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Comment: Microsoft Internet Explorer will be incorporated into the Windows 98 user interface, thereby becoming the default Web browser for many users. MS IE also will be the default browser for many Macintosh users because of agreements involved in Microsoft's recent investment in Apple. Of course, you may have read that the U. S. Government is suing Microsoft to try to prevent some of these things from occurring. So, as is true for everything in life, we shall see.
I have been using Internet Explorer as my preferred Web browser since version 3.0 was released in 1996. It proved to be far more stable for me than was Netscape Navigator 3.x. In addition, multimedia support, a major attraction of the World Wide Web, is better integrated into Internet Explorer than it is in Netscape Navigator. However, I have not tested Communicator, Netscape's most recent addition to the Web browser pantheon.
Microsoft Corporation has been very aggressive in entering the market for Internet products. Microsoft is giving away Internet Explorer without charge, following the example set by Netscape Communications Corporation when it gave away Netscape Navigator.
Author: Microsoft Corporation
License: Free.
Versions:
Win95 and WinNT 4.0: 4.01
Win95 and WinNT 4.0: 3.02
Win3.1x and WinNT 3.51: 3.03
These files are best obtained from the Internet Explorer home page. There are numerous options to choose from. Only you can decide what is appropriate for your use. When you install version 4.01, it will still indicate that it is version 4.0. In other words, there is nothing obvious to tell you whether you have upgraded from version 4.0 to version 4.01.
Version 4.0 is distributed in three separate packages:
Each of these packages includes an option to install the alternative Windows interface that has gathered so much attention in the press. I've tried the new interface, but I didn't see the point after using it for a few weeks. But learning any new view of something very familiar can be difficult. Perhaps the usefulness of the new interface will become more clear in the fullness of time.
I do think that if Windows had used an Internet Explorer interface from the beginning, rather than the Windows Explorer interface, we would all be saying what a wonderful job Microsoft had done by now including Web resources in our view of local resources. Instead we are complaining about changes in the appearance of our local resources.
Running under Windows NT 4, MS IE Version 4.0 with the full installation and the new interface is not as stable as was version 3.02. Windows explorer crashes on me a few times each week. This seems to occur only when I am viewing certain Web pages and I click on a link that opens a new Window in addition to the current window. Strangely enough, Internet Explorer itself does not crash. The linked page opens, and the original MS IE window also remains open. But all Windows Explorer windows open at the time simply disappear and Win NT generates an error file. To recover, I just launch a new session of Windows Explorer. On one occasion the Windows task bar and all my desktop icons disappeared, but all the applications I was running were still accessible through Task Manager. That time I did have to reboot to reinitialize my system.
My recommendation is that you download the browser only. It is significantly improved over version 3.0. Once you are comfortable with it, you can add additional features if you like.
The IE 4 download is somewhat confusingly implemented. First, you download a small installation program that you then run to do the "real" download and installation. One advantage to this is that the installation program can resume downloading where it left off should there be an interruption in your connection for any reason. This should be helpful to those with only telephone connections to the Internet since even the browser only installation requires a 13 MB download.
Note that the installation program will download only the Internet Explorer version that runs on the particular operating system you are using at the time of the download. For example, I was running Windows NT 4.0 in my office, and when I downloaded Internet Explorer 4.0 I received the version for that operating system. In order to obtain the version for Windows 95, I had to find a PC running Windows 95 and do the download on that machine. Microsoft's Web pages do not give any indication that this limitation exists.
You have the choice of installing directly from the Web during the download, or downloading the installation files for use at a later time. It is far safer to have all the files stored locally on your PC before you begin the actual installation.
Internet Explorer 3.x is distributed in three separate packages:
Each of these packages is distributed in numerous languages. You need to study the Internet Explorer home page to decide what is the best option for you on your system. The Internet Explorer home page provides the best means of choosing and downloading the version you prefer. Probably most people will be satisfied with the minimum installation.
Version 3.02 of Internet Explorer was issued for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 to fix security problems and other bugs. Windows 3.1 and Windows NT 3.51 are not affected by those security issues.
The security problem was first discussed in relation to Internet Explorer Version 3.01. If you now access the Internet Explorer Web site using version 3.01 on Windows 95, you will be prompted to download an upgrade patch to convert your version to version 3.02.
Early in 1997, a security oversight was discovered in Internet Explorer. It was fixed within a few weeks. More information about security problems and their fixes is available in the Internet Explorer Security Area. Version 4.01 of Internet Explorer fixes all previously known security issues.
One security problem resulted from the fact that Internet Explorer did not warn the user when a link in a Web page resulted in downloading files of the type URL or LNK. Such files were simply passed to the Win95 operating system and executed. A malicious Web author could damage the user's system by using destructive URL and LNK files. The security fixes changed Internet Explorer's behavior so that it will now ask the user whether to open the downloaded file or save it to disk. As with any executable file, the safe choice is to save the file to disk for further examination. After installing the security fix, Internet Explorer treats links to URL and LNK files just as it does links to an EXE file or other types of executable files.
Place the Internet Explorer installation file in a temporary folder, for example, C:\install, and double click the file to launch the installation program.
Internet Explorer has the annoying property of substituting itself as the default application to open GIF and JPG files. You can change the behavior to use your favorite image viewers by using the View Options menu in Windows Explorer. Some graphics viewers have an option that will change the associations for you. Changing the file associations will not affect Internet Explorer's ability to display downloaded GIF or JPG files when browsing the Web.
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Revised: December 28, 1999
Harry_M_Kriz, [hmkriz@vt.edu]