| Minimum system requirements
- 486/66 MHz processor.
- 32 MB of RAM
- 75 MB of Hard Drive space
- Little to no common sense
Recommended system
New features
The latest release of Internet Explorer is a collage of minor improvements and updates that manage to add up to less than the sum of their parts. For example, you'll notice a new image-related toolbar and virus protection, but the most prominent change is the addition of a "Personal" toolbar.
Following a pattern established when Microsoft ripped off Apple's Macintosh GUI for the original release of Windows in 1985, the Internet Explorer team decided to shamelessly rip off Netscape's sidebar. True to form, they only stole the worst aspects of Netscape's design. Combining true inelegance with inflexibility, the "Personal" toolbar sports the latest in Choose-Your-Ad Technology®.
Pros
- Refuses to install on Win95 machines, circumventing the inevitable uninstall process
- More stable than Netscape 6, even in beta form
- Makes the Netscape 6 sidebar look good
- Still better than MSN Explorer
Cons
- Full support for the unfinished P3P privacy standard, insuring further incapability between Microsoft and The WorldTM
- New image toolbar promises to breed yet another generation of web surfers who don't know what "that other mouse button" is for
- Crash reporting provides Microsoft with yet another way to steal your credit card number
- Still cannot delete the "Links" folder
Recommendation
Enjoy IE 5.5 while you can. Chances are your next computer will come with IE 6 pre-installed.
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