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The Internet Explorer Browser

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is a free web browser from Microsoft.

Internet Explorer was released in 1995 and is one of the most popular browsers today.

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Internet Explorer Statistics

The following table is a breakdown of the Internet Explorer numbers from our Browsers Statistics:

2012 Total IE 10 IE 9 IE 8 IE 7 IE 6
January 20.1 % 0.1 % 5.3 % 10.5 % 3.1 % 1.1 %
             
2011 Total   IE 9 IE 8 IE 7 IE 6
December 20.2 %   5.1 % 10.7 % 3.2 % 1.2 %
November  21.2 %   5.1 % 11.5 % 3.4 % 1.2 %
October 21.7 %   5.1 % 11.8 % 3.5 % 1.3 %
September 22.9 %   4.8 % 12.4 % 3.9 % 1.8 %
August 22.5 %   4.2 % 11.9 % 4.2 % 2.0 %
July 22.0 %   3.9 % 11.7 % 4.1 % 2.3 %
June 23.2 %   3.6 % 12.9 % 4.4 % 2.3 %
May 24.9 %   3.1 % 14.1 % 5.3 % 2.4 %
April 24.3 %   2.1 % 14.8 % 4.9 % 2.5 %
March 25.8 %   1.1 % 16.3 % 5.4 % 3.0 %
February 26.5 %   0.6 % 16.7 % 5.7 % 3.5 %
January 26.6 %   0.5 % 16.6 % 5.7 % 3.8 %
             
2010 Total   IE 9 IE 8 IE 7 IE 6
December 27.5 %   0.5 % 16.5 % 6.1 % 4.4 %
November 28.6 %   0.4 % 17.6 % 6.5 % 4.1 %
October 29.7 %   0.4 % 17.3 % 7.2 % 4.8 %
September 31.1 %   0.2 % 17.3 % 8.0 % 5.6 %
August 30.7 %     16.2 % 7.8 % 6.7 %
July 30.4 %     15.6 % 7.6 % 7.2 %
June 31.0 %     15.7 % 8.1 % 7.2 %
May 32.2 %     16.0 % 9.1 % 7.1 %
April 33.4 %     16.2 % 9.3 % 7.9 %
March 34.9 %     15.3 % 10.7 % 8.9 %
February 35.3 %     14.7 % 11.0 % 9.6 %
January 36.2 %     14.3 % 11.7 % 10.2 %
             
2009 Total     IE 8 IE 7 IE 6
December 37.2 %     13.5 % 12.8 % 10.9 %
November 37.7 %     13.3 % 13.3 % 11.1 %
October 37.5 %     12.8 % 14.1 % 10.6 %
September 39.6 %     12.2 % 15.3 % 12.1 %
August 39.3 %     10.6 % 15.1 % 13.6 %
July 39.4 %     9.1 % 15.9 % 14.4 %
June 40.7 %     7.1 % 18.7 % 14.9 %
May 41.0 %     5.2 % 21.3 % 14.5 %
April 42.1 %     3.5 % 23.2 % 15.4 %
March 43.3 %     1.4 % 24.9 % 17.0 %
February 43.6 %     0.8 % 25.4 % 17.4 %
January 44.8 %     0.6 % 25.7 % 18.5 %
             
2008 Total     IE 7 IE 6 IE 5
December 46.0 %     26.1 % 19.6 % 0.3 %
November 47.0 %     26.6 % 20.0 % 0.4 %
October 47.4 %     26.9 % 20.2 % 0.3 %
September 49.0 %     26.3 % 22.3 % 0.4 %
August 51.0 %     26.0 % 24.5 % 0.5 %
July 52.4 %     26.4 % 25.3 % 0.7 %
June 54.2 %     27.0 % 26.5 % 0.7 %
May 54.4 %     26.5 % 27.3 % 0.6 %
April 54.8 %     24.9 % 28.9 % 1.0 %
March 53.9 %     23.3 % 29.5 % 1.1 %
February 54.7 %     22.7 % 30.7 % 1.3 %
January 54.7 %     21.2 % 32.0 % 1.5 %
             
2007 Total     IE 7 IE 6 IE 5
November 56.0 %     20.8 % 33.6 % 1.6 %
September 57.2 %     20.8 % 34.9 % 1.5 %
July 58.5 %     20.1 % 36.9 % 1.5 %
May 58.9 %     19.2 % 38.1 % 1.6 %
March 58.7 %     18.0 % 38.7 % 2.0 %
January 58.6 %     13.3 % 42.3 % 3.0 %
             
2006 Total     IE 7 IE 6 IE 5
November 60.6 %     7.1 % 49.9 % 3.6 %
September 62.1 %     2.5 % 55.6 % 4.0 %
July 62.4 %     1.9 % 56.3 % 4.2 %
May 63.0 %     1.1 % 57.4 % 4.5 %
March 64.7 %     0.6 % 58.8 % 5.3 %
January 66.0 %     0.2 % 60.3 % 5.5 %
             
2005 Total       IE 6 IE 5
November 68.9 %       62.7 % 6.2 %
September 75.5 %       69.8 % 5.7 %
July 73.8 %       67.9 % 5.9 %
May 71.6 %       64.8 % 6.8 %
March 72.5 %       63.6 % 8.9 %
January 74.5 %       64.8 % 9.7 %
             
2004 Total       IE 6 IE 5
November 76.2 %       66.0 % 10.2 %
September 79.0 %       67.8 % 11.2 %
July 80.4 %       67.2 % 13.2 %
May 81.9 %       68.1 % 13.8 %
March 82.8 %       68.2 % 14.6 %
January 84.7 %       68.9 % 15.8 %
             
2003 Total       IE 6 IE 5
November 84.9 %       71.2 % 13.7 %
September 86.6 %       69.7 % 16.9 %
July 87.2 %       66.9 % 20.3 %
May 87.7 %       65.0 % 22.7 %
March 88.0 %       63.4 % 24.6 %
January 84.6 %       55.3 % 29.3 %
             
2002 Total     IE 6 IE 5 IE4
November 83.4 %     53.5 % 29.9 %  
September 83.5 %     49.1 % 34.4 %  
July 85.0 %     44.4 % 40.1 % 0.5%
May 87.4 %     40.7 % 46.0 % 0.7%
March 86.8 %     36.7 % 49.4 % 0.7%
January 86.8 %     30.1 % 55.7 % 1.0%

These statistics are based on W3Schools users.

Internet Explorer 9

Internet Explorer 9 was released in March 2011.

New features:

  • Revamped Interface - Gives you the basic controls and puts the focus on site viewing
  • Breezing Fast Speed - IE9 is much faster than its previous IE versions. Hardware-accelerated text, video and graphics speed up performance that makes websites perform like programs installed on your computer. Also, IE9 uses video card to make everything faster
  • Pin Websites To Windows 7 Taskbar - Microsoft have partnership with sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pandora which allows you to see own taskbar complete with jumplist support
  • Unified Address Bar - The address bar is a unified box for navigating the site or start a search
  • Redesigned New Tab Page - Gives a quick access to the sites you visit often. You can also reopen closed tabs, or your last browsing session, or start a new InPrivate browsing session
  • Improved Add-on Management - A new feature called Add-on Performance Adviser gives you an idea about which add-on is slowing down your browsers and allows you to remove it
  • Better Privacy Features - The tracking protection feature enables you to limit the sites that can track your information
  • Better HTML5/CSS3 Support - IE9 also supports SVG and Canvas graphics
  • New Download Manager - Allows you to view files that are downloading through your browser, and notifies when a file is malicious or contains viruses. It also helps you to pause any of the download and resume it later.
  • Enhanced Tab Management - You can easily move tabs between windows by tearing them from one window to another. After placing your tab in a new windows it won’t reload the page.

Internet Explorer 8

Internet Explorer 8 was released in March 2009.

New features:

  • Accelerators - quick access to web services. E.g. On a restaurant web site, click within the page to get maps, news, information, or share it on Facebook
  • Web Slice - keep up with changes to the sites you care about most
  • Compatibility View - shows the page as in IE7
  • Search Suggestions - get suggested content as you type
  • New Tab features - reopen accidentally closed tabs, and group related tabs together with color codes
  • Tab isolation - prevents a faulty web site from crashing the whole browser. Only the tab with the error will close
  • InPrivate Browsing - browse the web without saving any data (like passwords, cookies, browsing history, etc.)
  • SmartScreen Filter - protects you against installation of malware, or malicious software which can compromise your data, privacy, and identity, and also damaging your computer and valuable data

IE 8 has full support for CSS 2.1. In addition, it has fixed many cross-browser inconsistencies such as get/set/removeAttribute, default attributes, Attribute object and the <q> tag.

Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 7.0 was released in November 2006. IE7 was the standard browser in Windows XP with Service Pack 2.

New features:

  • Advanced printing - automatically scales a webpage for printing
  • Instant Search box
  • Favorites Center
  • RSS feeds - automatically detects RSS feeds
  • Tabbed browsing - view multiple sites in a single browser window
  • Quick Tabs
  • Tab Groups
  • Page zoom

Internet Explorer for Macintosh

Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer for Mac on December 31st, 2005.

Mac users are recommended to use other browsers, such as Apple's Safari.

Older Internet Explorer Versions

IE 6.0 (released in 2001). Was the standard browser in Windows XP.

IE 5.5 (released in 2000) Support for XML/XSL, CSS, print preview and HTC behaviors.

IE 5.0 (released in 1999) The first major browser with XML support.

IE 4.0 (released in 1997). Support for CSS and DOM.

IE 3.0 (released in 1996) is now used by less than 0.1%.

IE 2.0 (released in 1995). It is too old. Nobody uses it.

IE 1.0 (released in 1995). Does anyone remember it?

Microsoft Internet Explorer Resources

Microsoft's Support Site
Microsoft's support website has a searchable knowledge database, articles, forums, and tutorials full of solutions and tips for a better experience.


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