Internet Explorer 11 has now been launched for Window 7 users too. Earlier, Microsoft had promised that the new Explorer will arrive on Windows 7, so this isn’t a big surprise. IE11 is the default browser of Windows 8.1. Starting Thursday, users of Window 7 who decided to remain behind in the launch of Windows 8 (later 8.1) will now enjoy the features of IE11 as well.

Although there isn’t much difference between IE11 from its previous versions, IE11 is a worthy upgrade for anyone using Windows 7. However, Microsoft says that the javascript engine of IE11 is almost 10% faster than IE10 and 30% faster than browsers like Chrome and Firefox.

The new Explorer also supports most of the newest apps and plugins like HTML5 video without plugins as well as the latest version of WebGL. There are other subtle upgrades to IE11 that will create the feeling of faster browsing. Improvements include its prefetching capabilities as well as updates to F12 developer tools for Microsoft. One drawback, however, is that IE11 doesn’t support Google’s SPDY protocol.

Another interesting feature of IE11 is its enhanced security features that are capable of blocking socially engineered malware. According to the NSS Labs study, Internet Explorer can block about 99 % of malware while Firefox blocks only 4% and Chrome blocks only 70% of the socially engineered malware. Similar percentages apply in terms of blocking phishing attacks. In short, IE11 offers advanced JavaScript performance, better security and ensures greater compatibility and interoperability.

According to Internet Explorer group program managers Rob Mauceri and Sandeep Singhal, Microsoft will begin automatically  updating Windows 7 customers to IE11 in the weeks ahead, starting today (Thursday) with customers running the IE11 Developer and Release Previews,” Users can download the new Internet Explorer 11 from Microsoft’s website.

(image from Microsoft.com)