14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest statistics Internet Explorer continues to dominate web browser market, though it is not equipped with everything a user needs while web surfing. Sure the latest version is a great evolutionary step, but up to now the only benefit you'll draw out of IE is a hell of a protection. When it comes to functionality there is still some improvement to be made.
However, if you are an avid Internet Explorer fan and don't want to give it up easily, there are plenty of solutions on the Web designed to bring a bit of spice to Microsoft's latest browser. Third party software has always been a good alternative to many packages included in Windows.
IE Plus comes as a free enhancer for Internet Explorer, making it more flexible, functional and easier to use. The application does not cost a thing and is delivered by Shendoo. The installation file is small and runs just like in the case of any other application, the only difference is that it'll automatically integrate in Internet Explorer.
Immediately after installation IE will pop up out of the blue and a short wizard will guide you through a quick configuration of the add-on. It'll let you enable its own ad filter, super drag and drop (a super option in my opinion) and choose your search engine. There's nothing complicated and it will complete in no time.
As simple an add-on may seem, this one is filled with configuration options designed to enhance your IE experience and bring features not yet implemented in the application. If you have a keen eye you will notice that Internet Explorer's toolbar is enriched with an additional icon located on tab bar.
There is no side arrow indicating the presence of a menu, but clicking on it will reveal a list of options ready to be studies. Up to the first separator there is displayed browse history. Lower in the drop down menu you can choose to give up viewing browse history and have only add-on's menu in front of your eyes. This option comes in extremely handy if browse history is too long.
A very interesting option is minimizing IE to system tray. Unfortunately you cannot tweak the web browser this way and each time you want to send it to tray you'll have to access this option. Next in line is capturing the web pages in PNG format automatically. Unfortunately the result is not as clean as it should as the bottom scroll bar of Internet Explorer is also captured.
Additional options let the user set the automatic page refresh time, flash content blocking in the opened page, current web page translation (Google assisted) and proxy configuration. The last option in the list is IEPlus configuration providing you access to all settings of the tool.
There are six menus available, each dealing with a different set of options. Enhancements is the first one and contains two tabs, one for general IE improvements and a specific IE7 one. The general IE settings are nothing much and the only option standing out is enabling session crash recovery automatically. This way you will no longer lose your opened websites because of operating system crashes, power failures or IE failures.
For IE7 the settings are a bit more interesting as you can enable double clicking for closing a tab, allow only one instance of Internet Explorer (a second instance will open but it will disappear creating a new blank tab in the first instance of IE), hide search bar, enable top menu bar (in IE7 the menu bar is set by default above navigation bar).
Super Drag and Drop menu brings a series of options for opening URL in background, text in background, or simulate IE7 middle click button. Automatic save can be announced through a dialog box and you can define the path for saving dropped text and images automatically.
Mouse Gestures is one feature Microsoft should have given a thought when re-making Internet Explorer. IEPlus brings the feature in IE and may I say, it does a great job. You can configure the color of the trail if you are not into that type of pink and set the actions for each gesture. You can even zig-zag your mouse on the screen and get a certain response (minimize to tray, refresh all pages, click to block elements, page translation, scroll the page up, minimize IE window, etc.). However, expect minor glitches as during our testing we set zig-zag gesture to close the browser and all it did was close the current tab. The gesture associated gestures are plenty and I am sure that you will find all needed ones in there.
For power users there is always the possibility of adding as many hotkeys defining actions as they want. The actions are the same as in mouse gestures, so combining the two features would make Internet Explorer as easy to use and functional as you want it.
The application does a pretty good job considering that it is free and that its purpose is to enhance Internet Explorer. There are minor glitches but it is just at the beginning of the road, so there is still time to fix them. However, I noticed a strange behavior of IE since enriching it with IEPlus. Sometimes, when closing a tab it lingers for a while and the response is not as snappy as it should.
The Good
IEPlus is absolutely free and extremely easy to use. It brings many improvements to IE making it more functional as ever.
The Bad
It still needs a little polishing here and there. When restoring the files these are opened in new tabs and the recover tab has to be manually terminated. There is no way to control how links in active tab are opened.
Designating a fix spot for the add-on icon seems to be a problem as installing it on three different systems was never located in the same place.
On XP, enabling a single process of IE7 had absolutely no effect on one machine, but re-testing the feature in a virtual machine it acted as it should.
The Truth
IEPlus covers many features missing in Internet Explorer. Super drag and drop and mouse gestures are the most important two of them. More than this, you can set as many hotkeys as you want for more than 35 different actions.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
