Internet Explorer 7 RC1 Installation Walk-through With Pictures
I have been aware that IE7 RC1 was released, but with my bad experience with IE7 Beta 3 I wasn't really jumping up to download IE7 again. Now to IE behalf I must tell you that Firefox's Beta version was just as bad… and I ended up uninstalling and removing both from my computer. Leaving me with IE6 and FF 1.5 installed and used equally on my computer… and last leaving me with "I don't know which browser I like better" thoughts on my mind all the time.
Despite all that… I decided to go ahead and install Internet Explorer 7 RC1 (IE7 RC1) and try it out… I waited for two days and still wanted to do it, so I did. The installation was very simple, but did take close to 10 minutes to install. But my computer could be affected by many things that could easily slow it down. I am using IE7 at the moment here, giving it a test run.
I haven't decided which browser I like better, Firefox or Internet Explorer… but in the mean time, I thought that it would be cool to post screen shots of the installation experience as well as the configuration experiences, and a brief touring experience. Which I will say, were excellent. Also after viewing my home page, which is personalized google, things looked very nice on the screen in IE. The fonts looked richer and more graphic like compared to flat text like… things looked real sharp. But… again, I could care less how good it looked if it wasn't stable to run and kept crashing…
Anyway, things look pretty good, it hasn't crashed yet… so for now, until I decide on which browser I favor, enjoy the screenshots below:
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August 28th, 2006 at 12:40 am
It will take you a few days to get used to the new layout - but when you do, you’ll find it actually makes more sense. And, believe it or not, IE7 uses FAR FEWER resources than does FF with just a couple of extensions. Of course, some extensions push the resources to the moon…
Now, IE7 isn’t hack-proof. It took me all of 18 minutes to nail it down. But compared to Opera (13 minutes on default settings) and Firefox (7 minutes on default settings) and IE6 (4 minutes on default settings), 18 is doing well. Now, if I were to go with the secure settings and not the original defaults, the numbers do change for all browsers.
IE7: 24 min
IE6: 14 min
Opera: 18 min
FF: 11 min
Admittedly, some of these security numbers were acheived by doing some registry work and reconfiguring ports - things 99.9% of users will never be able to accomplish. So for most users who only change the GUI accessible settings, cut 5-15% off those numbers. Firewall types and configs also would have some effect on the numbers, since I am attacking my own computers behind my own firewall.
The really sad thing is this boondoggle known as the Open Source Firefox browser. The only reason it has gained some acceptance is its supposed security. Most of that security was in its default settings, compared to the default settings of pre-SP2 IE6. The rest was in its low market share, because no one wanted to spend the time to engineer a security threat for a single digit percentage of users. Toss a few well guided changes to the settings into the mix and IE6 was just as secure, if not more so. IE7 blows it away, even though it isn’t in full release yet.
And yes, IE will always be less resource intensive because it becomes part of the OS and not a foreign add-on, like FF or Opera are.
If you just can’t stand IE, for whatever reason, do the smart thing and get Opera. In a very short period of time, FF will be exposed for what it is and the current crop of FF supporters will go on, conveniently forgetting all that they said about their favorite browser…
And, don’t forget - I am NOT a Microsoft hack - I’ve been doing UNIX for 30 years and am a preferred Mac user. 8 computers in the house and 5 of them are Mac (2 Intel and 3 Moto). Three are Windows multi-boots. I’ve purchased the full versions of every Opera release since V1, about 8 years ago. I am, however, a realist - I will not diss IE just to be suckered by naive kids who push some freebie junk as better because they can’t afford better.
August 28th, 2006 at 1:37 am
I just downloaded IE7 and my page looks just fine this time round. We’ll see how long it is before things start going wrong with IE7 before I have to uninstall it again, lol. Actually, I hope they’ve got it right this time.
But as regards using Opera, a number of things don’t work properly when viewed through the Opera browser and, as an example, it was impossible to get a Youtube video to play when I had one installed on my page, whereas the video worked perfectly via IE and Firefox.
August 28th, 2006 at 7:07 am
Hey Tim, welcome to the site… After using IE7 again for a second time for me as well… this time RC1 instead of Beta version, things are going much better. I do like how things look. The fonts seems to have more richness to them and overall the pages look better. Thats all fine but I am looking for security and I am starting to lean a little bit towards Internet Explorer.
If things look bad on your site when viewing it in Internet Explorer, well, 60% of the visitors see it as a problem and don’t see it as “Oh I need to get Firefox”. A lot of these people are not like me and you and could care less what they use to browse the Internet… IE4 could still be running if they were still using their older computer.
One thing is for sure… I haven’t been sold on Firefox being better. Most of the people that visit my site are Firefox supporters… but not one has told me a reason why Firefox is better.
Only one person so far has explained anything real…. and that guy favors Internet Explorer… and I am starting to see why.
August 28th, 2006 at 7:58 am
Thanks for the advice, greatly appreciated. Not too well up on RSS etc myself as I prefer to browse the net manually, rather than subscribe to feeds, so thanks for pointing that out to me as I had totally missed it.
August 28th, 2006 at 8:20 am
You are welcome… talk to you later!
- Garry
August 28th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
You should have far fewer issues with it this time around - all of the previous versions were Beta versions - as such, we should expect problems. Garry saw issues with the latest Firefox Beta, as well.
The speed with which MS has been rolling out updates for IE7 is startling. Usually it takes Microsoft quite awhile to get things ironed out. With IE7, it has gotten so good, so fast, I have been using it for the majority of my surfing on my Windows machines. Previously, I was using Opera more often.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:15 am
I have been using IE7 RC1 now for close to 36 hours… no trouble at all, and as a bonus… I like the browser as well! It operates nicely.
August 29th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
What is now trouble at all?
August 29th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
Now trouble is trying to figure out if I should reinstall the OS and then immediately download all the updates including IE7 RC1?
August 30th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
That wouldn’t be a bad idea. After all, you are running Windows & Linux.
September 3rd, 2006 at 9:43 am
Are you thinking that it would be a good idea to reformat the hard drive, reinstall Windows XP, immediately do all the Windows Updates, and install Internet Explorer 7? I am guessing that uninstalling Firefox isn’t going to cut it… once installed, this makes my system less secure, even if its uninstalled?
What did you mean by I am running Windows and Linux? Linux meaning Firefox?
September 3rd, 2006 at 12:04 pm
No, since you’re NOT running a Mac, it would always be a good idea to reload the OS.