Ο πολυαναμενόμενος Internet Explorer 9 Beta είναι διαθέσιμος για κατέβασμα σε 32-bit και 64-bit εκδόσεις για Windows 7 και Vista (τι είναι αυτό σε διάφορες γλώσσες και στα Ελληνικά.

Ο νέος IE9 έχει πληθώρα νέων χαρακτηριστικών (έχουν αναλάβει τα διάφορα blogs τα αναλυτικά reviews και τα συγκριτικά στην ταχύτητα σε σχέση με άλλους browsers με ενδεικτικό και καλά τεκμηριωμένο το Internet Explorer 9 beta review: Microsoft reinvents the browser του Ed Bott) και δείχνει τον δρόμο σε μια νέα γενιά browsers που χρησιμοποιούν καλύτερα το διαθέσιμο hardware. Ίσως τώρα πλέον η Microsoft να έχει έναν web browser πιο standards-compliant από οποιονδήποτε άλλο. Με υποστήριξη CSS3 και HTML5, βελτιωμένη (σημαντικά) Javascript engine και το νέο Onebox για URLs και αναζήτηση ταυτόχρονα. Προσωπικά μου αρέσουν πολύ τα pinned sites. Για τα Vista θέλει Service Pack 2 και δεν θα παίζει σε Windows XP (ούτε στην τελική έκδοση).

Η επίσημη σελίδα από τη Microsoft για τον Internet Explorer 9 είναι εδώ: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/products/ie-9/home?os=win7&arch=b&browser=ie

Κατεβάστε το και δοκιμάστε το από εδώ: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/download/ie-9/worldwide

Ενδιαφέροντα νέα χαρακτηριστικά:

Cross-site scripting filter

Protect against online threats with cross-site scripting filter

Cross-site scripting attacks are a leading online threat. Their aim is to exploit vulnerabilities in the websites you visit. How do they work? By compromising legitimate websites with malicious content that can capture keystrokes and record your login information and password. If your login information and password is captured, your personal data could be compromised.

Internet Explorer 9 includes a cross-site scripting (XSS) filter that can detect these types of attacks. If vulnerabilities are found,Internet Explorer disables the harmful scripts. The cross-site scripting filter is turned on by default to help protect you.

Experience faster and more efficient browsing with Internet Explorer 9

All-around fast

Hardware-accelerated text, video, and graphics

The new graphic capabilities and improved performance inInternet Explorer 9 set the stage for immersive and rich experiences. Hardware-accelerated text, video, and graphics mean your websites perform like the programs that are installed on your computer. High-definition videos are smooth, graphics are clear and responsive, colors are true, and websites are interactive like never before. With sub-system enhancements like Chakra, the new JavaScript engine, websites and applications load faster and are more responsive. Combine Internet Explorer 9 with the powerful graphics capabilities that Windows 7 has to offer, and you'll get the best web experience onWindows yet. See it in action at beautyoftheweb.com.

Installs faster, starts faster

The shorter, streamlined installation of Internet Explorer 9 is faster than previous versions. It requires fewer decisions on your part, takes less time to load pages, and doesn’t require that you install updates separately. Once it's installed, you're ready to start browsing.

Pinned Sites

Get to your favorite sites faster with Pinned Sites

With Pinned Sites, you can get to your favorite sites directly from the Windows taskbar—without having to open Internet Explorer first.

Pinning a site takes seconds: click the icon to the left of the web address in One Box, the tab for the website, or the website's icon on the New Tab page and drag it to the taskbar. That's it. Once a site is pinned, it shows up as its own thumbnail, separate from Internet Explorer. Now all it takes is one click to get to your favorite website.

Each site that's pinned to the taskbar has a Jump List. Some also have thumbnail preview controls like playing or pausing a video, which you'll see underneath the thumbnail preview. And some sites you pin have icon overlays, which provide information about the status of a website, such as the number of new messages in your inbox.

By pinning a site, the site is at the center of the experience, not the browser. When a pinned site is launched from the taskbar, the browser frame and navigational controls integrate the site's icon and primary color, providing an experience that's tailored to the site you're viewing.

New Tab page

Manage your favorite sites with the New Tab page

Internet Explorer 9 surfaces the websites you love most and puts them one click away. Once you're in the browser, the New Tab page helps get you started browsing quickly, providing meaningful suggestions and information to help you decide what to do next as you browse.

Each site's icon and primary color is used on the New Tab page to help your more easily identify each site, which is helpful when you have many sites to choose from. Also, a site indicator shows if the site is one you visit often or not. Your favorite sites are shown with the sites you visit most frequently listed first. And if your taste in favorite sites changes over time, no problem—you can close them to remove them.

From the New Tab page you can also reopen closed tabs, reopen your last browser session, or start InPrivate Browsing. InPrivatesessions won't track page visits in the New Tab page. You can also pin sites from the New Tab page to the taskbar for quick access to your favorite sites.

Enhanced tabs

Manage multiple websites with enhanced tabs

With Internet Explorer 9, web navigation and multitasking are easier than ever.

Tear-off tabs

Tear-off tabs and Snap make it easy to view two websites at the same time

Tear-off tabs make interacting with multiple sites fast and intuitive. You can rearrange tabs within Internet Explorer 9—just like you can rearrange icons in the taskbar in Windows 7—or you can open any tab in a new browser window by dragging that tab to your desktop. If you need to view more than one webpage at a time to accomplish a task, use Tear-off tabs together with Snap. It’s a great way to show multiple webpages side-by-side on your screen.

Make access to your favorite sites easy. Drag a tab and pin it directly to the taskbar or to the Start menu. Or, drag a tab to the Favorites bar. Whichever you choose, your favorite sites will be right at your fingertips.

Add-on Performance Advisor

Browse uninterrupted with Add-on Performance Advisor

Add-on Performance Advisor is designed to ensure thatInternet Explorer 9 starts fast and stays fast by helping you control the add-ons you install.

Add-on Performance Advisor works by identifying add-ons that may be slowing down your browser and—right from the notification area—giving you the information you need to disable the add-on or fix the problem. Load times for each add-on are shown so you can see how each one impacts your browsing experience. You’re able to make an informed decision to use the add-ons you find valuable and disable those that are less useful or too slow. It all adds up to browsing that's faster and more efficient for you.

Download Manager

Keep your downloads in order with Download Manager

Internet Explorer 9 has an integrated way for you to access, monitor, and interact with the files you download: Download Manager. It's a single program that lets you see the status of your downloads, provides information about whether they might be potentially harmful, offers a full range of security checks on the downloaded files, and shows you the final location of your downloads.

Download Manager is integrated with the Windows download folder. It's an easy way to interact with file downloads, which means you can sort, print, or send your downloads to another location, just as you would with other files. You can also use Download Manager to control your downloads, including everything from running or opening files to pausing or canceling downloads. You can even delete downloads from Download Manager.

Download Manager also works with Smartscreen Filter to help protect you from malicious downloads. Potentially risky downloads are immediately blocked. Download Manager then clearly identifies higher risk programs so that you can make an informed decision to delete, run, or save the download.

Whether downloading a small file or several large files, you can still browse without interruption. And if a download is interrupted, you'll be able to quickly resume downloading the next time you startInternet Explorer 9. So if you encounter a network connection problem or have to shut down your computer, you can pick up right where you left off.

Tab isolation and recovery

Browse uninterrupted with Internet Explorer 9

If you lose your connection to a website while usingInternet Explorer 9, your entire browsing session won’t be lost. Reliability features like tab isolation, Automatic Crash Recovery, and Hang Recovery keep you browsing without hiccups.

Browse uninterrupted

Website crashes are isolated to individual tabs, not entire browser windows. If a site crashes on one tab, the rest of your browsing session isn’t interrupted. You keep browsing, undisturbed. After the problem is identified, Internet Explorer 9 automatically recovers the tab. If one or more of your tabs closes or crashes unexpectedly, they’re automatically reloaded, and you’re returned to the site you were on before the crash. Internet Explorer 9 also includes new support for hang recovery, so that you will be prompted if the website you're trying to access is not responding or is timed out for some reason.

Clear messaging

Internet Explorer 9 communicates problems when they arise. Tab or hang recovery messaging, integrated into the Notification Bar, clearly states what the problem is, so you’re able to better understand what, if anything, you need to do to address the issue.

One Box

Surf or search with One Box

Whether you want to navigate to a website or start a search, you have a single place to go in Internet Explorer 9—One Box.

Surfing and searching—all in one place

With One Box, surfing or searching the web is a snap. You can start typing a web address and AutoComplete anticipates what you’re looking for to help you get to your websites quickly. And because search functionality is integrated into One Box, you don’t have to worry about remembering the full web address—type in familiar terms like “news” or “music” and you can get to the sites you love in a flash.

Trying to locate something on the web? Searching from One Box gives you a quick way to find what you're looking for. Depending on the search providers you use, as you type words, search suggestions, search results—including visual search results—and headline matches or other relevant suggestions are shown in the drop–down list. Click a suggestion to run the search without having to type any more words. And you can add search providers or change the provider you want to use right from the bottom of the drop–down list as well.

Your privacy

The privacy of information that you enter into One Box is an important part of the Internet Explorer promise. You're in control of what information, if any, gets shared with search providers. From the address bar drop-down list, you can choose to turn on search suggestions or turn them off. If you choose to turn search suggestions on, the text you type is sent to the search provider as you type it rather than being sent after you finish typing and press Enter.