subject: An Introduction to Internet Explorer [print this page] An Introduction to Internet Explorer An Introduction to Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and commonly called IE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995. It has been the most widely used web browser since 1999, attaining a peak of about 95% usage share during 2002 and 2003 with IE5 and IE6. Let's get some technical support and learn more about Internet Explorer (IE).
Basically Internet Explorer is a web browser and an interface used to surf the internet. IE was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 in 1995. Later versions were available as free downloads, or in service packs, and included in the OEM service releases of Windows 95 and later versions of Windows.
History of Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer 1 debuted on August 16, 1995. It was a reworked version of Spyglass Mosaic which Microsoft had licensed. Internet Explorer 2 was released for Windows 95, Window NT 3.5 and NT 4.0 on November 22, 1995. The next version, Internet Explorer 3, was released on August 13, 1996, and went on to be much more popular than its predecessors. Internet Explorer 4, released in September 1997 deepened the level of integration between the web browser and the underlying operating system. Internet Explorer 5, launched on March 18, 1999, and subsequently included with Windows 98 Second Edition and bundled with Office 2000, was another significant release. Internet Explorer 6 was released on August 27, 2001, a few months before the launch of Windows XP. Internet Explorer 7 was released on October 18, 2006.
The Present
The latest version, Internet Explorer 8 was released on March 19, 2009. It had been in development since August 2007. On March 5, 2008, the first public beta (Beta 1) was released. On August 27, 2008, the second public beta (Beta 2) was released. It is supported in Windows XP SP2 and SP3, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. For any sort of problem with your IE, you can always opt for help desk support.
IE6 and IE7 are commonly used nowadays, although IE 8 is the latest. You can find out the version of IE by opening the Internet Explorer page and then going to the "help" tab on the top left of the page, clicking on the option "about internet explorer".
