Internet Explorer 9 Launch, See What's New

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Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 9 will be available for download Monday, March 14 starting at 9PM PT. The revamped browser, which received a major makeover, has been available in beta for several months and offers new features such as the ability to "pin" favorite pages to the Windows 7 Taskbar. Microsoft also claims that IE9 is much faster than the previous version of the browser.

Most noticeable is probably the improved performance of the web browser. Web pages load faster which can be attributed to improved rendering engines. The speed gain is noticeable when loading websites, playing games or other media in the browser. Microsoft has added full hardware acceleration to IE9 which improves rendering of advanced graphics and effects. While it may or may not be the fastest browser, it is a fact that Microsoft has pushed the limits and has moved the performance of Internet Explorer 9 near that of other fast web browsers.

Microsoft has changed the design of the browser which uses less space at the top. Tabs have been moved next to the address bar by default, with options to move them to their own bar below the address bar if needed. New security and privacy related features have been added to the Internet browser. Tracking Protection can be used to block tracking cookies and advertisements by loading third party lists or creating custom lists. ActiveX Filtering prevents the execution of specific scripts or functions on a website. 

Additional new features include an improved download manager, the ability to pin websites to the Windows 7 Taskbar, enhanced tabs, a new blank tab page, the notification bar that alerts the user, search that has been moved to the address bar and the add-on performance advisor. Internet Explorer 9 has a few usability issues. The menu bar is not shown by default, and it is only possible to display it by pressing the Alt key. There is however no direct option to enable it permanently.