Internet Explorer 7
Encyclopedia
Windows Internet Explorer 7 (abbreviated as IE7) is a web browser
released by Microsoft
in October 2006. Internet Explorer 7 is part of a long line of versions of Internet Explorer
and was the first major update to the browser in more than 5 years. It ships as the default browser in Windows Vista
and Windows Server 2008 and is offered as a replacement for Internet Explorer 6
for Windows XP
and Windows Server 2003
. Starting from this version, the new Internet Explorer versions do not work with Windows NT 4.0
, Windows 98
, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000
and Windows Me
. As of January 2011, estimates of IE7's global market share were 9-11%.
Some portions of the underlying architecture, including the rendering engine and security framework, have been improved. New features include tabbed browsing, page zooming
, an integrated search box, a feed reader, better internationalization, and improved support for web standards
, although it does not pass the Acid2
or Acid3
tests. Security enhancements include a phishing
filter, stronger encryption
on Windows Vista (256-bit from 128-bit in XP), and a "Delete browsing history" button to easily clear private data.
IE7 was superseded by Internet Explorer 8
in March 2009.
as an update to Windows 98
, Windows Me
, Windows NT 4.0
and Windows 2000
and included it by default in Windows XP
. With the release of IE6 Service Pack 1 in 2003, Microsoft announced that future upgrades to Internet Explorer would come only through future upgrades to Windows, stating that "further improvements to IE will require enhancements to the underlying OS."
On February 15, 2005 at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates
announced that Microsoft was planning a new version of Internet Explorer that would run on Windows XP. Both he and Dean Hachamovitch
, General Manager of the Internet Explorer team, cited needed security improvements as the primary reason for the new version.
The first beta of IE7 was released on July 27, 2005 for technical testing, and a first public preview version of Internet Explorer 7 (Beta 2 preview: Pre-Beta 2 version) was released on January 31, 2006.
The final public version was released on October 18, 2006. On the same day, Yahoo!
provided a post-beta version of Internet Explorer 7 bundled with Yahoo! Toolbar and other Yahoo!-specific customizations.
In late 2007 Microsoft announced that Internet Explorer 7 would not be included as part of Windows XP SP3, with both Internet Explorer 6 and 7 receiving updates.
On October 8, 2007, Microsoft removed the Windows Genuine Advantage
component of IE7, allowing it to be downloaded and installed by those without a genuine copy of Windows.
Within a year after IE7's release (end of 2006 to end of 2007) support calls to Microsoft had decreased 10-20 percent.
On 16 December 2008, a security flaw was found in Internet Explorer 7 which can be exploited so that hackers can steal users' passwords. The following day, a patch was issued to fix the flaw, estimated to have affected around 10,000 websites.
With this version, Internet Explorer was renamed from Microsoft Internet Explorer to Windows Internet Explorer as part of Microsoft's rebranding of components that are included with Windows.
Internet Explorer 7 introduces the Windows RSS Platform
with which it is tightly integrated and can subscribe to RSS
and Atom
feeds, synchronize and update them on a schedule and display them with its built-in style sheet.
Version 7 is intended to defend users from phishing
as well as deceptive or malicious software, and it also features full user control of ActiveX and better security framework, including not being integrated as much with Windows as previous versions, thereby increasing security. Unlike previous versions, the Internet Explorer ActiveX control is not hosted in the Windows Explorer process, but rather it runs in its own process. It also includes bug fixes, enhancements to its support for web standards, tabbed browsing with tab preview and management, a multiple-engine search box, a web feeds reader, Internationalized Domain Name
support (IDN), and antiphishing filter. On October 5, 2007, Microsoft removed the 'genuine software' validation before install, which means that all versions of Windows, whether able to pass validation or not, are able to install the browser
. The integrated search box supports OpenSearch
.
On Windows Vista, Internet Explorer operates in a special "Protected Mode
", that runs the browser in a security sandbox that has no WRITE access to the rest of the operating system or file system. When running in Protected Mode, IE7 is a low integrity process; it cannot gain write access to files and registry keys outside of the low-integrity portions of a user's profile. This feature aims to mitigate problems whereby newly-discovered flaws in the browser (or in Add-Ons hosted inside it) allowed hackers to subversively install software on the user's computer (typically spyware).
Microsoft has addressed security issues in two distinct ways within Windows Vista: User Account Control
, which forces a user to confirm any action that could affect the stability or security of the system even when logged in as an administrator, and "Protected-mode IE", which runs the web browser process with much lower permissions than the user.
The first vulnerability exclusive to Internet Explorer 7 was posted after 6 days.
filter for being too easy to circumvent. One successful method of bypassing Internet Explorer's Phishing Filter has been reported by redirecting a blacklisted web page to another, non-blacklisted page, using a server-side redirect
. Until the new page is blocked as well, the attack can remain active.
This flaw means that phishers can keep links from previous emails functioning by simply moving to a new server when their original web page is blacklisted and adding a redirect.
This has been criticised as doubly serious as the presence of a phishing filter may lull users into a false sense of security when the filter can be bypassed.
Phishing filter went on to be developed into and renamed Safety Filter and then SmartScreen by Microsoft, during the development of Internet Explorer 8
.
The Windows Vista and XP version of Windows Internet Explorer 7 additionally feature an update to the WinInet API. The new version has better support for IPv6
, and handles hexadecimal literals in the IPv6 address. It also includes better support for Gzip
and deflate
compression, so that communication with a web server can be compressed and thus will require less data to be transferred. Internet Explorer Protected Mode support in WinInet is exclusive to Windows Vista.
Although Internet Explorer 7 is more compliant than previous versions, according to all figures it remains the least standards-compliant compared to other major browsers of the period. It passes neither the Acid2
nor the Acid3
tests, two test case
s designed by the Web Standards Project
to verify CSS compliance.
It is also claimed that lack of support in Internet Explorer is responsible for holding back the widespread adoption by webmasters of several new open technology standards (SVG, supported elsewhere since 2001, was only available in Internet Explorer using a 3rd party plugin until the release of Internet Explorer 9
).
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
released by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
in October 2006. Internet Explorer 7 is part of a long line of versions of Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
and was the first major update to the browser in more than 5 years. It ships as the default browser in Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
and Windows Server 2008 and is offered as a replacement for Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 6 is the sixth major revision of Internet Explorer, a web browser developed by Microsoft for Windows operating systems...
for Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
and Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005...
. Starting from this version, the new Internet Explorer versions do not work with Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptive, graphical and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was the next release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996...
, Windows 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and Windows Me
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....
. As of January 2011, estimates of IE7's global market share were 9-11%.
Some portions of the underlying architecture, including the rendering engine and security framework, have been improved. New features include tabbed browsing, page zooming
Page zooming
In computing, page zooming is the ability to zoom in and out a document or image at page level. It is usually found in applications related to document layout and publishing, e.g...
, an integrated search box, a feed reader, better internationalization, and improved support for web standards
Web standards
Web standards is a general term for the formal standards and other technical specifications that define and describe aspects of the World Wide Web. In recent years, the term has been more frequently associated with the trend of endorsing a set of standardized best practices for building web sites,...
, although it does not pass the Acid2
Acid2
Acid2 is a test page published and promoted by the Web Standards Project to expose web page rendering flaws in web browsers and other applications that render HTML. Named after the acid test for gold, it was developed in the spirit of Acid1, a relatively narrow test of compliance with the Cascading...
or Acid3
Acid3
Acid3 test is a web test page from the Web Standards Project that checks a web browser's compliance with elements of various web standards, particularly the Document Object Model and JavaScript....
tests. Security enhancements include a phishing
Phishing
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...
filter, stronger encryption
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
on Windows Vista (256-bit from 128-bit in XP), and a "Delete browsing history" button to easily clear private data.
IE7 was superseded by Internet Explorer 8
Internet Explorer 8
Windows Internet Explorer 8 is a web browser developed by Microsoft in the Internet Explorer browser series. The browser was released on March 19, 2009 for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7. Both 32-bit and 64-bit builds are available...
in March 2009.
History
In 2001, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 6Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 6 is the sixth major revision of Internet Explorer, a web browser developed by Microsoft for Windows operating systems...
as an update to Windows 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
, Windows Me
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....
, Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptive, graphical and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was the next release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996...
and Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and included it by default in Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
. With the release of IE6 Service Pack 1 in 2003, Microsoft announced that future upgrades to Internet Explorer would come only through future upgrades to Windows, stating that "further improvements to IE will require enhancements to the underlying OS."
On February 15, 2005 at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
announced that Microsoft was planning a new version of Internet Explorer that would run on Windows XP. Both he and Dean Hachamovitch
Dean Hachamovitch
Dean J. Hachamovitch is the corporate vice president in charge of the Internet Explorer team at Microsoft.- Early life and education :Hachamovitch was born to Shoshana and Dr Moshe Hachamovitch in New York...
, General Manager of the Internet Explorer team, cited needed security improvements as the primary reason for the new version.
The first beta of IE7 was released on July 27, 2005 for technical testing, and a first public preview version of Internet Explorer 7 (Beta 2 preview: Pre-Beta 2 version) was released on January 31, 2006.
The final public version was released on October 18, 2006. On the same day, Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
provided a post-beta version of Internet Explorer 7 bundled with Yahoo! Toolbar and other Yahoo!-specific customizations.
In late 2007 Microsoft announced that Internet Explorer 7 would not be included as part of Windows XP SP3, with both Internet Explorer 6 and 7 receiving updates.
On October 8, 2007, Microsoft removed the Windows Genuine Advantage
Windows Genuine Advantage
Windows Genuine Advantage is an anti-piracy system created by Microsoft that enforces online validation of the licensing of several recent Microsoft Windows operating systems when accessing several services, such as Windows Update, and downloading Windows components from the Microsoft Download...
component of IE7, allowing it to be downloaded and installed by those without a genuine copy of Windows.
Within a year after IE7's release (end of 2006 to end of 2007) support calls to Microsoft had decreased 10-20 percent.
On 16 December 2008, a security flaw was found in Internet Explorer 7 which can be exploited so that hackers can steal users' passwords. The following day, a patch was issued to fix the flaw, estimated to have affected around 10,000 websites.
Release history
- On January 31, 2006, Microsoft released a public preview build (BetaDevelopment stageA software release life cycle refers to the phases of development and maturity for a piece of computer software—ranging from its initial development, to its eventual release, and updated versions of the released version to help improve software or fix bugs still present in the software.- Pre-alpha...
2 preview: Pre-Beta 2 version) of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (not for Windows Server 2003 SP 1) on their web site. It stated that more public preview builds (possibly Beta 2 in April) of Internet Explorer 7 will be released in first half of 2006, and final version will be released in second half of 2006. The pre beta build was refreshed on March 20, 2006 to build 7.0.5335.5. A real Beta 2 Build was released on April 24, 2006 to build 7.0.5346.5. In addition, at the MIX'06 conference, Bill Gates said that Microsoft is already working on the next two versions of IE after version 7. - On June 29, 2006, Microsoft released Beta 3 (Build 7.0.5450.4) of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP SP2, Windows XP x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 SP1. It features minor UI cleanups, re-ordering of tabs by drag and drop, as well as noticeable performance improvements.
- On August 24, 2006, the Release Candidate 1 (RC1) of Internet Explorer 7 (Build 7.0.5700.6) was released for Windows XP SP2, Windows XP x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 SP1. This was the last pre-release version of IE7 before the final release.
- On September 28, 2006, 3Sharp, a privately held technical services firm, published the results of a study, commissioned by Microsoft, evaluating eight anti-phishing solutions in which Internet Explorer 7 (Beta 3) came out on top. The study evaluated the ability to block phish, to warn about phish, and to allow good sites.
- On October 18, 2006 the first finished version was released on microsoft.com, and was distributed as a high-priority update via Automatic Updates (AU) on November 1. AU notifies users when IE7 is ready to install and shows a welcome screen that presents key features and choices to "Install", "Don't Install", or "Ask Me Later".
- On November 8, 2006 a version of Internet Explorer 7 was released for Windows Vista only (7.0.6000.16386).
- On November 11, 2006 another version for Windows XP was made available (7.0.5730.11IC).
- On September 24, 2007 Windows Server 2008 RC0 was released with version 7.0.6001.16659.
- On October 4, 2007 the latest version for Windows XP (7.0.5730.13) was made available.
| Major version | Minor version | Release date | Significant changes | Shipped with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version 7 | 7.0 Beta 1 | July 27, 2005 | Support of PNG alpha channel. CSS bug fixes. Tabbed browsing. | Windows Vista Beta 1 |
| 7.0 Beta 2 Preview | January 31, 2006 | More CSS fixes. RSS platform integration. New UI. Quick Tabs. | ||
| 7.0 Beta 2 | April 24, 2006 | Feature complete. More CSS fixes. Application compatibility fixes. | ||
| 7.0 Beta 3 | June 29, 2006 | Fixes most rendering issues for CSS. | ||
| 7.0 RC 1 | August 24, 2006 | Improvements in performance, stability, security, application compatibility and final CSS adjustments. | ||
| 7.0 | October 18, 2006 | Final and current release. | Windows Vista Windows Server 2008 |
Features
| IE7 Nears its Peak Market Share in 2008 — NetApplications.com, September 2008 |
|
| Internet Explorer 4 | 0.01% |
| Internet Explorer 5 | 0.06% |
| Internet Explorer 5.5 | 0.06% |
| Internet Explorer 6 | 24.67% |
| Internet Explorer 7 | 46.35% |
| Internet Explorer 8 | 0.37% |
| All versions | 71.52% |
|---|---|
With this version, Internet Explorer was renamed from Microsoft Internet Explorer to Windows Internet Explorer as part of Microsoft's rebranding of components that are included with Windows.
Internet Explorer 7 introduces the Windows RSS Platform
Windows RSS Platform
Windows RSS Platform, included in Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista is a platform that exposes feed handling and management to Windows applications. The RSS support in Internet Explorer 7 is built on the Windows RSS Platform.-Overview:...
with which it is tightly integrated and can subscribe to RSS
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
and Atom
Atom (standard)
The name Atom applies to a pair of related standards. The Atom Syndication Format is an XML language used for web feeds, while the Atom Publishing Protocol is a simple HTTP-based protocol for creating and updating web resources.Web feeds allow software programs to check for updates published on a...
feeds, synchronize and update them on a schedule and display them with its built-in style sheet.
Version 7 is intended to defend users from phishing
Phishing
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...
as well as deceptive or malicious software, and it also features full user control of ActiveX and better security framework, including not being integrated as much with Windows as previous versions, thereby increasing security. Unlike previous versions, the Internet Explorer ActiveX control is not hosted in the Windows Explorer process, but rather it runs in its own process. It also includes bug fixes, enhancements to its support for web standards, tabbed browsing with tab preview and management, a multiple-engine search box, a web feeds reader, Internationalized Domain Name
Internationalized domain name
An internationalized domain name is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label that is displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in a language-specific script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi or the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics,...
support (IDN), and antiphishing filter. On October 5, 2007, Microsoft removed the 'genuine software' validation before install, which means that all versions of Windows, whether able to pass validation or not, are able to install the browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
. The integrated search box supports OpenSearch
OpenSearch
OpenSearch is a collection of technologies that allow publishing of search results in a format suitable for syndication and aggregation. It is a way for websites and search engines to publish search results in a standard and accessible format....
.
On Windows Vista, Internet Explorer operates in a special "Protected Mode
Mandatory Integrity Control
In the context of the Microsoft Windows range of operating systems, Mandatory Integrity Control or Integrity Levels is a core security feature, introduced in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, that adds Integrity Levels to processes running in a...
", that runs the browser in a security sandbox that has no WRITE access to the rest of the operating system or file system. When running in Protected Mode, IE7 is a low integrity process; it cannot gain write access to files and registry keys outside of the low-integrity portions of a user's profile. This feature aims to mitigate problems whereby newly-discovered flaws in the browser (or in Add-Ons hosted inside it) allowed hackers to subversively install software on the user's computer (typically spyware).
Usability and accessibility
- Version 7 tabs. The user can rearrange tabs by dragging and dropping them as desired.
Privacy and security
- Since it is tightly integrated with the operating system, Internet Explorer makes full use of the accessibility framework provided in Windows. Internet Explorer is also a user interface for FTPFile Transfer ProtocolFile Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
, with operations similar to that of Windows ExplorerWindows ExplorerThis article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
. However, with version 7, FTP sites are rendered in a hyper linked page, with the folder-like view available if the site is accessed from Windows Explorer. IE7 can itself launch Windows Explorer for FTP sites. - Protected Mode (available in Windows Vista only), whereby the browser runs in a sandbox with even lower rights than a limited user account. As such, it can only write to the Temporary Internet Files folder and cannot install start-up programs or change any configuration of the operating system without communicating through a broker process. IE7 Protected Mode relies on the User Account Control technology.
- ActiveX Opt-In blocks ActiveX Control unless it allowed to be installed. This feature improves security from unverifiable and vulnerable controls. ActiveX controls can be chosen to be installed on Information Bar. User can turn on and off ActiveX Control by using Add-on Manager.
- The new Phishing Filter offers protection against phishing scams and other websites that may be considered dangerous for a user to enter their personal information into. When enabled, every website the user visits is checked against a master list of known phishing sites. If a site is listed, the user is informed. In light of the privacy implications of this feature, it is not enabled automatically; the user is asked when they start Internet Explorer 7 if they want it enabled. Microsoft is working in conjunction with companies that specialize in identifying phishing schemes to ensure the list of known sites is accurate and quickly updated.
- The address bar and status bar appear in all windows including popups which helps to block malicious sites from disguising them as trusted sites. Also the address bar features a color code to visually indicate the trustworthiness of the page. The address bar turns red when a page, with invalid security certificate, is accessed. In case of sites not using any encryption, the address bar is white. And if the page uses high security certificate, the bar turns green.
- Modal windows such as dialog boxes are shown only when the tab that has generated them is selected (in such situations, the tab color becomes orange). On the other hand, the save window is modal and when saving the page shown in a tab, the user cannot browse other tabs.
- The address bar no longer allows JavaScript to be executed on blank pages (about:blank). This feature is still supported on other pages though, which enables bookmarkletBookmarkletA bookmarklet is Unobtrusive JavaScript stored as the URL of a bookmark in a web browser or as a hyperlink on a web page. The term is a portmanteau of the terms bookmark and applet, however, an applet is not to be confused with a bookmarklet just as JavaScript is not to be confused with Java...
s to work properly. A reason for the change has not been given. - The status bar no longer allows custom text to be entered (e.g.: "Formatting C:\ 10% Complete |||||||") and will always show the URL of any link hovered over, for security. It now also shows the target URL of form buttons to help identify forms which submit their data to suspicious sites.
- The ability to limit scripting functions, such as those that modify the status bar or adjust the size or position of the browser window was introduced with IE7.
- "Delete Browsing History" cleans the complete browsing history in a single step. Previously this was a multistage process requiring users to delete browser cache, history, cookies, saved form data and passwords in a series of different steps. This is useful for improving privacy and security in a multiuser environment, such as an Internet café.
- Fix My Settings checks at startup or when a setting is changed, if the current settings are unsafe it notifies the user. The user can also press a button in order to fix the settings to a safe state. There is currently no way to disable these warnings.
- Old protocols and technologies removed: Gopher, TELNETTELNETTelnet is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communications facility using a virtual terminal connection...
, Scriptlets, DirectAnimationDirectX MediaDirectX Media is a set of multimedia-related APIs for Microsoft Windows complementing DirectX. It included DirectAnimation for 2D/3D web animation, DirectShow for multimedia playback and streaming media, DirectX Transform for web interactivity, and Direct3D Retained Mode for higher level 3D graphics...
, XBMXBMIn computer graphics, the X Window System uses X BitMap , a plain text binary image format, for storing cursor and icon bitmaps used in the X GUI.XBM files differ markedly from most image files in that they take the form of C source files...
, ChannelsChannel Definition FormatChannel Definition Format is an XML file format used in conjunction with Microsoft Active Channel and Smart Offline Favorites technologies...
(.CDF files) also known as 'Active DesktopActive DesktopActive Desktop was a feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0's optional Windows Desktop Update that allows the user to add HTML content to the desktop, along with some other features. This function was intended to be installed on the then-current Windows 95 operating system...
Items', etc. The DHTMLDynamic HTMLDynamic HTML, or DHTML, is an umbrella term for a collection of technologies used together to create interactive and animated web sites by using a combination of a static markup language , a client-side scripting language , a presentation definition language , and the Document Object Model.DHTML...
Editing Control is being removed from IE7 for Windows Vista to reduce surface area for security attacks. - No Add-ons allows IE7 to launch without the installed extensions.
- IE7 cipher strength: 256-bit (Only for Vista, IE7 for XP and Server 2003 only supports 128-bit)
- The address bar turns red when the certificate presented by a secure site has some problems. In that case navigation to the site is blocked by default, and can only be accessed after the user explicitly confirms the navigation.
- IE7 includes support for Extended Validation Certificates (EV). When sites present an EV certificate the address bar is shown in green.
- New Group Policy's Administrative Templates (.adm files) for IE7 are loaded automatically onto the Domain Controller when a Group Policy is opened from a workstation where IE7 has been installed. These new administrative templates allow for controlling the Anti-Phishing filter state, for example.
- Reset Internet Explorer settings Deletes all temporary files, disables browser add-ons, and resets all the changed settings to factory settings. It can be used if the browser is in an unusable state.
Microsoft has addressed security issues in two distinct ways within Windows Vista: User Account Control
User Account Control
User Account Control is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2...
, which forces a user to confirm any action that could affect the stability or security of the system even when logged in as an administrator, and "Protected-mode IE", which runs the web browser process with much lower permissions than the user.
The first vulnerability exclusive to Internet Explorer 7 was posted after 6 days.
Phishing filter
Some users have criticised the phishingPhishing
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...
filter for being too easy to circumvent. One successful method of bypassing Internet Explorer's Phishing Filter has been reported by redirecting a blacklisted web page to another, non-blacklisted page, using a server-side redirect
Server-side redirect
A server side redirect is a method of URL redirection using an HTTP status code issued by a web server in response to a request for a particular URL...
. Until the new page is blocked as well, the attack can remain active.
This flaw means that phishers can keep links from previous emails functioning by simply moving to a new server when their original web page is blacklisted and adding a redirect.
This has been criticised as doubly serious as the presence of a phishing filter may lull users into a false sense of security when the filter can be bypassed.
Phishing filter went on to be developed into and renamed Safety Filter and then SmartScreen by Microsoft, during the development of Internet Explorer 8
Internet Explorer 8
Windows Internet Explorer 8 is a web browser developed by Microsoft in the Internet Explorer browser series. The browser was released on March 19, 2009 for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7. Both 32-bit and 64-bit builds are available...
.
Standards support
- Minor improvements to CSS, DOM, and HTML support have been made. Microsoft's stated goal with version 7 was to fix the most significant bugs and areas which caused the most trouble for developers, however full compatibility with standards was postponed.
- Support for per-pixel alpha channelAlpha compositingIn computer graphics, alpha compositing is the process of combining an image with a background to create the appearance of partial or full transparency. It is often useful to render image elements in separate passes, and then combine the resulting multiple 2D images into a single, final image in a...
transparency in PNG images has been added.
The Windows Vista and XP version of Windows Internet Explorer 7 additionally feature an update to the WinInet API. The new version has better support for IPv6
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...
, and handles hexadecimal literals in the IPv6 address. It also includes better support for Gzip
Gzip
Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding...
and deflate
DEFLATE
Deflate is a lossless data compression algorithm that uses a combination of the LZ77 algorithm and Huffman coding. It was originally defined by Phil Katz for version 2 of his PKZIP archiving tool and was later specified in RFC 1951....
compression, so that communication with a web server can be compressed and thus will require less data to be transferred. Internet Explorer Protected Mode support in WinInet is exclusive to Windows Vista.
Although Internet Explorer 7 is more compliant than previous versions, according to all figures it remains the least standards-compliant compared to other major browsers of the period. It passes neither the Acid2
Acid2
Acid2 is a test page published and promoted by the Web Standards Project to expose web page rendering flaws in web browsers and other applications that render HTML. Named after the acid test for gold, it was developed in the spirit of Acid1, a relatively narrow test of compliance with the Cascading...
nor the Acid3
Acid3
Acid3 test is a web test page from the Web Standards Project that checks a web browser's compliance with elements of various web standards, particularly the Document Object Model and JavaScript....
tests, two test case
Test case
A test case in software engineering is a set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine whether an application or software system is working correctly or not. The mechanism for determining whether a software program or system has passed or failed such a test is known as a test...
s designed by the Web Standards Project
Web Standards Project
The Web Standards Project is a group of professional web developers dedicated to disseminating and encouraging the use of the web standards recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium, along with other groups and standards bodies....
to verify CSS compliance.
It is also claimed that lack of support in Internet Explorer is responsible for holding back the widespread adoption by webmasters of several new open technology standards (SVG, supported elsewhere since 2001, was only available in Internet Explorer using a 3rd party plugin until the release of Internet Explorer 9
Internet Explorer 9
Windows Internet Explorer 9 is the current version of the Internet Explorer web browser from Microsoft. It was released to the public on March 14, 2011 at 21:00 PDT. Internet Explorer 9 supports several CSS 3 properties, embedded ICC v2 or v4 color profiles support via Windows Color System, and...
).
System requirements
IE7 requires at least:- 233 MHz processor
- Windows XP SP2.
- Super VGA (800 x 600) monitor with 256 colors.
- Mouse or compatible pointing device.
- RAM: 64 MB for 32-bit Windows XP/Server 2003, 128 MB for 64-bit Windows XP/Server 2003.
External links
- Internet Explorer: Home Page
- IEBlog — The weblog of the Internet Explorer team
- Internet Explorer Community — The official Windows Internet Explorer Community
- Internet Explorer Tips
- Serious security flaw found in IE