Quick overview:
The release candidate - an almost finished preliminary version - of Internet Explorer 9 is now available in 40 languages at www.beautyoftheweb.com. According to Microsoft's IE development department, the feedback from over 17,000 bug reports from beta testers has been taken to heart and the RC has been significantly improved in terms of performance, standards, user interface, security and privacy. Windows-Tweaks reveals the best tips for installing and using IE9.
The installation
Internet Explorer 9 is available in 32- and 64-bit versions for Windows Vista and Windows 7 directly at http://windows.microsoft.com/de-DE/internet-explorer/downloads/ie-9/worldwide-languages. Caution: The installation may require several background programs to be closed. If you confirm this, Microsoft's own virus protection "Microsoft Security Essentials", for example, will also be deactivated.
After installation, it is also necessary to restart the PC. In the following, Windows Tweaks reveals a few tricks that can be used to improve operation:
First steps
If you want to have your favorites quickly at hand for fast surfing, switch on the bookmark function immediately after installation: Simply right-click on the "window frame" of Internet Explorer and select "Favorites bar":
Set multiple start pages
Click on the cogwheel and select "Internet options". You should already see an entry for your start page under "Start page". Click with the cursor behind the entry, press the Enter key and type in another start page. You can specify one additional start page per line.
Change tab behavior
Finally you can also decide what happens when you open a new tab in IE9:
Should only a blank page be displayed? Or the start page? Or just the "New tab" page? This is how you control the tab behavior: Click on the wrench and select "Internet options". Under "Tabs", click on "Settings". In the selection field...
...you decide what should happen when a new tab is opened.
Change the number of QuickTabs
When opening a new tab, IE9 displays the 8 most frequently opened websites by default (see screenshot above). If you want to increase or decrease this number, proceed as follows: Open the registry editor and in it open the key "HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerTabbedBrowsingNewTabPage". Create the DWORD value "NumRows" here (right-click and "New/DWORD value"). Double click on it and type in the number of rows for "Your most popular pages". In the example, we increase the number from "2" to "3" and thus have 12 instead of 8 tabs!
Remove add-ons
Internet Explorer 9 takes a strict approach to add-ons: Many add-ons are disabled by default. Nevertheless, you should check the list of add-ons and deactivate those that you do not need. This improves the loading time when opening IE9 and when surfing: To do this, click on the cogwheel at the top and select "Manage add-ons". Select an add-on that you do not want and select "Deactivate".
Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve? Let us know!
Sincerely,
Yours, Sandro Villinger
On Windows Tweaks you will find time-saving tech guides for PC, software & Microsoft. For a stress-free digital everyday life. Already we have been "tweaking" Windows since 1998 and just won't stop!
