How Internet Explorer 9 caused a seismic shift in the way people use the web

From: The Windows Club 5-22-2010

15th September! This day is not only remembered for the magnificient opening ceremony of the XXVII olympics ceremony in Sydney in 2000 but it also saw the birth of a beautiful web in 2010. Internet Explorer 9 Beta was released this day and attracted around 694 downloads per minute.


IE9 is surely a seismic shift in the way people use the web and is far better than its previous versions. Its safety and security features can be gauged from the fact that the SmartScreen protection feature blocks between 2 and 5 million malware attacks daily, including that on the IE8.

1 out of every 14 programs downloaded is later confirmed as malware and Microsoft’s SmartScreen technology has blocked more than 1.5 billion attempted malware attacks, thus allaying fears over the security of Internet Explorer and providing users a real beautiful web.

IE9 comes with the added advantage of Application Reputation where it helps protect users from undetected malware masquerading as legitimate executable downloads, while also removing unnecessary warnings when a download has an established reputation. This lead to a dramatic reduction in malware infection and suddenly people using IE9 started feeling safe. The Application Reputation feature helped users to actually not run or delete malware 95% of the time where clicking through the “unknown warning” carries a risk between 25% and 70% of malware infection.

If you fear about being tracked on the web, then hang on. Because with the Tracking Protection feature, Internet Explorer 9 offers users a new opt-in mechanism to identify and block many forms of undesired tracking such as cookies, web beacons, advertisements and trackers. The ActiveX Filter, with the ability to block ActiveX controls, allows users to switch off ActiveX elements within their session, furthering Microsoft’s commitment to security within its browser.

With Windows Phone 7 planning to include a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 later this year and with the platform preview of Internet Explorer 10 already launched; if you thought this might be all there is to it, then you are wrong. Because this is just the beginning of a more beautiful web!

I think its great how IE9 is drawing more attention to itself as a better browser. Not too long ago I didn't want an extra browser installed on my machine. I can imagine there are others that think the same way. This is great news for those that think the way I did before I installed other browsers.

I know a few people that would probably still be using Netscape if they were still updating that browser. However Netscape has not been supported in many years and forced those who were using Netscape to return to Internet Explorer. To some degree those that I am referring to are probably reluctant to switch from IE because they already did so in the past and found the browser of their choice hit a dead end.

I posted this article on other forums I belong to every little bit helps