With security being paramount in todays computing world, the gear symboled Tools button is your gateway to the security features in IE7. Located on the same line as your tabs, the Tools button is a drop down menu that also combines some standard View functionality as well. Here you can turn the adequate pop-up blocker on and off, manage your browser add-ins (small programs that you can integrate, think the Yahoo! toolbar), and toggle the phishing filter. Phishing filter? Believe it or not, the concept of phishing has been around for years. When a website is phishing, it is either mocking a well-known site, or is dressed up to appear legit. The sites usually ask for confidential information, such as credit card and social security numbers, and fools the unsuspecting user into volunteering this information. IE7 allows you to turn the phishing filter on or off, in an attempt to catch these frauds. An example, that doesn't try to rob you, of a “phishing” style site is the semi-famous page that is brought up when you search for “French Military Victories” in Google and hit “I'm feeling lucky”.
Internet Explorer 7 is a long time coming for Microsoft, especially to the casual user's perspective. Sure there are more features if you poke around the application, but the standout tabbed browsing makes it worth the time it takes to upgrade. One can only hope that Vista turns out to be as solid a release.
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