IE8 reliability features outlined

The second beta version of Internet Explorer 8 is due to be released at some stage in August and Microsoft has outlined some of the improvements it has made to the browser's reliability.

The areas of performance, recovery and display are of particular importance to surfers, said Microsoft, and a great deal of work has gone into making sure IE8 is more robust in these areas.

"Most users want their browser to work, recover smoothly after a crash, and display the web correctly. Users are not as concerned with what causes the problem, whether that be a poorly functioning add-on or poorly performing website," said Microsoft's Andy Zeigler.

Features included to improve reliability include Automatic Crash Recovery, Windows Error Reporting, which feeds information about errors back to Microsoft, and what the company terms 'Loosely-Coupled IE'.

IE8, says Microsoft, will have architectural features that enable it to isolate different parts of the browser from each other, so if something becomes problematic it won't affect other functions.

The features will all be present in the second beta version of IE8, though no precise release date for the new beta has been set.

www.microsoft.com