users having a genuine version of Windows XP, which was verified using Windows Genuine Advantage. Soon however, this requirement was dropped.