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The latest incarnation of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has now been released to the public.  Let’s be honest, it has to be an improvement on what has come before.

The main feature of Internet Explorer 8 is the closer adherence to the internet standards like HTML, Javascript and CSS.  On one hand this is good news and it will mean a lot less compatibility problems, but all those websites that had little codes and fixes to cope with the older browsers foibles might need a little work.  There is a Compatibility View that makes IE8 act like IE7 for any sites that do display problems, but from the brief testing I have seen so far, any errors are on the sites themselves, rather than with the browser.

A definite bonus is the private browsing mode.  This has been offered in Firefox and Safari for a while now, and it’s about time IE caught up.  Selecting InPrivate Browsing from the Safety button will take you into the private mode.  The session will then not retain any history or logs of your activities until you close the window.

Other new security functions are included such as the SmartScreen Filter and the Cross-Site Filter.  The SmartScreen scans the page looking for malicious content, which sounds great, but we will have to wait and see if it works or not.  It also references the page against a blacklist to see if it is legitimate or not.

The Cross-Site Scripting Filter is a neat sounding tool that scans a page for any code inserted into it maliciously.  These can track movements, keystrokes and all sorts of naughtiness.  Again we will have to wait a bit to see if it works or not.

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There have been a lot of security improvements under the hood too, especially around ActiveX and data execution loopholes.  These exploits have made big news over the past years, with more than a few emergency fixes deployed to counter them.  I wouldn’t rest easy though, as this is Microsoft we’re talking about.  It won’t be perfect, and there are bound to be legions of hackers anxiously waiting to figure out how to beat the Redmond crew.

Other improvements include color coded tabs, which will aid immensely if you use multiple tabs like me.  I have a plugin in Firefox that colors them for me.  There are also Web Slices, which interact directly with the browser, a bit like RSS.  You can install a slice from a website of your choice and then access the information directly from the browser without having to navigate anywhere.

The install itself is pretty straightforward and the package a reasonable 16Mb for XP.  The installer does a quick scan of your system to check for any malware before it installs which took around 15 minutes on my machine.  It then installs and requires a restart.

Once you start the browser there are some initial questions to set your preferences and off you go.  The browsing experience is much the same, only quicker.  The WebSlices button is on the top pane as are you other options.  The interface is still the dull gray colour, but I’m sure the enterprising among you will soon do something about that.

First impressions are that seems as quick as Firefox, and as rich with features.  While that may not be enough to win back anybody who moved to the alternate browsers over the last years it will certainly make the existing users happy.