Labs

Internet Explorer is by far the most popular web browser, but we don't often hear people singing its praises. However, there is plenty to like in this latest version. With its features and ease of use, it has finally caught up with the competition.

Its use of tabbed windows is the best here. A second tab is always ready and waiting - Firefox and Safari users have to go to the File menu or type Ctrl-T - and a Quick Tabs button shows thumbnails of all your open tabs. RSS feeds are handled

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elegantly, with filtering of stories by text search or date. A Search bar accesses various search engines, but searches aren't available by right-clicking a word on a page. Finding a word on a page is clumsy, as the pop-up window partially obscures the page.

Internet Explorer is often criticised for its poor handling of web standards. Sure enough, version 7 makes a hash of the Acid2 test at www.webstandards.org, although the beta of Internet Explorer 8 passed. While IE7's page-rendering flaws are a pain for designers, they have little impact on users; its popularity means that nearly every page on the web has been designed to work with it. In fact, Google Maps was quicker and printed more accurately in IE than in the other browsers. Furthermore some websites, such as those for certain online banks and music download shops, work only with IE. Unfortunately, there are also more security threats designed to exploit its flaws.

Despite IE7's underlying issues, it's the most reliable way to view the web. With a rounded set of core features, it's an excellent choice.