Why wait for slow Web page downloads? Wish you could take the Internet with you "on the road"? Worried about connection times? The Internet Explorer 4.0 Platform Preview answers these everyday Internet concerns by giving you Offline Reading. Now you can download entire Web pages—including graphics and all page components—in a fraction of the time it would take you to read them. Once they're on your computer, you can read them at your leisure, checking out your favorite Web sites while on a plane or train, for instance.

How does it work?

The Internet Explorer 4.0 Platform Preview has the ability to check a Web site for changes since your last visit and download any files that have changed.

As a user, you can schedule downloads for off-peak hours (saving connect time and money) or have Web content delivered on demand.

Either way, any text, graphics, or multimedia files on the sites you select will be placed on your hard drive. To read them, select Browse Offline from Internet Explorer's File menu, then open any page on your machine. To do so, just type in the URL of any site you've selected as a favorite. Even though you're not connected to the Web, Internet Explorer 4.0 will recognize the address and retrieve the page from your computer's memory.