People didn't lose any time in finding bugs in the public beta of Internet Explorer 7.
It's been but a day since Microsoft publicly released a beta of Internet Explorer 7, but Internet news groups and blogs are already teeming with bug reports. Also, one security researcher claims he found a security vulnerability in the new Web browser.
Issues reported several times include compatibility problems with McAfee security software and trouble installing the browser due to unnamed anti-spyware and antivirus tools. Some testers also said using certain features or surfing to specific Web sites caused the browser to hang or crash.
Microsoft made a IE 7 beta 2 publicly available on Tuesday, but the product is not fully baked, the company has said. The release is meant to give developers and IT professionals a chance to test-drive the software and give feedback to Microsoft so that the final version, expected later this year, and upcoming test releases, will have no, or at least fewer, issues.
The public preview release of IE 7 includes many of the features Microsoft has been touting for months. Among them are new security and privacy protection capabilities such as mechanisms designed to combat phishing attacks, spyware and other threats.
But browser testers may already be at risk, according to security researcher Tom Ferris. Late on Tuesday, Ferris released details of a potential security flaw in IE 7. An attacker could exploit the flaw by crafting a special Web page that could be used to crash the browser or gain complete control of a vulnerable system, Ferris said in an advisory on his Web site. Microsoft had no immediate comment on Ferris' alert.
Also, the preview version of IE 7 clashes with some security software. Users reported that after they had downloaded and installed the beta, McAfee security software failed to display any text or graphics in their Windows when opened. Reinstalling the applications had no effect, according to the user reports.
"I have McAfee Internet Security Suite on my system, and when IE 7 is loaded, neither work," one tester wrote in Microsoft's IE news groups. "Surely... getting the system to work with an industry leader is a small price to pay."
Microsoft acknowledged the compatibility issues with the McAfee software in a response on the IE team blog. "The McAfee issue is known, and we'll work on this for a future build," a Microsoft representative wrote.
McAfee also said it is working to fix the problem with IE 7. "While the issue affects the way in which users view the McAfee interface, McAfee's automated protection is still running and protecting the user's systems," a company representative said in an emailed statement.
Talkback
I have a Dell Dimension with a P4 1.8 mhz processor and after installing the beta 2 my system slowed down to what felt like an original pentium..with maybe , I would say unless you have a new machine and even then it isn't worth it.