Microsoft upgrades Web browser with Explorer 7

Mumbai: Microsoft Corporation has upgraded its Web browser with the release of Internet Explorer 7. The first major upgrade since 2001, Explorer 7 is more user-friendly and has features that help prevent online fraud.

Explorer 7 features an integrated search window that allows users to make a Web query without opening another page, tab browsing to toggle between different sites and a pop-up window blocker. The new Internet Explorer has improved browser security by including color-coded warnings in the address bar to indicate whether a Web site can be trusted.

Explorer 7 is available immediately to Windows XP users and it will serve as the default browser for Microsoft's much-anticipated Windows Vista operating system, due for release early next year.

The new browser will be sent as an automatic security update and then users will have an option to install the new Internet Explorer onto their PC. Companies also have the option to block its workers from installing the new browser.

Explorer 7 is available for download at www.microsoft.com/ie. Microsoft said it is already working on the next version of Internet Explorer to ensure that long gaps between updates do not occur again.

Microsoft's IE remains the most widely-used surfing software despite competition from Netscape and the open-source browser Mozilla Firefox, a free open-source browser.

Internet Explorer had an 86 per cent share of the global market, Mozilla Firefox 11.5 per cent and both Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL.) Safari and Norway's Opera Software (OPERA.OL), less than 2 per cent.