The new InPrivate browsing mode allows users to surf the internet without leaving obvious traces on the client. The effectiveness of this feature will only become apparent over time. This 'domain name highlighting' is designed to highlight spoofing and domain-name switches.Ĭross-site scripting attacks are prevented by a new filter, according to Microsoft.ĭata Execution Prevention is now active by default and is designed to frustrate attacks based on buffer overflows. Also, to help users spot phishing attacks, IE8 shows a web site's domain name in bold black and greys out the remainder of the URL. The filter now actively scans web sites for malware. Internet Explorer has been under continuous bombardment from malware authors, so Microsoft has expanded the security features in the latest version of its browser.įor example, the Phishing Filter that first appeared in Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) has been beefed up. The internet can be viewed as the digital equivalent of the Wild West, so the security of a browser is crucial. Meanwhile, web site owners can only hope that one day Internet Explorer will be able to make compatibility-mode decisions automatically. In this way, Microsoft has satisfactorily resolved a major compatibility problem. Whether you choose to to intervene manually or use the Microsoft-supplied list depends on the sites you regularly visit. The first version of the list contains more than 1,400 addresses, including some of Microsoft's own. This list saves you from having to switch engines manually. You can opt to have Microsoft supply the browser with an automatically compiled list of incompatible sites that will be surfed using the IE7 engine. The site is then reloaded using the older engine and IE8 will save the setting. If you notice display errors in the page you're browsing, you can enable a Compatibility View via a button next to Refresh in the address bar. To circumvent this problem, Microsoft has integrated a compatibility mode that falls back on the proven IE7 engine. The new rendering engine in IE8 highlights the consequences of that optimisation, displaying errors ranging from barely perceptible shifts in page layouts to the rarer occurrence of non-working menus. Many web sites are optimised for the peculiarities of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and its predecessors.

Microsoft's new-found enthusiasm for web standards is to be welcomed, but some issues remain.

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