Vista : The Review

Amongst the existing Microsoft products, one of them is generally much more criticized than the others: Internet Explorer. True entrance gate towards the entire system when the computer is connected to the Internet, the current version 6 contains few elements protecting the system from intrusions. To speak the truth, it often just corrects the doors that are left wide opened. However, it has to be noted that the Windows XP Service Pack 2 has reduced by almost half the rate of defect discovery.

The Security on Internet Explorer 7

The development priority of Internet Explorer 7 has therefore been changed, like for the rest of Vista, and became the security. To this end, it integrates several interesting functionalities. The ActiveX Opt-in for example deactivates by default all ActiveX components to limit the exposition to attacks. Users must thus activate them manually the first time they run them. It is also possible to start Internet Explorer without any additional modules with a right-click, if for example the browser would not be accessible anymore.


Like with Firefox, it is now possible to get rid of the files in the cache, passwords, forms data, cookies and the history in a single window. Internet Explorer 7 is equipped with a filter against phishing, a technique consisting in imitating websites by others and allows people with bad intentions to retrieve personal data such as credit card numbers. This filter is updated several times a day thanks to information from Microsoft and many partners. It is used in addition of heuristic algorithms (behavior analysis).

The scripts operation has also been revised to avoid jumping between windows and domains. Thus, a script executed in a window for example will in no way be able to access another window. In general, Internet Explorer 7 will keep users inform about the security level of a site. If the security level is too low, users will receive a warning through the information bar to determine preferences.

The URL analysis algorithm had been entirely reconceived in order to limit the number of possible exploitations. Because of the addition of international domain names, Internet Explorer 7 integrates an anti-spoofing technique as well aiming to warn users if similar characters in the URL are not expressed in the same language. Every window, including pop-ups, will have to display the address bar.

The Vista version of Internet Explorer 7 features two specific security functions. The parental control available in the system is integrated in Internet Explorer 7, making it more efficient. There is no doubt that the last security function, the protected mode, is the most interesting. We have seen previously that the UAC accounts system allowed the limitation of application rights. Actually, the UAC uses the Mandatory Integrity Control (MIC) which enables the configuration of resources according to three levels of integrity :

• The high level for administrators
• The medium level for users
• The low level which will be used in Internet Explorer 7. This level gives the browser and its plug-ins the writing access to specific folders only, such as the cache, cookies, the temporary files repertory and the history.
  

Like for the UAC, a compatibility layer intervenes for the writing in the user account (see security chapter). If a weakness was to be discovered, it would only have an extremely minor impact. Microsoft is seriously counting on this functionality to stop the leaking phenomenon on Internet Explorer.

”Few” Corrected Bugs

Concerning the rendering engine, Microsoft focused on correcting the most important bugs. Internet Explorer 7 does not pass the acid2 test, but we are all aware of the debate over this test which very few browsers are capable of passing today (Konqueror and Safari). Its utilization of CSS functionalities being poorly used makes it more a goal to reach than a real way of knowing how current web pages will be displayed in the browser. Here is a list of famous bugs that have been corrected. Most of them have been around for a long time and are very well known by websites developers :

• Peekaboo bug
• Guillotine bug
• Duplicate Character bug
• Border Chaos
• No Scroll bug
• 3 Pixel Text Jog
• Magic Creeping Text bug
• Bottom Margin bug on Hover
• Losing the ability to highlight text under the top border
• IE/Win Line-height bug
• Double Float Margin Bug
• Quirky Percentages in IE
• Duplicate indent
• Moving viewport scrollbar outside HTML borders
• 1px border style
• Disappearing List-background
• Fix width: auto
  

Additions:

• HTML 4.01 ABBR tag
• Improved (though not yet perfect) <object> fallback
• CSS 2.1 Selector support (child, adjacent, attribute, first-child etc.)
• CSS 2.1 Fixed positioning
• Alpha channel in PNG images
• Fix :hover on all elements
• Background-attachment: fixed on all elements not just body
  

The XMLHTTPRequest used in AJAX programming does not pass by an ActiveX anymore but by a native Javascript function, allowing a better compatibility with the other browsers.

And What About the Interface?

Regarding the interface, Internet Explorer 7 now includes a search bar where as many search engines as possible can be added. Concerning the printing, Internet Explorer 7 is capable of resizing a web page if it is larger than the printing zone. The preview interface enables users to resize the margins directly with the mouse.



The favorites, the history, the RSS feeds, are integrated in the favorites for an easier and faster access. Concerning RSS feeds, an icon appears in the tools bar when they are detected on a web page. Thus, it is possible to read a feed thanks to an integrated reader and add the feed in the favorites. To keep a certain “harmonization”, Microsoft and Mozilla agreed on a same icon to signal the flows on Internet Explorer and Firefox.



Because of the strong demand of users, IE 7 will have tabs at last, enabling switching between different web pages in a single window. Tabs can be gathered to be saved and reloaded later or even saved in the favorites or as homepages. Therefore, when the browser starts, several pages can be opened as homepages. The “Quick tab” function enables the visualization of all the tabs with the labels of the different pages. A multiple scales zoom will also be available.

The development of Internet Explorer is not over and we will have the opportunity to come back on this subject. After all, this version 7 must help the company catch up with the competition, not to forget that meanwhile the competition keeps developing their own products.

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