Yeah, But Is It Any Good?

My opinion? Yes, it is. I have been using MSIE v5.5 since it's beta release last winter. So far, no major problems and I find that I actually like it better than the v5.01 that runs on my secondary PC. As a matter of fact, I only updated from beta to final release last week!

You will find some download links at the end of this article. Remember, upgrading browser versions is a personal choice. I will provide some tips and info to help you make that decision. Please read on.

Also Note: Three new security vulnerabilities have been discovered in Microsoft e-mail clients. The worst of them could give the attacker complete control of your PC. Get the FREE patch and protect your computer!!

MS e-Mail Security Patch

! More Protection

One new feature available in IE v5.5 is a warning that can protect users from cookies while surfing the Internet. This warning appears as a pop-up box that will allow you to reject cookies embedded by advertisers, Web sites and others that try to monitor user traffic. Privacy groups have been complaining for a long time about this practice which indiscretely monitors and logs which Web sites a person goes to.

!The Change

This new feature will be offered in the from of a 'Patch' to the Internet Explorer v5.5 and will be widely available on the Web in about a month. At a later time, it will be incorporated into Web browsers and shipped with future versions of Windows. Windows Millennium Edition would be an example. I would hope that future releases of Win98SE would be altered as well.

In adding this feature to IE v5.5, there is now the opportunity to expose and put a stop to this surveillance activity.

!Concerns About Privacy

Microsoft has said that other forms of cookies that are commonly used to provide services such as daily weather forecasts on personal home pages will not be affected by this patch. Online banking types will also not be affected as well. Many State's Attorneys General have contacted the Redmond Software Giant seeking it's active assistance in dealing with malicious, privacy invading cookies. To Microsoft's credit, they have responded.

See How The Cookies Crumble for information on how to deal with cookies now and what they are.

!A Quick Definition

Cookies: Small files placed on a user's computer by a Web site to help identify returning customers or visiters.

Not all cookies are bad. I can't state this enough. Cookies used by your favorite online auction site, personal homepage or gaming site are favorable due to the fact that they 'recognize' your return and save time by you not having to re-register on each subsequent visit. Having your passwords and information saved in very convenient, to say the least.

We're more concerned with ad firms, such as DoubleClick Inc., that do this and then record a person's visit to any other Web site where it's ads appear.

!Other IE v5.5 Features

Now that we've covered cookies again, I will move on to a few of the other new features in the newest and final version of Internet Explorer.

Some of the additions are... Print Preview More Stability Increased support for DHTML and CBS Better frame handling efficiency Increased performance Support for vertical text layout has been added Incudes 128-bit encryption--very important to keep your personal information safe!

!To Upgrade Or Not?

Well, as I stated before, it is a personal choice. I believe I was even hesitant to upgrade from IE 3.0 and on. Do some reseach, follow some links and decide. But please return here for more Windows 98 Tips & Tricks...Thank You!!

!IE v5.5 Final Release Links

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

http://www.microsoft.com/ie/

http://updates.zdnet.com/products/pr_8.htm

!Microsoft's System Requirements

A 486/66MHz ( Pentium recommended ) For Win95 or Win98: 16MB Ram For WinNT 4.0: 32MB Ram minimum & Service Pack 3 or higher For Win2000: 64MB Ram minimum Mouse Modem or Internet connection

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Thank you and come again...spider!

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