Ron's Realm, January 2007.
Welcome, then, to the first entirely online Ron's Realm, free from the absurd space constraints placed on me by the MEA, which seemed not to apply to other contributors. Any mistakes are mine, not those of the MEA's editing numpties as was often the case in the past.
I've asked many times in the past for suggestions of things you might like me to cover - whether any of you contacted the MEA in regard to this, I've no idea, letters to/about Ron's Realm often didn't see the light of day - so if there is anything, let me know here
Internet Explorer 7
IE7 has one thing in common with Blake’s 7 – it sucks! One thing about this that bothers me, is that IE7 will be standard when Vista finally arrives – I sincerely hope that they haven’t produced an entire OS as dire as this. Note: IE7 is designed for Windows XP – installing it on earlier version may not work.
Obviously, with any new software, there’s some sort of learning curve, but IE 7 isn’t new, it’s just a revision. A learning curve should NOT be a feature. It’s so different that they felt obliged to provide users with a tour of its functions. I’ve never found that necessary for anything before, not even Windows.
In fairness, anyone getting their first PC when Vista has arrived probably won’t have any complaints about IE7, but that’s only because they’ve no basis for comparison. Those of us used to, and happy with, IE6.x, or earlier versions may not be as happy. Personally, I don’t know anyone who has installed IE7 and kept it.
You’ll find glowing reports of IE7 in computer magazines, but don’t forget, reviewers spend their lives looking at and playing with new stuff, so suddenly being confronted with an alien IE won’t faze them. However, for those of us who are happy with what we’re used to, and just want a more secure version, not a total revision, IE7 can come as a nasty surprise.
I’ve installed this thing twice. The first time I just loathed it and promptly uninstalled it, the second time, thinking I may have been a bit harsh, I reinstalled it and decided I’d use it for seven days, to give it a fair test. I didn’t make seven hours – it really is dreadful. Luckily – and unusually – IE7 can be uninstalled. However, I do have a copy installed on my backup machine for research, in case I’m asked for advice. The things I do for you…
What would have been immensely useful is the ability to install IE7 alongside IE6.x, for the purposes of comparison – then you could simply delete the one you didn’t want. That, presumably, would have been too easy, and side-by-side comparisons would show just how naff IE7 is.
The first problem – and it’s a biggie – is that they’ve radically redesigned the front end so that, of what buttons still remain, most are in entirely different places, though many button functions seem to have been consigned to drop-down menus – not helpful. The reason for this, according to Redwood wonks, is to provide a larger pane and avoid what they call “toolbar creep”. So to compensate for those tedious numpties whose lives wouldn’t be complete unless they fill the screen with toolbars (here’s a tip – NOBODY needs more than one toolbar!), the rest of us have to suffer. I don’t believe they’re being entirely honest here, as by its very nature, tabbed browsing See below), reduces the amount of useable space. One nugget of oddness that seem inexplicable and pointless – IE7 always has a blank tab lurking behind the active tab. Why? It has absolutely no purpose, as tabs are created automatically anyway.
Security is, allegedly, enhanced (not before time), and they’ve also introduced a mostly superfluous anti-phishing applet. For me, anyone who is still suckered by phishing emails, given all the publicity over the last couple of years, may not be entirely ready to be allowed online.
When you first start IE7, it will offer you a variety of plug-ins – make your selection then, as I can’t find any way of accessing this at a later date. Some of the plug-ins are things you’d normally have anyway (Flash Player, for example), and others are of doubtful utility. You do get Parental Control, but this, on closer inspection, seems no more than a souped-up version of the old Content Advisor.
Also, for the first time in IE, they’ve introduced tabbed browsing. Not something I, personally, like (if I did, I’d use Mozilla’s Firefox browser), and Microsoft’s interpretation seems a tad clunky. Actually, it’s crap. If you want to see how a tabbed browser works, once again Firefox is way better and, reputedly, more secure than IE.
Also for the first time, IE7 allows you to delete your browsing history – for those of you who wander where you shouldn’t!
When you first install IE7, most of the usual features are absent – you need to hit the Tools button, to find and install, for example, the normal menu bar (where you then find that the Tools button is duplicated!). It also offers something called Favorites Centre, in addition to the normal Favorites sidebar. This, apparently, gives you a record of what you’ve been doing online – just in case you’re a tad hard of thinking – be warned, though, it takes up a sizeable chunk of space, and can’t be resized.
All things considered, I loath IE7 – you
may have got that impression already – but don’t let that stop
you from trying it. If you do, and have problems, you can either uninstall
it or get in touch with me at the usual
address. Likewise if you get a shiny new Vista PC, and you’re stuck
with IE7 and need help.