“Microsoft has made Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) available to the general public,” BBC News reports. “The new version is the first upgrade to the web browsing program for more than five years.”
“New features include tabbed browsing, the ability to search the net directly and an anti-fraud system to thwart phishing attacks,” The Beeb reports. “The new program is available as a free download on 19 October, but many will get it as an automatic update to Windows XP in November.”
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7 is “seen as an attempt by Microsoft to catch up with rival browsers as it includes features that have long been seen in competitors such as Firefox and Opera,” The Beeb reports.
MacDailyNews Note: And Apple’s Safari which, of course, The Beeb ignores.
The Beeb continues, “With the new version, it is possible to open up tabs rather than windows for new webpages and subscribe to RSS feeds via the browser. One controversial new feature is the addition of a box that lets people search the net directly from the browser rather than through a dedicated webpage. This defaults to Microsoft’s own search engine, but in a last minute change the software company is letting users choose which search site this feature should call upon.”
“IE 7 will also be the default browser for the next version of Microsoft Windows, known as Vista, that is due to be launched in 2007,” The Beeb reports.
Full article here.
Les than 24 hours after release, a vulnerability has already been discovered in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.x, “which can be exploited by malicious people to disclose potentially sensitive information,” Secunia reports. “The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of redirections for URLs with the “mhtml:” URI handler. This can be exploited to access documents served from another web site.”
Secunia has confirmed the vulnerability on a fully patched system with Internet Explorer 7.0 and Microsoft Windows XP SP2 and says ther versions may also be affected.
Secunia advises users to “disable active scripting support.”
Secunia Advisory here.