Internet Explorer 8 includes many performance enhancements, enabling Web developers to build richer, more interactive Web pages while still delivering a great user experience. The script engine is significantly faster, improving page load times and responsiveness for the vast majority of Web pages that are based on JavaScript or Ajax. Internet Explorer 8 also includes other revamped browser components that are faster, including the HTML parser, CSS rule processing, and markup tree manipulation.
Internet Explorer 8 includes many improvements to memory management—for example, it now mitigates memory leaks created by circular references between script objects and DOM objects, helping to deliver a more stable Web experience.
Managing Add-ons
Being able to manage add-ons running in the browser is a key component of keeping the browser and personally identifiable information (PII) protected. Consolidating all these management tasks into one area decreases developer and administrator effort and increases productivity. The ability to easily manage and remove suspicious add-ons is critical to building confidence in users who are concerned about malware. Most changes made in the Manage Add-ons window take effect immediately, although some (like disabling a toolbar or Explorer bar) might still require a restart of Internet Explorer.
Figure 4. Image of Manage Add-ons window in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2.
The Manage Add-ons window can be resized for different resolutions and users can choose custom columns, grouping, and sorting order. In addition, the Manage Add-ons window has the following capabilities:
Select multiple add-ons from the list (CTRL+click or drag to multi-select)
Support for context menu (right-click) actions
Details about add-ons can be copied to the Clipboard and into e-mail, a document editor, or a spreadsheet so that information can be shared with administrators, technical support, or developers.
As a developer, you do not need to make changes to existing controls to continue to be managed in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. However, with the richer set of information and controls put in the hands of the user in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, control authors might wish to provide more detailed information with their controls. While the same set of information (such as publisher or version) is available in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 as was available in Internet Explorer 7, it is now easier for users to view it.
For more information, see this post on the Internet Explorer Team Blog.
Easier to Find Add-on Information
More detailed information about installed add-ons is available at a glance with Internet Explorer 8. Links make it easy to accomplish the following common tasks:
Find more add-ons with a single click. Just click Find more add-ons…
Search online for information about a particular add-on by clicking Search for this add-on via default search provider.
After selecting an add-on, the More information link appears. Clicking More information displays more detailed technical information about installed add-ons, including file names, versions, and other properties. You can even view or clear the list of Web sites that Microsoft ActiveX controls are allowed to run on for per-site installed ActiveX controls.
Right-click any add-on for access to common actions like enable or disable.
New types of Add-ons to Manage
In Internet Explorer 8, the list of add-ons you can manage has been expanded to include Toolbars and Extensions, Search Providers, and Accelerators.
Toolbars and Extensions
An Explorer Bar, like a toolbar, is an extensibility type that is supported by previous versions of Internet Explorer, but was not listed in Manage Add-ons prior to Internet Explorer 8. With Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, Explorer Bars are more prominently available so users have more control over what’s running in the browser.
Figure 5. Image of Explorer Bar information in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2.
Search Providers
Internet Explorer 7 added support for OpenSearch Search Providers, but the feature had its own separate management window. In Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, management of search providers has been moved to Manage Add-ons. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 enables users to quickly see what search providers are installed, which provider is the default, and where each provider is sending information when a search is submitted. Additionally, users can change the order that search providers are listed (Internet Explorer 7 always sorted them alphabetically).
A new feature prevents programs from “suggesting changes” to the default search provider. This feature helps prevent users from losing their default search provider if another program attempts to change the search provider without user consent.
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, like Internet Explorer 7, continues to support the OpenSearch standard for search providers.
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