Include an Address Bar in Internet Explorer 9 Developer Preview

Yesterday we have posted about the new released of Internet Explorer 9 developer preview which is not meant for public to use and would only be useful for web developers to have an early look of Internet Explorer 9. As mentioned before, IE9 developer preview does not come with a back button and also an address bar for you to visit other websites but we have posted a tip on how you can do that by either pressing Ctrl+O or from the menubar Page > Open.

WebStyleCenter has created a simple mini address bar for Internet Explorer 9 which allows users to try visit the website that they want using IE9. It is not an addon but an external application which sends the URL to the IE9 test platform. It works but the hotkey to get to the address bar Alt+D doesn’t work, instead it opens up the IE9 Debug menu.

This IE9 address bar is fixed at the top location of the screen and cannot be moved. Probably it is designed for a maximized (not full screen) IE9 window and the address bar will fit in nicely at the menubar just after the Help menu. To close the address bar, you can either hit Alt+F4 or click the Close button at the end of the bar.

http://www.zhacks.com/download-internet-explorer-9-platform-preview-with-html5-support/

Use Different Program to View Source in Internet Explorer

When you visit any website using Internet Explorer, you can easily view the HTML source code of the page by right clicking on the page and select “View Source”. This is a useful feature to discover some of the hidden links in a website and also sometimes to learn how is something being done and coded. However the built-in source viewer in Internet Explorer 8 is horrible with not much features other than the line numbers, Word wrap and increasing or decreasing the text size.

If you prefer to use a text editor that is more powerful such as Notepad++ to be the default source viewer in Internet Explorer, you can customize it. First open Internet Explorer, and then press F12 button on your keyboard. A developer tools window will open. Now click on File at the menubar and select Customize Internet Explorer View Source, then select Other. Browse for the executable file of your alternative text editor that you want to use.

This option takes effect immediately without restarting Internet Explorer. Try right clicking on any web page now and select View Source. It should open your the text editor which you’ve chosen with the page source. This trick is pretty simple but you won’t find it if you don’t dig deep enough.

Download Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview with HTML5 Support

Microsoft has started development for the upcoming Internet Explorer 9 which will come incorporate a lot of new standards and features such as the next generation HTML5 web standard. Everyone is able to download Internet Explorer 9 platform preview to test it out. The reason it is called a Platform Preview but not Beta because is not a full web browser. It’s intended to give Web developers an early look at the Web platform technology coming in the next release of Internet Explorer.

You will notice that the Internet Explorer 9 platform preview is like a very stripped down version of IE which does not have a address bar to type in URL and also the back button. Microsoft wants you to visit the default page to run the tests yourself but you can open other pages by pressing Ctrl+O or from Page > Open. We have tested one of the YouTube videos that uses HTML5 but the video did not get loaded.

The IE9 platform preview installer (iepreview.msi) is 14.2MB in size and can be uninstalled after you have done testing it from Programs and Features at Control Panel. Microsoft has promised to released a new version of Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview every 2 months. This IE9 is only compatible with Vista and Windows 7. XP is not supported because IE9 uses GPU-powered graphics to take advantage of new technologies.

Download Internet Explorer 9

Install Multiple Standalone Internet Explorer Versions in Windows

Designing a website is easy but to make it cross compatible across different web browser is a pain unless you want to put a detection javascript to block those web browsers that are not compatible with the website. Doing this is not advisable because you are only keeping your visitors from your website as there are some computer users have no idea how to even change or download a new web browser that is compatible.

Internet Explorer is a browser made by Microsoft and when you install it on your computer, it overwrites all older versions of Internet Explorer and making it the only IE on your computer. It is not necessary to use a few computers or virtual machines to test the website that you have made against a few different versions of Internet Explorer because you can install Internet Explorer Collection.

Internet Explorer Collection contains multiple IE versions, which are standalone so they can be used at the same time. Conditional Comments work exactly the same as in the native versions. The original version number is shown correcty in the User Agent string. The version number can be found in the window title too.

The current Internet Explorer Collection version 1.6.0.6 contains the following versions of IE:

* Internet Explorer 1.0 (4.40.308)
* Internet Explorer 1.5 (0.1.0.10)
* Internet Explorer 2.01 (2.01.046)
* Internet Explorer 3.0 (3.0.1152)
* Internet Explorer 3.01 (3.01.2723)
* Internet Explorer 3.03 (3.03.2925)
* Internet Explorer 4.01 (4.72.3110.0)
* Internet Explorer 5.01 (5.00.3314.2100)
* Internet Explorer 5.5 (5.51.4807.2300)
* Internet Explorer 6.0 (6.00.2800.1106)
* Internet Explorer 6.0 (6.00.2900.2180)
* Internet Explorer 7.0 (7.00.5730.13)
* Internet Explorer 8.0 (8.00.6001.18702)

Each shortcut to run different versions of Internet Explorer will be created at desktop and start menu. To run the IE version that you want, simply launch the shortcut.

Download Internet Explorer Collection

Run Internet Explorer Inside Firefox with IE Tab 2

There is a reason why Internet Explorer is installed in Windows by default. In Windows XP, you need to use Internet Explorer to visit Windows Updates to scan and download the hotfixes for your computer. Some online banking websites also lets you login only with Internet Explorer. Probably some lazy web designers didn’t want to crack their heads on cross-browser compatibility, hence the only support for IE browser. Other IE features includes browse local files using Windows Explorer view, use Outlook Web Access and Sharepoint features.

Launching two browsers may take up more space on your taskbar and also inconvenience. However IE Tab 2 makes it all easy by running Internet Explorer inside Firefox. When you open a webpage that requires IE, all you need to do is click on the small Firefox icon at the bottom right of the Firefox browser. You will see that the icon changes to Internet Explorer icon which means it is now loading the webpage using IE but inside Firefox.

It is also possible to define a site filter list where IE will be used to open those websites without clicking on the icon at the bottom right or right click on the page and select View Page in IE Tab. This plugin is still in experimental state but works like a charm when we’ve tested it. There is also an IE Tab extensions for Google Chrome.

Download IE Tab 2

Disable or Turn Off Internet Explorer 8 SmartScreen Filter

SmartScreen filter is a feature of Windows Internet Explorer 8. It is designed to help protect you from fraudulent websites trying to steal your personal information. SmartScreen filter also helps protect you from installing malicious software or malware, which are programs that demonstrate illegal, viral, fraudulent, or malicious behavior.

SmartScreen operates in the background as you browse the web, analyzing webpages and determining if they have any characteristics that might be suspicious. If it finds suspicious webpages, SmartScreen filter will display the “Are you trying to visit this website?” fly-out, giving you an opportunity to provide feedback and advising you to proceed with caution. SmartScreen filter checks the sites you visit against an up-to-the-hour, dynamic list of reported phishing sites and malicious software sites. If it finds a match, SmartScreen filter will show you a red warning notifying you that the site has been blocked for your safety.

If you are already using some kind of antivirus such as AVG, Kaspersky, they already come with their own antiphishing addon which protects you against phishing or malicious websites. Having SmartScreen turned on will only slow down the process of opening a website.

To turn off SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer 7 or 8, simultaneously press Alt+T, go to SmartScreen Filter and select “Turn Off SmartScreen Filter”. A window will appear asking you to confirm your actions. Make sure that “Turn off SmartScreen Filter” is selected and click the OK button to take effect. All websites would load slightly faster now because it doesn’t gets checked by a list of blacklisted sites by SmartScreen Filter.

Disable Internet Explorer 8 InPrivate Browsing Mode in Windows 7

A new security mode called InPrivate debuted with IE8, and consists of two main features: InPrivate Browsing and InPrivate Filtering. Like similar privacy protection modes in Safari, Firefox 3.5, and Google Chrome, InPrivate Browsing has been described as a “porn mode” in various news outlets. Reason is people can turn on InPrivate Mode, visit porn sites and nobody will know about it after you close IE.

InPrivate Browsing in Internet Explorer 8 helps prevent one’s browsing history, temporary Internet files, form data, cookies, and usernames and passwords from being retained by the browser, leaving no easily accessible evidence of browsing or search history. Other than disabling the clear browsing history button, one should also disable IE8′s InPrivate Browsing mode to further prevent your kids from trying to hide what websites they’ve visited.

To disable InPrivate Browsing mode in Windows 7:

1. Click the Windows start button and at the bar where you see search programs and files, type gpedit.msc and hit Enter
2. Navigate to Local Computer Policy, User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components and InPrivate.
3. Double click on Turn off InPrivate Browsing and select Enable.
4. Double click on Turn off InPrivate Filtering and select Enable.

This change takes effect immediately without rebooting the computer. Now when anyone clicks on the Safety at menubar and selects InPrivate Browsing, nothing will happen or appear because it is disabled.

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