Internet Explorer 5 is here at last! The more adventurous of our regular readers got a preview of IE5 when we ran the beta version on our February SuperCD. But with the release of the final version, everyone can join in.
To get the most from IE5, be sure to check out PC Plus and .net's IE5 Companion online at www.ie5.co.uk. If you write Web pages, also be sure to see the
on this SuperCD, where Paul Stephens is continuing his series for developers.
NT4 users: Internet Explorer 5 requires Service Pack 3 or higher to run. You will find SP5 in the Program Upgrades section of the other CD. What follows are the installation instructions from the IE5 Companion.
Installation options
If you are upgrading from a previous version of Internet Explorer, then you should read the notes on doing this before proceeding with an installation. Anyone who has installed software previously should feel at home with the Internet Explorer 5 installation, but there are some points worth noting. The first is that there are only two installation options. Instead of Minimum, Normal, Full and Custom, there are now only Install Now and Custom.
Install Now is the option for most users. If you are installing from the web, it will download and install the most commonly required features - the web browser, the e-mail client (Outlook Express 5), the new Windows Media Player 6.01 and other multimedia enhancements. If you are running from a CD-ROM those components will be installed from the CD-ROM.
The Custom option is much more flexible. As you would expect it allows you to choose which elements of the suite are installed from a list of components. To select a component, simply check the tick box. A description of each component can be seen by clicking on the title of the component - the description is displayed in the text box on the right of the dialog box. Clicking on the title does not automatically select the option for installation; this is only done when you click in the check box on the left of the component title. Two options you should make your own decision about are described below.
AOL ART Image Format Support
AOL is using Internet Explorer as the standard web browser within its AOL 4.0i client software. Most internal AOL web pages (and some external) use the AOL ART image format based on the Johnson-Grace lossless fractal image compression algorithm - which is a proprietary image format designed for online use. Internet Explorer 5.0 includes a component that allows it to render AOL ART images. You won't need to install this unless you're planning on using Internet Explorer 5.0 with AOL 4.0i.
Shockwave Support
Internet Explorer 5.0 includes support for a range of different web graphics formats. Among the components you can install are viewers for both the Macromedia Shockwave formats, Shockwave for Director and Flash. These let you view a large selection of animations and interactive web sites. Try the Shockrave site at http://www.macromedia.com/ to see what Shockwave can do.
Advanced options
As well as allowing this customisation of the components to be installed, the Custom option allows you to choose a destination other than the default. More than this though, there is also an Advanced button which opens a new dialog box with three new tick boxes.
The first allows you to install the suite but without associating files with the new programs. For example, HTML web pages won't be associated with the browser. So, if you have a different browser installed and want to install IE5 but don't want IE5 to become the default browser (the one which opens when you double click on a HTML file in Windows), then check this option.
The second option is labelled Compatibility. This installs an additional component that allows you to see HTML pages as they would appear in Internet Explorer 4, so you don't have all the new features from IE5. It is designed for developers who need to check their web pages in different versions of browsers.
The last option is Download Only and you can check this if you want to download the IE5 installation files from the web to your hard drive without installing the browser on that machine. You can then run the installation locally from these files or copy the files off to another computer. To do this though, you will require some form of removable media, like a Zip drive, as there are too many installation files to feasibly use floppy disks. Of course, you can also copy the files to other machines if you are connected to a network.
Actual installation
When you have selected the installation option and click on next, the new programs will be installed onto your drive. This process will take a few minutes. When it is finished, the machine will need re-booting and when it re-starts it will complete the setup, optimising the files and finishing off. The new web browser suite is now ready for use.
One thing you will notice is that the Start menu has been re-ordered. There are no longer as many entries in the Internet Explorer group and a new Internet Tools group has been added to the Accessories group. The HTML editor, FrontPage Express, has been moved to the Web Tools menu group and a new tool called Synchronize has been added to the Accessories group. If you chose the Compatibility option from the Advanced Options when you installed the suite, then there will be a entry called Previous Internet Explorer ver 4 in the Internet Explorer group.
Upgrading from previous versions of IE
Many people have asked about the advantages and disadvantages of upgrading from Internet Explorer 4 and whether installing Internet Explorer 5 will retain information from the previous version. The best scenario for installing IE5 is in fact from a previous installation of IE4. This is because IE does not include some elements, like the Desktop Update from IE4, so if you donÆt have IE4 on your machine prior to installing IE5, then you wonÆt have those features - including the Active Desktop.
When you install IE5, all your settings will be automatically imported and used with IE5 so you donÆt have to worry about this.
If you choose to install Outlook Express 5 as well and are concerned about keeping addresses and e-mails from the previous version of Outlook Express, then donÆt worry. OE5 will detect that you had the previous version when it first starts up and will offer to import the information for you. If you choose not to do this, you can do it later from the File/Import menu. One tip to note is that when you do import all the messages, the message folders are not automatically compacted by OE5 when it first starts up. If you only have a few messages then this isnÆt a problem, but if you have many folders and many messages, then the space used to store the messages on your hard disk will be a lot bigger and you will also notice a drop in performance. This is easy to resolve by going to the File/Folder/Compact all folders menu item. This will compress the folders for you.
IE5 beta users
If you are upgrading from a beta version of Internet Explorer 5 to the final release, then make sure that you uninstall the beta before installing the final release. If you simply install over the top of the beta, you are likely to find the final release unstable.
Auto-Repair
Internet Explorer 5 offers an automatic repair feature which allows you to ask Windows to try and repair IE5 if you ever have a problem. This wonÆt correct problems you have in your Internet Settings - you can change these back to their defaults in the Settings/Programs tab. This feature instead will try and replace or update corrupted or missing IE files and dlls. So, where before you might have had to resort to re-installing the entire suite, or un-installing and re-installing, the first thing you should now try is the Auto-Repair feature.
To access this, go to the Windows Control Panels and open the Add/Remove Software panel. Go to the Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and Tools entry and double click on it. You will then see a dialog with three options on it. These allow you to add an additional component from the suite (in case you didnÆt do a complete installation and now want to add more parts in) or to restore a previous configuration (uninstall IE5). The middle option is to Repair and if you select this and then click on OK, then IE5 will attempt to repair itself. It is obviously preferable that you installed from CD-ROM here so that IE5 can source the original installation files. When the operation is finished then hopefully IE5 should be functioning correctly again - you will need to re-boot your PC.
If you still have problems, then you need to see if you can fix your problem yourself. The best idea is to ask for advice here on the IE5 discussion forum to see if anyone else has had the same problem and solved it. Check the previous messages first because you may well find that the same question has already been asked and answered. You can also try to find an answer on the Microsoft knowledge base at http://www.microsoft.com.
Minimum System Requirements: Windows 9x or NT (Service Pack 3 or higher), 486DX/66 processor or higher, 16Mb RAM (32Mb for NT), 45Mb free hard drive space. Some components may require additional system resources not outlined here.
Uninstall: Yes - Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.
Installation
Click the icon to the left to install Internet Explorer 5.
Install Now is the option for most users. If you are installing from the web, it will download and install the most commonly required features - the web browser, the e-mail client (Outlook Express 5), the new Windows Media Player 6.01 and other multimedia enhancements. If you are running from a CD-ROM those components will be installed from the CD-ROM.
Advanced options
To access this, go to the Windows Control Panels and open the Add/Remove Software panel. Go to the Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and Tools entry and double click on it. You will then see a dialog with three options on it. These allow you to add an additional component from the suite (in case you didnÆt do a complete installation and now want to add more parts in) or to restore a previous configuration (uninstall IE5). The middle option is to Repair and if you select this and then click on OK, then IE5 will attempt to repair itself. It is obviously preferable that you installed from CD-ROM here so that IE5 can source the original installation files. When the operation is finished then hopefully IE5 should be functioning correctly again - you will need to re-boot your PC.