IE7 RELEASED (for most)!

Well, what a surprise today to login on CyberNet News and see Microsoft has indeed released IE7. This after many of us were lead to believe that the September 18th date was just a rumor, one which Microsoft had squashed.
Now I say it has been released, for some, right now only the following operating systems are supported (as indicated on the IE7 downloads Site):

• Windows XP with SP2
• Windows XP Pro x64 Edition
• Window Server 2003 x64 Edition
• Window Server 2003 with SP1
• Window Server 2003 ia64 Edition

If you are running Windows Vista (developmental versions) you will have to stick to IE7 RC1. If you are already running IE7 RC1 (which I am NOT) you do not need to uninstall to upgrade (although the release notes give a word of warning:

Upgrading Internet Explorer 7 from a previous build (not uninstalling Internet Explorer 7 first) can leave the computer in a confusing state for users who require Assistive Technology programs).

Oh and the download file for IE7 is 15MB, that is almost 3 times the size of Firefox 2 RC3 (5.6MB).

Removing The Firefox Throbber

For those looking to get even more space on their toolbar or simply don’t care for the Firefox Throbber, here is an easy way to remove it.

Note: You will need the ChromEdit Plus extension

1. From Firefox Tools Menu Select ChromEdit Plus then ChromEdit from the submenu or click the ChromEdit button
2. Scroll to the bottom of the document
3. Copy and paste the following:
   #throbber-box {
   display: none !important;
   }
4. Click the ‘Restart Firefox’ button.
5. The Throbber will be gone after the restart

Search Results In A New Tab

One thing that has annoyed me about Firefox 2 is search results (entered in the search box) open in current tab. With the Tabbrowser Preferences Extension in Firefox 1.5, I had it setup so the search results would open in a new tab. After some hunting in mozillaZine (Firefox 2.0 RC2 and Google) I found this result can be achieved in Firefox 2, with a simple about:config entry change:

1. Access about:config via the extension button or by opening a new tab and typing about:config in the address bar
2. Copy and paste into the filter field browser.search.openintab
3. Double click the entry to that the value changes to true
4. Close the tab or the about:config window.