Windows Internet Explorer 7

Here's what you need to know about IE7:

IE was about the only browser which did NOT have tabs, so it has now joined the crowd. If you don't want the tabs, you can turn them off by going to Tools, Internet Options, General, Tabs, Settings button.

There's a Tools button on the toolbar. If you want the other items that used to be on the menu, hold down the Alt key, and the familiar menu will appear. To make the menu appear permanently, RIGHT-click on the toolbar and select "Menu bar".

IE7 has a search box in the upper right (same place as Firefox), where you can type things in and hit enter, and it'll use your preferred search engine to search. You can configure this (including a link to add more search engines to your list) at Tools, Internet Options, General, Search, Settings button. Or, click on the small arrow at the far right.

Since tabs are supported, you can have multiple home pages, each of which opens in a tab. You used to be able to drag a link to the house icon to make that your new home page; that no longer seems to work, unfortunately.

Pop-up blocker settings are at Tools, Internet Options, Privacy, Pop-up Blocker. Or, you can simply go to Tools, Pop-up Blocker.

If you use Windows Vista, there's a parental controls option (not the same as content advisor) at Tools, Internet Options, Content, Parental Controls.

The Tools, Internet Options, Programs tab looks completely different under Windows Vista and has a lot of new functionality.

The phishing filter options are near the bottom of Tools, Internet Options, Advanced. Or, you can simply go to Tools, Phishing Filter. This should be turned ON if the system may be used by people who might click on links in emails that are not definitely from a good source (nearly everyone, in other words). Note that this tends to slow down page fetches noticeably.

Supposedly the printing support in IE7 has been greatly enhanced, and now provides the best printing support of any Microsoft application to date. This supposedly takes care of the common problem with getting the right-hand side of pages cut off.

If you have a need to use an application which requires IE but does not support IE7, tell the other party (such as the vendor) to get their act together, since IE7 is being pushed out by Microsoft as a critical update that they've made difficult to decline. Some applications, such as NetMeeting, will not be supported, so if you must use it, you'll need to uninstall IE7 (at Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs) until such time that you don't need those applications.

Some people want the mail icon, which was present in IE6. To get it back, RIGHT-click on the toolbar, select Customize Command Bar, and then select Add or Remove Commands. You can then add, remove, or rearrange buttons as you want. Aside from these buttons, the IE7 bars seem to be noticeably less configurable than in IE6; the Favorites buttons are always there, the tabs always follow the favorites buttons (unless you've disabled tabs), and the buttons always follow the tabs. The Links section and the menu normally appear on the same bar (when both are enabled), but can be separated, one above the other or one in front of the other; nothing of the kind can be done with the toolbar.

If you really want the IE6-style toolbars, your only choice seems to be to actually use IE6. It's still there; you can use it by creating a shortcut on your desktop which points to %SYSTEMROOT%\IE7\IEXPLORE.EXE. Note that "IE7" is correct, not "IE6". Also note that the version shown in Help will still be 7; this is due to the way that the version number is stored. If you get the IE6 toolbars and do not have the extra stuff in Internet Options, then it is really IE6, no matter what the reported version is. Don't expect it to be available forever, though; Windows Vista does not have the %SYSTEMROOT%\IE7 folder. You can, of course, also use this for web sites which don't quite support IE7 yet. You can also simply uninstall IE7, as described above, although you should consider this a temporary measure.