Next IE includes features to keep browsing secret

Next Internet Explorer includes
features to keep browsing secret

By TODD BISHOP
SeattlePI.com
August 27, 2008

Microsoft Corp.'s next Internet Explorer version will come with a special mode that, when activated, stops the program from recording browsing history or storing data and files related to the Web sites a user visits.

To everyone else, it's "porn mode," but Microsoft calls it "InPrivate Browsing." And the company's marketers are doing their best to imagine other scenarios in which it could come in handy.

"Examples might be, I'm planning a surprise trip to the theater for my wife, and I don't want her to see that I'm buying the tickets for that," said Microsoft's James Pratt, its Internet Explorer senior product manager.

Microsoft isn't the first browser maker to offer that capability, but private browsing was one of many new Internet Explorer features made available for testing Tuesday in the latest preview of Internet Explorer 8.

With the new preview, known as Beta 2, the company says the product is largely "feature complete," meaning that there won't be significant changes or new features added between now and the final release.

Microsoft hasn't given a date for that final release.

Internet Explorer 8 will be the second big upgrade from Microsoft since Mozilla's Firefox browser rose to prominence and took a big chunk of Internet Explorer's market share. Microsoft's browser remains dominant, but Firefox has risen to about 20 percent of the market, by some measures. Other competitors include Opera and Apple's Safari browser.

The influence of Firefox can be seen in some elements of Internet Explorer 8, said Mike Shaver, Mozilla's interim vice president of engineering.

Examples include Microsoft's Smart Address Bar, which will let users type words into the address bar to search through favorites, history and online feeds to find content containing those words. Among other things, that means people can return to sites they've visited by searching for keywords on the page, even if they don't remember the site name or address.

Firefox 3.0, released in June, has a similar feature called the Smart Location Bar, and the next version of the Opera browser will have one called Quick Find.

Internet Explorer is "clearly becoming a more Firefox-like browser, and I think that's an improvement," Shaver said.

Another new feature in Internet Explorer 8: The instant search box in the upper right of the IE 8 browser frame has been enhanced with a drop-down to show search suggestions from the selected search provider. When people use the search box to query some specialized sites, such as Amazon.com or eBay, the IE8 drop-down will show pictures, information and other graphics from the sites, related to the suggested search terms.

A new privacy feature, dubbed InPrivate Blocking, lets users block select online services from tracking and collecting data about what they do online.

New security protections include a feature called the SmartScreen filter, which expands upon the Phishing Filter in Internet Explorer 7. The company says the upgraded feature protects from new types of online attacks and security hacks.

Another feature, called "Tab Groups," is activated when someone opens a new browser tab from within another tab. Both tabs are given the same color to indicate that they're related.

The first Internet Explorer 8 test version, issued earlier this year, focused mostly on changes under the hood, for Web developers and designers. The new one is aimed more at end users.

It can be downloaded at microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/.

-----------------------------

P-I reporter Todd Bishop can be reached at 206-448-8221 or toddbishop@seattlepi.com. Read his Microsoft blog at blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/376773_msftie28.html

.