Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 11

The browser wars are about to get more heated, as Microsoft has released the eleventh version of its Internet Explorer software to businesses and consumers using Windows 7. With IE11, the company boasts improved browsing speeds, lower CPU usage and a new Javascript compiler that will make websites, especially web apps, load more quickly than before.

Microsoft had released IE11 for users of Windows 8.1 in October. Among the many advantages of the new IE11 is a reduced reliance on the computer's processor, which extends battery life in laptop computers and allows you to get better performance out of other software that you are running simultaneously.

Overall, the company claims IE11 represents a 9 percent increase in browsing speed over IE10 and a 30 percent increase over the next competing browser. Another major improvement over the previous version is the fact that HTML5 video, used for YouTube and Vimeo, no longer requires a separate plugin.

In the past decade, Microsoft has been left in the dust by other companies such as Google and Mozilla, who have released successful browsers (Chrome and Firefox, respectively) known for providing faster performance to consumers. According to W3Schools.com, in November of 2003, Internet Explorer made up nearly 85 percent of browser market share. Today, it accounts for about 11 percent of web traffic.

Microsoft has been making solid improvements to its Windows 8 software, however, and consumers who haven't tried it yet should consider checking out the Sony Vaio, Samsung and Asus laptops we have in the PortableOne online store.