Top 10 tips for Internet Explorer 9

Internet Explorer has been a part of the Windows operating system for ages now. It received a fair bit of flak as well, but things really have improved, since the last couple of versions. Internet Explorer 9 - the latest public release offers a whole bunch of features and performance. If you haven’t tried it yet or if you had given it up, here’s time to give it a second chance. Head over to our download page and get yourself a copy of IE9 now.

Change the default search engine

Every browser has a default search engine that it uses. In the case of Microsoft, it’s Bing. Now Bing maybe a decent search engine, but most of us are used to Google as our default search engine. Here’s a quick way to make Google your search engine. To do this, click on the search icon dropdown in the address bar.

Making Google your default search engine

Click on the Add button and IE will load a bunch of add-ons. Look for Search add-ons and you’ll be able to find your favorite search engines there. Choose Google and click on the Add to Internet Explorer button to add it. You also get the option to make it your default search provider.

Pin your favourite sites (i.e Tech2) using IE9

Bookmarks are old now, the easier and quicker way to access your favorite web sites is to pin them. For example, now you can pin Tech2 to your taskbar and quicky access it right from your desktop. It involves dragging and dropping a tab from IE9 to your Windows 7 taskbar. You can find more details here.

Enabling private browsing mode on IE9 startup

When your PC is being used by many users, it’s easy to leave traces of your browsing history on it. Browsers these days have a private browsing features that ensures that no no files and history of browsing is left back on the computer. Now, with Internet Explorer 9, you can choose to start the browser in this mode, so it’s easier to access. A shortcut can be placed on the Start menu or the desktop, depending on what is more convenient to you.

To do this, all you need to do is create a new Internet Explorer 9 shortcut. Right click on the desktop, click on New > Shortcut. Click on Browse and navigate to the Internet Explorer, which is usually in the Program Files folder. Enter the location as “C:Program FilesInternet Exploreriexplore.exe” -private. Click on Next and enter a name for the shortcut. Double clicking this new icon should launch Internet Explorer in the private mode.

Using IE9 as a feed reader

Using RSS feeds are an easy way of getting quick news updates from your favourite sites. For example, Tech2 uses RSS feeds and you can use the RSS feeds reading feature in Internet Explorer 9 to get the latest updates. To subscribe to a feed, simply click on the RSS link or icon on a particular site.

The built-in RSS feed reader on IE9

A page with all the latest feeds should appear. Click on the Subscribe to this feed to add the RSS feed to your list. The list of feeds will appear under the Favourites menu on the right top of the screen. You can also change the properties of the feed to refresh automatically after a set interval.