Last weekend I downloaded – and started using Internet Explorer 7.0. I have to say, so far so good. One of the big additions to 7.0 is the easy access to RSS feeds. (Now the RSS feeds are just a click away, which means (for web publishers out there) that I think RSS will soon be worth including on your site if you update frequently.)

Things I liked:

The latest Explorer also includes “tabs” in a browser window so that you can have several web sites open in one browser, accessible through the tabs. As I recall Firefox has this too. The added feature I like is that you can view all of your tabs at once (in thumbnail view) by clicking a button.

New Explorer assumes you want a search button on the browser with easy access to a search engine(s) of your choice, again I like this but since I previously used Google Toolbar this wasn’t a huge difference.

New Explorer includes a virus check (always nice!) and a phish detector. (Phishing is akin to being an online imposter. Someone creates and email or a web site to look like it is hosted by someone else – such as your bank – on the hopes that you will provide confidential information.) The Phish detector alerts you to suspicious sites.

Things I didn’t like:

Maybe it’s my imagination but my computer seems to run a little slower now that I’m running 7.0. I’ve always had more than one window open at a time – and generally several Explorer windows, but – right or wrong – it seems as if the tabs are draining my Internet access.

Again this may be my imagination – but after I downloaded 7.0, the login information I need to upload half of my web sites (which is on Dreamweaver, a completely different, non-Microsoft software) disappeared.

So there’s my two cents worth. You’ll have to let me know what you think if you have tried it.