Microsoft releases beta 3 of IE7

By Steve Malone

Posted on 30 Jun 2006 at 10:03

Microsoft has posted Beta 3 of Internet Explorer on its website. The new version which supersedes the last Beta posted back in April is being touted as stable enough for anyone to download and play with.

Beta brings the standalone version into line with that shipped with the Vista build, No. 5456, which was made available to technical beta testers for download earlier this month.

The new version contains changes to the usability by enabling users to add the email button back to the toolbar, reorder their tabs by dragging them to the left or right and scroll horizontally while zooming. There have also been a number of compatibility advances with websites and web applications, and reliability has improved with several IE7 layout rendering bugs being fixed.

In addition, IE7 Beta 3 now allows users to update all their RSS feeds automatically and allows more control for the user in marking their RSS feeds as 'read'. Finally, all the security problems dealt with in the June security update have been addressed.

Microsoft says that this release is the final beta for IE7. The next versions to appear will be Release Candidates followed by general availability in the second half of the year.

Before you can use the latest Beta you must uninstall any previous IE7 builds before installing this one. IE7 Beta 3 runs on Windows XP SP2, Windows XP x64, and Windows Server 2003 SP1. Microsoft says this beta does not install on Windows Vista Beta 2; a new version of IE7+ in Windows Vista will be available with the next public Windows Vista release soon.