Managing Multiple Browsers

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Internet Explorer 5 can safely coexist on a computer with other versions of Internet Explorer, as well as different versions of competitive browsers.

Internet Explorer 4.0 Compatibility Mode

Internet Explorer 5 has an Internet Explorer 4.0 compatibility mode for evaluation and content-testing purposes only. Developers can test their Web sites using the rendering capabilities of Internet Explorer 4.0 or Internet Explorer 5 on a single computer, which simplifies the process of determining compatibility with previous browser versions.

Coexisting with Netscape Navigator

Internet Explorer 5 can coexist on the same computer with Netscape Navigator. If you install Internet Explorer 5 on a computer that already has Netscape installed, Windows Update Setup copies the Netscape plug-ins to the \Program Files\Internet Explorer\Plugins folder. Each time you launch the browser, the contents of this folder are loaded into memory.

Windows Update Setup looks for an installed browser that is specified as the current default browser. It then adopts the user-configurable settings - including proxy settings, dial-up connections, and favorites - from the current default browser. Windows Update Setup may also adopt additional settings if the corresponding optional components are installed.

For example, Windows Update Setup configures the following Outlook Express settings:

  • SMTP server information

  • POP3 server settings (POP3 server name and POP3 user name)

  • Identity information (name, e-mail address, reply address, organization, and signature information)

  • Personal address book

  • Internet telephone program and Web-based phone book

  • Send and post settings (8-bit characters in headers and MIME compliance) if different from the Netscape default

  • Settings for Check new message every x minutes if different from the Navigator default

Windows Update Setup also configures the following Web Publishing wizard settings:

  • Author name

  • Document template location

  • Publisher user name

  • Publisher password

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