The Browser | MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 4.0 The Browser |
Webcasting |
The best way to launch the Internet Explorer 4.0 browser is
to click on the icon from the desktop:
The following sections explain the features of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 that make it the best browser available: Ease-of-use innovations and personalisation improvements, "Take the Web with You" offline capabilities, Best implementation of Internet standards and Security features.
Making Browsing
Easy and Personalised Take the Web with You Offline |
Implementation of
Internet Standards Security on the Internet |
1/4- Making Browsing Easy and Personalised
Search Bar
Lists search results in view while the user explores the sites listed.
History Bar
Provides a history pane in the browser window that categorises your browsing
history by day or month.
AutoComplete
Address bar in Internet Explorer 4.0 automatically completes addresses for users
based on sites they've already visited.
Favourites
You can now drag and drop your favourite sites and links into the Favourite menu
and order them however you want.
Navigation history on Back and
Forward buttons
You do not need to repeatedly click the Back or Forward button to return to a page,
just view a list of the sites they've visited most recently by right-clicking the Back and
Forward buttons.
Full Screen mode
You can select Full-screen mode, which removes all toolbars and scrollbars from the
screen to make more room for Web pages.
Printing
Internet
Explorer 4.0 has substantially richer printing functionality including background printing
of documents, recursive printing of all links on a document, and intelligent frame
printing options.
Menu bar
The menu bar is now moveable. This makes freeing
up screen real estate to view more of a Web page even easier.
Browser Bars
Provide the same ease of use capabilities as the Search bar
- History Bar: Selecting the history button from the toolbar displays a bar in the browser window that categorises your browsing history by day (for the past week), and week (for the past month).
- Favourites Bar: Now your favourites can be easily accessed from a bar in the browser window, as well as from the Favourites menu option.
- Channel Bar: provides one click access to your favourite Web content delivered via Channels and Internet Explorer -enhanced Active Channels.
Quick Links bar Customisation
Ability to drag and drop a URL from the address bar to create a new Quick Link, and
support for drag and drop within the toolbar to rearrange Quick Link buttons.
Improved options settings
The View / Options dialog box is laid out in a more discoverable,
logical manner. Easy to access tabs have been created for General (including history,
AutoComplete and cache settings), Security (security zones settings), Connections (for
setting ISP and proxy settings), Advanced browser options and more.
Improved toolbar options
You can now increase the size of toolbar buttons by turning on/off the text of the
button description.
2/4- Take the Web with You Offline
Offline reading
Each time you subscribe to a site or page, Internet Explorer 4.0 downloads the page
based on the user's scheduling preference and then notifies the user of changes to the
page.
Maximising Internet connect time
By downloading the subscribed Web site in the background at the scheduled time, you
can connect to the Internet, quickly download subscribed contents, and then disconnect
from the Internet.
3/4- Implementation of Internet Standards
You can view and listen to real-time netcasts, watch videos, run ActiveX controls and Java applets, and play interactive, multiplayer games while you are connected to the Web. All this content can be experienced in Internet Explorer 4.0 because of its extensive support for Internet standards, and because it includes new technologies, such as Dynamic HTML, ActiveX, and Java:
Dynamic HTML
It is the umbrella term for several innovative enhancements into the following
categories: Dynamic styles, Positioning, Dynamic content, Filter and transition using
Cascading Style Sheets, Data awareness.
ActiveX
Enables software components to interact with each other in a networked environment,
regardless of the language in which they were created. It includes: Windowless controls,
Apartment model controls, Quick activation, SBindHost service.
Java
Brings dynamic, interactive content to the Web. It includes: full ActiveX
integration, New object model, Improved Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT), New application
foundation classes (AFC), New multimedia class libraries, Internationalisation support,
Speed, Java Beans integration, New Package Manager, Complete Win32 integration.
ActiveX scripting
Fast, comprehensive, language-independent script-handling capability.
Interactive Music Control
Interactive Music combines the best of MIDI and WAV technologies to present a
lightweight, consistent musical accompaniment solution. Interactive Music provides
infinitely flexible musical output. It's more flexible than wave file output because a WAV
file is an encapsulated recording that cannot change, whereas the Interactive Music
Control creates music on the fly, according to whatever is happening at that moment.
Many people are increasingly relying on the Web to use new applications such as online banking and shopping. Along with this increased reliance comes a greater need for security on the Internet. With its strong support of standard Internet security protocols, Internet Explorer lets users communicate privately, protect their identity, shield themselves and others from inappropriate content, prevent others from tracking their activities, and have greater control over what software to download. It even enables users to verify the identity of Web servers, and positively identify themselves to those servers when desired. This means conducting transactions and participating in consumer services on the Internet with the same privacy and security as in the real world.
The following Internet Explorer 4.0 security features make it easier for you to protect your computer and your privacy while using the Internet:
Authenticode technology
Authenticode certifies the identity of the publisher of the software to help users
decide whether or not to download the software.
Security Zones
Now you can divide the Web into zones and have Internet Explorer 4.0 provide
different levels of security depending on which zone you've assigned a Web site to. For
example, it's likely that you fully trust sites on your company's intranet, so you
probably want to allow all types of active content to run there. You may not feel so
confident about sites that you happen upon while surfing the Internet. You can assign them
to the untrusted zone, where you can prevent active content from being run and code from
being downloaded to your computer.
Capabilities-based Java security
The new security model for Java makes it easy for you to control how Java applets
can interact with your computer system. You can now decide in advance what capabilities
and levels of access to your computer you want to give to Java applets within security
zones.
Privacy protection
Internet Explorer 4.0 supports all standard Internet security protocols to ensure
your privacy when you communicate over the Web. Plus, a new feature prompts you before
your user name or password are sent to a Web site that you haven't designated as trusted.
Certificates
Digital IDs (also known as certificates) allow us to sign our mail so that the
recipients can make sure that the digitally signed message actually came from us and has
not been tampered with along the way.
Quite simply, digital IDs enable the sender to prove his identity on the Internet, similar to the way driver's licenses and a passport or other ID cards do for people every day.
The sender/receiver obtains a digital ID from a certifying authority. a company responsible for issuing digital IDs and continuously verifying that digital IDs are still valid (much like obtaining a driver's license from a state government, or an ID /passport from State Government office).
Once you have obtained a certificate, you can exchange your digital ID with anyone who might need to send you encrypted messages, and likewise, use the same digital ID for sending your signed messages.
Microsoft Wallet
Microsoft Wallet is the electronic equivalent of the wallet we keep in a purse or a
pocket for holding credit cards and identification.
The MS Wallet makes Internet shopping convenient by enabling you to enter your address and payment information only once. In addition to convenience, the Wallet provides security for payment information. The information that you enter (such as credit card types, numbers, and expiration dates) is stored securely on the computer. You define a unique password for each payment method stored, so that only you can use it.
When you shop at a site that supports the Wallet, during the shopping process, all you need to do is select the appropriate card and type your password in order to pay for online purchases.
Working with Microsoft Wallet
Access the Microsoft Wallet by doing the following:
Internet Explorer Ø View Ø Options Ø Content tab Ø Addresses
(to enter address information) or Payments (to configure payment methods and related information).
Once you have stored address and payment information in the Wallet, that information can be transmitted to any merchant Web site that supports the Wallet as part of the online shopping process.
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