Welcome to Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7

As I am sure many of you noticed, there is a different look to Internet Explorer across campus. Some of you have even experienced this change on your PC’s at home. This is the new version of Internet Explore, version 7. Unlike changes in the past versions, this one has a very different look and provides some new functionality. While this is not an exhaustive look at IE7 I felt it would be good to give you a closer look at what you now using to surf the net.

First some background. Across campus, we run updates at regular intervals. These updates come from Microsoft and are designed to improve the functioning of the existing software. It is these updates that protect us from many of the exploited features that have become security issues. They also provide additional functionality. Most of these updates do not require a change in version but are just minor changes that make things work better. These updates can be divided into critical and non critical. It is the critical updates that are most important. In this case, IE7 was part of a critical update and if the school did not run this update, we would not be able to continue to install updates as this one would be required. Therefore… Welcome to IE7.

This is the new look for Microsoft and you should notice several things immediately. Where did the tool bar go? How do I print? I need to reload the page, where did that button go? These are just a few of the things you will notice. All of these functions are still there but accessed in different locations. The image below should help you with a few of the basic things that could be questions. I have also attached a document from Microsoft that will highlight many of the new features. I believe that this is also the look for the new version of Office (Office 2007) which is starting to show up around campus on student computers. We will all need to get used the this new look and adjust the way we work. While the change looks large, they have really provided greater access to many of the more powerful features of their software. Use your time with IE7 to prepare yourself for other changes coming soon from Microsoft. You can learn more about IE7 at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie7/about/default.mspx.