Internet Explorer 9

Newer versions: Internet Explorer 10, Internet Explorer 11

Internet Explorer 9 is Microsoft's attempt to catch up with its fast-growing competitors. In this version, IE became similar to such popular browsers as Opera, Firefox and Chrome. A number of ideas were taken from other browsers. A minimal interface, a combined address and search box called One Box and a new tab page with frequently visited sites all appeared in IE. An interesting feature of Internet Explorer 9 is the search for site addresses while the user is typing them. That is, the suggestions come not only from the history of visited sites, but also from the search provider on the Internet. As a result, the browser often gives you the address before you finish typing it, and it is convenient. A similar feature was already available in Google Chrome; however, there is one feature that the other major browsers did not offer. This is pinning a site to the Windows taskbar. If you need to access a page at all times, you can run it directly from the taskbar and it will open in Internet Explorer. IE doesn't have the ability to lock tabs on the tab bar (like Firefox and Chrome), but pinned sites on Windows 7 get their own jump lists with site tasks.

Internet Explorer 9 provides SmartScreen protection against malicious sites, Tracking Protection, hardware-accelerated graphics through Direct2D, the new Chakra JavaScript engine and support for HTML5 video and audio, CSS3, SVG and ECMAScript 5.

Internet Explorer 9 allows for efficient browsing with its feature of predicting website addresses, providing quick access to desired sites.

Current status

Internet Explorer 9 was released on March 14, 2011 for Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7; it was the first version not bundled with a Windows release, and it does not run on Windows XP. On its first day it was downloaded over 2.35 million times. Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer 9 on client systems on January 12, 2016, when only the latest browser version for each Windows release stayed supported. Users of Windows 7 could upgrade to Internet Explorer 11, and today Microsoft Edge with its IE mode is the recommended replacement.