Microsoft heeft de bèta van Internet Explorer versie 9 vrijgegeven. Met IE9 probeert Microsoft wat van het door browsers als Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome en Opera afgesnoepte marktaandeel terug te pakken. De nieuwe browser zou surfen sneller, makkelijker en vooral veiliger moeten maken, aldus Microsoft. Dat geldt overigens alleen voor Windows Vista en hoger, want Microsoft is niet van plan de browser voor XP uit te brengen. Meer informatie over de nieuwe versie is in dit artikel op de Tweakers.net-voorpagina terug te vinden; hieronder staat wat meer informatie over een aantal van de nieuwe onderdelen in deze uitgave:
What’s new in Internet Explorer 9?
Streamlined design
The first thing you'll notice when you open Internet Explorer 9 is the compact user interface. Most command bar functions, like Print or Zoom, can now be accessed by clicking the Tools button, and your favorites appear when you click the Favorites button. Otherwise, Internet Explorer gives you the basic controls you need, and lets the web take center stage.
Pinned Sites
If you visit certain webpages regularly, Pinned Sites allows you access them directly from the taskbar on your Windows 7 desktop.
Download Manager
Download Manager is a powerful new feature that keeps a running list of the files you download from the Internet and notifies you when a file could be malicious. It also lets you pause and restart a download—if you have a slow internet connection—and shows you where to find downloaded files on your computer. You can clear the list at any time.
Enhanced tabs
Tabbed browsing allows you to move easily between multiple open webpages in a single window, but there might be times when you want to look at two tabbed pages at the same time. Tear-off tabs allow you to drag a tab out of Internet Explorer to open the tab's webpage in a new window, and Snap it for side-by-side viewing.
New Tab page
The redesigned New Tab page displays the sites you visit most often and color codes them for quick navigation. A site indicator bar also shows how often you visit each site, and you can remove or hide the displayed sites anytime you like.
Search in the address bar
You can now search directly from the address bar. If you enter a website's address, you'll go directly to the website. If you enter a search term or incomplete address, you will launch a search using the currently selected search engine. Click the address bar to select your search engine from the listed icons or to add new ones.
Notification Bar
The Notification Bar that appears at the bottom of Internet Explorer gives you important status information when you need it, but it won't force you to click a series of messages to continue browsing.
Add-on Performance Advisor
Add-ons, such as toolbars, can enhance your browsing experience, but they can also slow it down. Add-on Performance Advisor tells you if an add-on is slowing down your browser performance, and then allow you to disable or remove it.
Hardware acceleration
To speed up performance, Internet Explorer uses the power of your computer's graphics processor, also known as a GPU, to handle graphics-heavy tasks like video streaming or online gaming. By tapping into the GPU, Internet Explorer delivers a faster and more immersive web experience.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 screenshot, klik op de afbeelding voor een grotere versie.