When is ie9 released

More Insider Sign Out. Sign In Register. Sign Out Sign In Register. Latest Insider. Check out the latest Insider stories here. More from the IDG Network. Microsoft leaks IE9 look, reveals 'Chromifying'. Microsoft slates IE9 beta for September. The notifications for background downloads has added some subtle animation to help make it more obvious when the download is complete. Clicking ActiveX Filtering on the Safety menu acts like a master switch that universally disables all ActiveX controls on all sites.

Outside of the U. With ActiveX Filtering on, Flash content is silently disabled, with no prompts to install or re-enable the plugin. In my testing, this feature worked flawlessly; the only indication that content has been blocked is a subtle blue icon at the end of the address bar, which displays this message when clicked.

That re-enables ActiveX controls, and the blocked Flash content appears as soon as you refresh the page. ActiveX Filtering is off by default, but as soon as you enable it you get a true opt-in system that works on a site-by-site basis. Any content that depends on ActiveX including Flash is completely blocked until you explicitly enable it for a site.

In terms of privacy, the big news in IE9 is a feature called Tracking Protection. Although Google and Mozilla have both announced their own no-tracking features, their solutions are completely passive and their effectiveness depends on full cooperation from web sites and advertisers. Good luck with that. Tracking Protection in IE9 is off by default. When you enable it, though, it is active and aggressive. The most basic level of protection is a vastly improved version of In-Private Filtering.

Turn the feature on and you can automatically or selectively block any HTTP requests from being sent by IE to a third-party site. In this case, I've sorted the list to show which third-party sites are tracking my movements around the web. I could block them all, but instead I've told IE to reject all DoubleClick ads and several widely used analytics services.

I've also blocked Facebook's JavaScript code while alllowing the Like button to work. The more interesting and potentially revolutionary extension of Tracking Protection allows outside groups—consumer protection agencies, security firms, and so on—to create lists of sites that will be blocked. The originator of the list can update it at any time, and IE will periodically refresh its cached copy.

It will be interesting to see whether consumer protection groups jump on this opportunity. It would also be nice if Mozilla and Google would adopt the same format for their privacy-blocking efforts, but I'm not holding my breath. For me, the most satisfying part of enabling this feature was blocking—once and for all—those hideous pop-up ads disguised as double-underlined links, from sites like Kontera and Vibrant Media.

One click of the Block button and those fake links vanished for good, without any requirement on my part to manage cookies or find the buried opt-out instructions from the ad provider. My only complaint is that the blood-red warnings unfairly penalize small software makers, who might be perfectly honest but whose products are less likely to be installed after an unskilled user sees a warning like this one.

I've blurred the name to protect the innocent developer in this case. Browser security is an endurance match—a slugfest, really—between good guys and bad guys. With this release, Microsoft has given the bad guys enough of a challenge to keep them busy for a while—maybe even long enough to last till IE10 is ready. Over the course of 18 months of development, with seven developer previews and one full-fledged public beta, Microsoft has steadily ratcheted page load times down and increased its score on common benchmarks for IE9.

Go here to download. Internet Explorer is a component of the Windows operating system OS and follows the Lifecycle Policy for the product on which it is installed and supported. Please note that the Internet Explorer IE 11 desktop application will end support for certain operating systems starting June 15, Customers are encouraged to move to Microsoft Edge with IE mode. IE mode enables backward compatibility and will be supported through at least Additionally, Microsoft will provide notice one year prior to retiring IE mode.

Please go here to learn more. Go here for a list of products offering ESUs. For help migrating from IE 11 to Edge, go here. Yes, Internet Explorer 11 is the last major version of Internet Explorer. His e-mail address is gkeizer computerworld. Here are the latest Insider stories. More Insider Sign Out. Sign In Register. Sign Out Sign In Register. Latest Insider.