Download.it search icon
Advertisement

Secure internet browser from Microsoft with enhanced features and customization

Secure internet browser from Microsoft with enhanced features and customization

Vote: (113 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: Microsoft Corporation

Version: 10.0.9200.16521

Works under: Windows

Vote:

Program license

(113 votes)

Free

Developer

Version

Microsoft Corporation

10.0.9200.16521

Works under:

Windows

Pros

  • Works with many plugins
  • Relatively lightweight
  • Supports low RAM environments

Cons

  • Doesn't come with recent hotfixes
  • May not work with certain types of recent dynamic HTML

Internet Explorer 10 64-bit is the penultimate development of the original classic web browser. Some form of IE has been around the Windows operating environment for years. The tenth edition should prove full compatible with 64-bit Wintel machines running the latest hardware. While other older versions might run into some rendering issues, this update is more or less free of the problems you'd otherwise experience when working with Explorer on modern hardware.

That being said, they haven't done anything to drastically change the interface. While it does support modern UI elements like tabs, IE 10 is still essentially the classic browser that you might very well have used for years. That means that you're free to use the same links and pull-down menus that you may have worked with when using other versions of the software.

It also means that any keyboard shortcuts you've taken the time to learn are still included by default. The software provides a list of each of these next to each element whenever you bring down a menu. While IE isn't an ideal solution for those who prefer to rely exclusively on the keyboard when browsing, it's completely possible to do so. IE even supports Windows' accessibility settings, so those who have special usability requirements can configure the software until it meets their needs.

In some ways, this makes it a more attractive option for kiosk operators than most modern browser. IE is also a good fit for those who might not be able to run a newer browser as the result of some kind of hardware problem. PCs with a small amount of RAM installed in them might not function well with some browsers, but IE shouldn't have a problem running in this kind of environment.

The browser supports a number of plugins, even though it doesn't always accurately load the most recent versions of them. If you've found that later browsers won't support a certain plugin, then you might have better luck loading it in IE 10 than you would with anything else.

A few vendors even created plugins that specifically worked with IE 10, so if you have one of these you might want to download and install this browser instead. The software will respect user system preferences, so you can actually run it alongside another browser as well.

When IE prompts you to configure it as the default browser, you'll want to make sure that you say not to. Once you do, it'll take a moment to preserve your current settings before loading. Whenever you click links in other applications, the resources that they point to will load in your original default browser. You're then free to use IE 10 for whatever other tasks you need it for.

Web developers in particular will love this feature because it allows them to see how their site might load in more than one browser. It'll also give them some idea how their resources will load on machines that aren't running the latest hardware.

In spite of the fact that IE 10 lacks some of the latest security patches, there's a lot you can do to lock it down. A visit to the preferences screen gives you the chance to disable deprecated protocols and remove any extensions that you're not actually using. You can also set potentially dangerous sites on a blocklist that IE 10 almost always respects.

Best of all, you can permanently block any site by redirecting it to a null IP address in your hosts file. IE 10 never goes around the hosts file, unlike some more modern pieces of browsing software, which is again a big benefit for developers who are trying to put together static HTML sites that work with a variety of environments.

Pros

  • Works with many plugins
  • Relatively lightweight
  • Supports low RAM environments

Cons

  • Doesn't come with recent hotfixes
  • May not work with certain types of recent dynamic HTML