Introduction

Interface

Start Menu

Control Panel

Accessories

Hardware

Tweaking Windows 98

Help

Visit the PC Plus WWW site

 
The IE4 Browser

As well as giving Win 95 and Win 98 the look and feel of a Web browser, IE 4 is the successor to Internet Explorer 3, acting as a Web browser in its own right. This section takes you through its new and improved features.

To learn more about IE 4, click the hyperlinks in the features highlights section, or choose from the section-by-section list.

IE 4 Feature Highlights IE 4 Section-by-Section
 

The IE 4 Browser - feature highlights

Like its earlier versions, Internet Explorer 4.0 is, at heart, a graphical Web browser whose main job is to display documents written in the HTML language (and, increasingly, containing extra programming via scripts, Java applets and ActiveX controls). Most of the functions you need for using IE are on the Toolbar, located above the main browser area. This has plenty of new features in IE 4, such as Office-style AutoComplete in the address bar (start typing a Web page URL and IE4 attempts to  complete it for you), and new drop-down menus on the Back/Forward buttons which jump straight to pages on your history list. The toolbar controls plus other, less frequently used items, are all duplicated on IE 4's menu bar (for quick tour see the Tour of the Menus).

Perhaps the most heavily-used new feature of IE 4 will be the Explorer Bar. Essentially a built-in frame which opens on the left-hand side of the main browser display, the Explorer bar has four different functions - Search, Favorites, History and Channels, selected from buttons on the IE 4 toolbar. The Explorer Bar opens and closes instantly, so it's a very handy way to get at information that used to be tucked away on menus and browser screens back down the history list. It's one of those features that soon has you wondering how you ever managed without it.

Site subscriptions are a major new feature of IE 4. Aimed at both dial-up Internet users and those with permanent Net connections, subscriptions enable IE 4 to monitor chosen sites (or pages within sites), notifying you when their pages have been updated. IE 4 can also download pages from subscribed sites, so you can browse them when you're off-line (not connected to the Internet). Monitoring and downloading can be scheduled to occur at specified times and IE 4 will dial up for you automatically, so you can schedule connections at night, when Net traffic is low and phone rates are cheap.

Channels are a special form of site subscription. Channels are essentially Web sites which feed you information and services customised to your requirements. IE 4 presents Channels in a special way, with icons in the Explorer Channel Bar which expand to show links to individual content sections, and a special 'Channel Viewer' interface (actually IE 4 in full-screen mode) with the Explorer Bar in slide-out format. You can also have the Channel Bar as part of your Win 95 Active Desktop display, and embed channel viewports in the Active Desktop.
Security is high on the priority list in IE 4. A new system of security zones enables you to categorise Web sites according to your confidence in their contents. You can then prevent actions such as downloading files or ActiveX controls from sites in the 'Restricted' zone, and allow IE 4 to download and execute software from your 'Trusted' zone sites without further warnings.
Dealing with another kind of content - this time the type of words and images found on Web pages - is IE 4's Content Advisor. This uses the RSACi system of site ratings, enabling you to decide what level of content in each category you will allow on your browser screen. Password-protected, the system can be set to exclude any sites which don't have an RSACi rating. It's a good way to make your PC 'safe' for younger users. Other ratings systems can be 'plugged in' as they become available.
Finally, IE 4 is gearing up for Internet commerce, with support for authentication certificates. Issued and verified online by third-party authentication servers, these certificates enable both parties to be sure that the person or organisation at the other end of the link really is who they say they are. IE 4 can also store personal information about you, including encrypted credit card data, which it can send in secure form to trusted secure server sites.

The Internet Explorer 4 Browser Section-by-Section

A Tour of IE 4's menus

Using IE 4's Address and Toolbars

Explorer Bar

Site Subscriptions

Channels

Security, Content Advisor and more - using IE 4's Options Dialog


 

Introduction | Top | Help