What's New in Internet Explorer?
What’s New in Internet Explorer?

Internet Explorer 4.0 is not just a browser anymore; now it enables you to integrate the Web with your desktop in numerous ways, and includes a set of applications that help you communicate better: Microsoft NetMeeting, Microsoft Chat, FrontPad, and Outlook Express.

For more information, see Internet Explorer Help.


   Context Help Starts Here:  Display Properties - Background tab


Help is available for each setting in this group. Click  [image]  at the top of the dialog box, and then click the item you want information about.


Shows how the selected wallpaper and pattern will look on your desktop.


Lists the available wallpapers you can use to decorate your desktop. When you click a wallpaper in this list, a preview of how the wallpaper (and any pattern you have selected) will look is displayed on the monitor graphic above the list.


Click this to browse through your computer or network files for the file you want to use as a background on your desktop. Your background wallpaper can be a picture (bitmap file) or an HTML page.


Click this to select a pattern that you want to use on your desktop or to create a new one. If no wallpaper is selected, this pattern covers the entire desktop. If wallpaper is selected, this pattern fills in the space around the wallpaper to the edges of your screen.

If this button is not available, you have selected a setting that displays the selected wallpaper or HTML graphic across your entire desktop, leaving no room for a pattern to be displayed.


Determines how the selected wallpaper is displayed on your desktop. To center the image in the middle of your desktop, click Center. To make a repeated pattern from the image, click Tile. To stretch the image to cover your entire desktop, click Stretch. If this option is not available, either no wallpaper is selected, or you have selected an HTML page to use as wallpaper on your desktop.


Turns off the Active Desktop. When this check box is selected, you cannot use an HTML page as wallpaper on your desktop.


   Pattern dialog box


Lists the available patterns you can use to decorate your desktop. When you click a pattern in this list, a preview of how the pattern will look on your desktop is displayed in the box to the right of the list.


Click this to edit the selected pattern pixel by pixel.


    Pattern editor dialog box


Adds a newly named pattern to the list.


Saves any changes you made to the pattern.


Removes the selected pattern from the Pattern list.


Provides a space for you to select the pattern you want to edit or type a name for a new pattern.


Provides a space for you to edit the selected pattern. To change the color of each pixel, click it.


Displays the results of the changes you make in the Pattern box as you edit.


    Display Properties - Web tab


Shows how the channels you are currently subscribed to will appear on your desktop.


Lists the channels that you are currently subscribed to and the current Active Desktop items.


Click this to subscribe to a new channel, and then follow the instructions on your screen. The new channel will be added to the Desktop Channels list on the left.


Removes the selected channel from your desktop and from the Desktop Channels list on the left.


Click this to change the settings for the selected channel. This button is not available if the Channel bar is currently selected.


Opens a small window that displays the selected channel or item. This is useful for making sure that the URL you specified for this channel or item is still available and opens the Web site you want.


Click this to restore all the settings in this dialog box to the ones that originally came with the program. You might want to use this option if someone else will be using your computer who wants to subscribe to a different set of channels.


Turns off the Active Desktop. When this check box is selected, you cannot use an HTML page as wallpaper on your desktop or add channels or items to your desktop.


      Web tab - Properties button - Subscription tab


Displays the short name and the URL of the selected channel subscription.


Describes the properties of the selected channel subscription. You can change these properties on the Receiving and Schedule tabs in this dialog box.


Click this if the selected channel requires you to log in before you can open the Web site. For example, you might have to log in to a site that has restricted access rights or one that you pay to subscribe to, such as a magazine.


Provides a space for you to type the user ID required for you to gain access to the selected Web site. Often, this is your e-mail address.


Provides a space for you to type the password required for you to gain access to the selected Web site.


Specifies that you want Internet Explorer notify you by e-mail whenever the contents of the selected Web site change.


Click this to choose advanced settings for how you want this site to be downloaded.


Click this to change the e-mail address that Internet Explorer uses to notify you when the contents of the selected Web site change.


Provides a space for you to type the e-mail address you want Internet Explorer to use when it notifies you.


Provides a space for you to type the name of your e-mail server.


Specifies whether you want Internet Explorer to download this Web site to your hard disk or just to notify you. If you select No, just notify me when the site changes, Internet Explorer changes the site’s icon as illustrated and can send you e-mail, if you have selected that option in the Notification area. If you select Yes, download this site, the Web content will be downloaded to your computer at a time when you specify. Then, you’ll be able to read the updated Web site offline, when you’re not connected to the Internet. To specify the settings for downloading the site to your computer, click Advanced.


      Advanced Download Options dialog box


Specifies the maximum amount of information, in kilobytes, that you want Internet Explorer to download to your hard disk from this Web site.


Specifies that you want this Web site downloaded to your hard disk before any others are downloaded. This setting is useful if you want to make sure your most important Web content is always updated first on your hard disk, in case you reach the maximum download size specified above or run out of disk space


Specifies whether you want Internet Explorer to download graphical images when it updates the selected Web site. Graphical images can be slower to download and take up a large amount of space on your hard disk.


Specifies whether you want Internet Explorer to download sound and video files when it updates the selected Web site. Sound and video images can be slower to download and take up a large amount of space on your hard disk.


Specifies whether you want Internet Explorer to download ActiveX Controls and Java™ applets when it updates the selected Web site. These are advanced, behind-the-scenes programs that enable some Web sites to display special objects. If you choose not to download these programs, the Web site may appear incomplete or not display properly. However, these programs could potentially damage your hard disk or your data.


Specifies that you want Internet Explorer to download more than just the top-level page of the selected Web site. You can specify that you want to download the specified Web site up to five levels deep. For example, if you specify two levels deep, the first page and all the page that it links to will be downloaded. Specifying three levels will download all the pages linked to the second-level pages.


Specifies that you want Internet Explorer to download all pages that are linked to the selected Web site, up to the number of levels you specified in the setting above.


     Schedule tab


Specifies that you want Internet Explorer to download the selected Web site automatically, on a schedule determined by the publisher of the Web site. This setting is available only if you connect to the Internet through a network. It is not available if you connect to the Internet by using a modem.


Specifies that you want to choose the settings for when and how often Internet Explorer downloads the selected Web site to your hard disk. To set up a schedule for a new channel, click New. To change the settings for an existing channel, click Edit.


Specifies that you want to update the selected Web site manually. To update the selected Web site, click the Update Now button. You can also update one or all subscribed Web sites from the Favorites menu.


      Custom Schedule dialog box


Provides a space for you to type a name for the custom schedule you are creating.


Specifies whether you want this Web site to be downloaded to your computer on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.


Specifies exactly how often and when you want this Web site to be downloaded to your computer.


Specifies what time you want this Web site to be downloaded to your computer.


Specifies the times you want this Web site to be downloaded to your computer if you want that to occur repeatedly.


Specifies that you want to allow the schedule you set to vary several minutes in its actual start time for the next update. By checking this box, you will increase the likelihood of offsetting the demands others may make at the same time for the same site and thus improve the efficiency of downloading from the Web.


     View Options - General tab


Shows how your folder contents will look using the current settings.


Specifies that you want this folder and your desktop to look and work like a Web page. When you choose this option, you will be able to click items on your desktop or in folders just once to open or run them, just like you click links on the Web. To select an item, you just point to it.


Specifies that you want this folder and your desktop to look and work as they have in previous versions of Windows. When you choose this option, you double-click items on the desktop or in a folder to open or run them, and click them once to select them.


Specifies that you want to choose your own settings to customize the way this folder and your desktop look and work. To set your preferences, click the Settings button.


 View/Options/Web Integration Settings


Displays the contents of each folder you open in the same window. To switch back to the previous folder, click the Back button on the toolbar, or press the BACKSPACE key.


Opens a new window every time you open a folder. The previous folder will still be displayed in a window, so you can switch between them.


Displays most folders as Web pages.  When a folder is displayed as a Web page, you can add information, change font styles, and use HTML pages as background wallpaper.


Displays a folder as a Web page only when you specifically choose to do so for that folder. When a folder is displayed as a Web page, you can add information, change font styles, and use HTML pages as background wallpaper.


Specifies that you want to open items in folders and on the desktop by single-clicking them, just like you would click a link on a Web page. To select an item without opening it, you would rest your mouse pointer on it.


Specifies that you want icon titles in your folders and on the desktop to appear underlined, just like links on a Web page.


Specifies that you want icon titles in your folders and on the desktop to appear underlined only when you rest your mouse pointer on the title.


Specifies that you want to single-click an item to select it, and double-click and item to open it. This is the traditional Microsoft Windows model.


  View Options - Advanced  tab


If you have a shared network folder mapped to a drive letter on your hard disk, choosing this option displays an icon on the toolbar that you can click to open the shared folder.


Specifies that you want the attributes of each file, such as read only, to be displayed in a column when you are viewing the files in this folder in Details view.


Specifies that your computer can display a file name in all uppercase characters (such as FILENAME.TXT), if that’s the way the file name was originally typed. When this option is not selected, file names are changed to lowercase characters (such as Filename.txt), regardless of how you typed them.


Specifies that you want your computer to fill in any jagged edges in the fonts displayed on your screen. This might be useful if you are working with large type or with graphic design, but your computer’s performance will be slowed down.


Specifies that you want the entire contents of a window to remain visible while you are dragging that window to a different location. When this option is not selected, only the rectangular outline of a window is visible while you are moving it.


Restores the settings in this dialog box to the settings that originally came with this program.


Creates thumbnail versions of the files in the selected folder if their file formats allow.


Provides a place to display the name of the selected folder or to type the name of the URL you want to add as a toolbar to the taskbar or the desktop.