Microsoft has finally unleashed the latest version of its Internet Explorer, the IE9 today at an event called SXSW held in Austin. The Internet Explorer is one of the most widely and heavily used browsers around the world. The latest version of the browser will be available for download to the public but with a warning to all Windows XP users. The latest version lacks support for the Windows XP operating system, so if you want to enjoy the browser, you have to upgrade your operating system to Windows 7. The latest version of the Internet explorer has everything in it in terms of features and looks to compete and stand out among the rest of the browsers out there namely Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera.
The main reason or the explanation given by Microsoft for lack of support to Windows XP is that, the graphics card which powers the hardware acceleration for loading web pages faster does not work properly with the device drivers that come with the Windows XP operating system.
Keeping aside the lack of support for Windows XP, the latest version of the Internet explorer has every potential of a becoming fantastic browser when compared to its previous versions and its competitors. Some of the great features on offer are the Pinned sites, the extension performance notification and a revamped search box.
The Pinned sites feature offer a tighter integration between your desktop and browser thereby allowing the creation of site-specific browsers. When you drag a tab onto your Windows 7 desktop taskbar, depending upon the web page developer’s coding, you get information regarding jump lists, notifications on unread e-mail and streaming media controls.
The new search box that comes with the browser has managed to keep up with the same functionality as that of the old search box, such as changing the search engines on a fly and the on- the-fly feature will provide you with web results, browsing history and bookmarks as you start typing your queries in the search box. Once a site is pinned to your taskbar, it shows as a thumbnail on it.
The add-on or the extension performance notification is really a useful feature that warns you when an add-on is slowing down your Internet Explorer. However, you can customize the timing of the warning message by adjusting the level of impact the add-on has on the performance of the browser.
Overall, the Internet Explorer 9 is a fantastic browser to use for surfing the Web and it is true that, over 25 million times users have downloaded the Beta version of the browser prior to the release of the latest version. However, the main drawback of Internet Explorer 9 is that it lacks support for Windows XP operating system. So, users hurry up and install Windows 7 operating system to enjoy the latest Internet Explorer 9.
You can download the latest version of Internet Explorer from the following link