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 into the fold. Will it work? PC World offered an excellent comparison of IE? and Firefox 2. While Firefox 2's changes are mostly refinements of already existing features with no change in the browser's look and feel, IE7 marks a major overhaul since IE6 was released way back in 2001.

Among the changes to Internet Explorer 7 are tabbed browsing, integrated searching, RSS newsfeed support, and an antiphishing tool. The most noticeable change is IE7s look and feel, which is designed to resemble Microsoft's new operating system, Vista. Probably the most obvious and popular addition to IE7 is tabbed browsing, something Firefox already offered. Also, IE7 has a built-in search box, which lets users search from anywhere without having to go to the search engine's home page. Google and other search engines had successfully lobbied Microsoft not to make Live Search the default search service, so you can pick your search engine.

The other major change is invisible: improved security features designed to cope with the almost endless number of vulnerabilities that have afflicted IE6. The most prominent of these security upgrades is one shared with Firefox: an "" tool that works by warning users that a website they are about to visit may be fake and redirects them away from the page unless they actively choose to go to it. The other major new IE7 security feature is something called Protected Mode, which prevents a website from changing a computer 's files or settings. However, Protected Mode will not work with any Windows operating system except Vista, which is due out next year. Also, one of IE's major appeals had been its universality, that is, it would work with most websites. The security features in IE7 mean that some sites that could be viewed in earlier versions of IE cannot be viewed in IE7, undermining one reason many people still continued to use the Microsoft browser.

Firefox 2 is another in a long line of gradual updates. This version adds a spell checker, a system for suggesting popular search terms, and an option to pick up where you left off after a crash. Firefox 2 also upgrades the RSS newsfeed so that now, if you click on the feed itself, instead of seeing the usual XML gibberish, Firefox 2 will parse the raw feed into something readable and also subscribe to a feed using one of a numerous (but not all) newsreaders.

What is the bottom line? Firefox users should upgrade to version 2; it will be easy and pain free. IE6 users probably should wait a while before downloading IE7 to let Rh