Internet Explorer 6

Sleeker and smoother

Changing looks was definitely high on the objectives list at Microsoft HQ. Not only has Windows XP come with a whole new look and feel but so did Internet Explorer. Version 6 of IE previewed a while back but was still buggy. The complete version that ships with Windows XP cleans up most things, but naturally there are still some problems.

IE6 has two modes of website rendering: W3 Consortium standard and… "error" mode. If you've ever wondered why certain sites look broken on Netscape's Navigator, they're actually being displayed correctly; IE is the one that was displaying things improperly. Since IE became so popular, everyone started coding for it not realizing that IE wasn't fully W3C compliant. Therefore websites that looked perfect when viewed with IE, actually could be coded incorrectly.

Microsoft attempts to satisfy everyone with the dual display mode of IE6. You can switch from W3C standard to IE layout depending on which site you want to view. This gives web programmers more flexibility when testing out their website designs. There's no longer a need to install Navigator to make sure your website looks right on all browsers (news we're sure Netscape will hesitate to applaud).

Despite this useful feature, certain websites still don't function properly no matter what mode IE is in. Certain dropdown menus don't appear in IE6 but do in IE5. This makes it traversing through certain menu driven sites rather difficult but nothing a little persistence can't handle.

IE6 and DMC

Express email without the fat

Outlook Express 6

Not leaving anything behind, Outlook Express has also received updates. Now at version 6, OE comes with new icons as well as some features found on Outlook. Users of Hotmail will appreciate the ability to check their mail right inside OE and not have to login to the website. Instant Messaging is also nicely integrated with OE and a list of friends can but turned on right inside OE.

One problem we found in both Outlook Express and Outlook was that all messages are stored in a single file and this file tends to corrupt. We tried fixing it using the included repair utility but the results weren't 100% effective. Those who value their email may want to go with another program like Eudora.