Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7

Pros

• Slim and streamlined interface is both intuitively useful and pretty to look at
• Some of the best tab navigation features in a modern browser

Cons

• Missing many of the features you'll find in Chrome
• Currently neglected by Microsoft in favor of Edge

Internet Explorer 11 is a serviceable web browser that might not contain all of the modern features that you'll find in the competition but is capable enough to get the job done in a pinch. If you're looking for a browser that's not overly cluttered with features and you're working on a Windows 7 computer, you can count on Internet Explorer to provide you with strong performance along with a neat if not necessarily impressive suite of features to make your web browsing experience easier.

While Microsoft Edge has since become the company's flagship browser (and a nimble piece of software that can mostly stand toe-to-toe with Chrome and Firefox), changes brought to Internet Explorer before the transition make it a perfectly reasonable if somewhat outdated alternative to the big hitters. Even if you abandoned Explorer in the past, it may be worth reconsidering after changes made for the eleventh edition. These include a much better approach to security and some features that put it on an equal playing ground with the browsers of its time. One of the big advantages are the low specs required. You only need 70 MB of hard disk space, a 233MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, and a Super VGA graphics adapter to run, meaning you can get a mostly modern web browser even if you're running an outdated machine on Windows 7. If you're upgrading from an older version of Windows Explorer, it's well worth it. This is a massive rehab project requiring a new install rather than a simple update.

Not that you'd know that just booting it up. On the surface, Internet Explorer 11 is largely indistinguishable from its latest predecessors, but dig a little deeper and you'll find a lot to like. Minimalism is the name of the game here with a very narrow navigation bar that tucks practically everything you need away. The address and search bar occupy the same line with icons, and while it can get a little small, it does offer more real estate for your browsing experience than many other browsers. Tabs can be dragged along this surface, and you can quickly close multiples by just clicking in the same space repeatedly.

The new tabs function is incredibly well handled. It automatically gives you access to your most visited sites while also giving you the option to resume your last session or selectively pick tabs you've closed recently. It compresses a lot of functions into a single page in a way that few if any other browsers do. You can also go straight into incognito mode through this tab.

What's even cooler is the ability to pin sites, essentially turning them into standalone programs for the sake of navigation. They get their own icons on the Windows task bar and can be pulled up with a simple click. As we move towards a more cloud-based and less app-driven market, this will become increasingly useful. Explorer also includes stalwart security features via the One Box and support for a wide selection of different extensions.

Pros

• Slim and streamlined interface is both intuitively useful and pretty to look at
• Some of the best tab navigation features in a modern browser

Cons

• Missing many of the features you'll find in Chrome
• Currently neglected by Microsoft in favor of Edge