Journey of Microsoft Internet Explorers

Internet Explorer is the world's most popular Web browser. Security, ease of use, and improvements in RSS, CSS, and Ajax support are Microsoft's priorities for Internet Explorer.

The latest version of the browser includes support for:

-Accelerators - which allow supported web applications to be invoked without explicitly navigating to them.

-Web Slices - which allows portions of page to be subscribed to and monitored from a redesigned Favorites Bar.

-InPrivate privacy features.

-Smart Screen phishing filter.

How the journey started: Internet Explorer through the years

Internet Explorer: powering the internet since 1995!

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has come a long way since its introduction in 1995, when it was released together with the Windows 95 Plus! Pack. Internet Explorer 1.0 transformed the world by making it easy to get online, accomplishing what no other browser had done before: making the Internet accessible for the masses.

You can trace Internet Explorer’s roots all the way back to a web browser developed in 1987 called Mosaic, which was the first web browser to use a graphical user interface. The technology and trademarks behind Mosaic were eventually licensed to a company founded in 1990 called Spyglass. And in 1995, Spyglass licensed the source code for Mosaic to Microsoft and Internet Explorer was born.

Since then, Internet Explorer has grown to become the most widely used web browser around the world.

Internet Explorer 1.0 (1995)

Used on Windows 95, IE 1.0 was only slightly more than 1 megabyte in size and sure you could surf the internet, but not much more. In fact, you could forget about accessing video or music files, reading newsgroups or even viewing graphics.

Internet Explorer 2.0 (1995)

Released within the same year, IE 2.0 was the very first cross-platform browser that supported both Windows and Mac. It brought with it support for JavaScript, frames, cookies, giving web developers and designers tools to design secure and media-rich websites with tracking abilities.

Internet Explorer 3.0 (1996)

IE 3.0 revolutionized the world by offering Internet Mail, News 1.0, displaying graphics and playing  audio files. In the six hours of its release, there were more than 32,000 downloads. By the end of the first week, more than 1 million copies of the browser were downloaded. 

Internet Explorer 4.0 (1997)

Released in 1997, the Internet came to life when menus expanded with a click and images could be dragged around. IE 4.0 also included an option to enable “Active Desktop”, which displayed Internet content on the desktop itself and was updated automatically as the content changed. 

Internet Explorer 5.0 (1999)

IE 5.0 helped ushered in a new era of e-commerce with its expanded programming capabilities. 

This was the first browser to support bi-directional text, an important feature for international users who’s languages are written from right to left!

Internet Explorer 6.0 (2001)

IE 6.0 had all the fun stuff, with the Images Toolbar, Auto Image Resize, Print Preview and Media Bar.  It was the most widely used web browser during its tenure, surpassing IE 5.0. At its peak in 2002 and 2003, IE6 attained a total market share of nearly 90%.

Internet Explorer 7.0 (2006)

IE 7.0 made Internet surfing safer with a phishing filter, stronger encryption, and a “delete browsing history” button to easily clear private data. It also introduced tabbed browsing, allowing users to do more things faster and easier with the browser. 

It was the browser that truly delivered the Web 2.0 experience.

Internet Explorer 8.0 (2009)

Released in 2009, IE 8.0 remains one of the most secure browsers on the market today, introducing revolutionary security and privacy features such as InPrivate Browsing and SmartScreen phishing protection.

IE 8.0 also introduced a bunch of new user features like web slices, accelerators, automatic Tab crash recovery and inline search within pages. Users rejoice!

so here is the browser of the future

I have just installed Internet Explorer 9, which is now available for download. First think that i noticed is that it’s a faster browser than Internet Explorer 8. Pages seem to load faster, and IE itself is lighter on its feet and more agile. The second thing is that Microsoft made major changes to the look of IE and moved major components around. The Favorites Center is now on the right side and pop-up blocker notifications display from the bottom of the application window. The IE icon on the taskbar has a large E symbol, and the letter is a lighter shade of blue.

Discover Internet Explorer 9: A more beautiful web 

All-around fast

-Faster and more responsive websites. 

-Hardware-accelerated text, video, and graphics

-Installs faster, starts faster

Focused on your websites

The new browser frame makes any website shine. 

Simplified yet enhanced, the user interface brings sites forward. Characteristics of each website are reflected throughout the browser, allowing you to be more immersed in each site you visit.

SmartScreen Filter

SmartScreen Filter helps combat these threats with a set of sophisticated tools:

    -Anti-phishing protection—to screen threats from imposter websites seeking to acquire personal information such as user names, passwords, and billing data.

    

    -Application Reputation—to remove all unnecessary warnings for well-known files, and show severe warnings for high-risk downloads.

    

    - Anti-malware protection—to help prevent potentially harmful software from infiltrating your computer.

Pinned Sites

 With Pinned Sites, you can get to your favorite sites directly from the Windows taskbar—without having to open Internet Explorer first. 

Each site that's pinned to the taskbar has a Jump List. Pinning a site takes seconds: click the icon to the left of the web address in One Box, or the tab for the website, or the website's icon on the New Tab page, and then drag it to the taskbar.

One Box

Whether you want to navigate to a website or start a search, you have a single place to go in Internet Explorer 9—One Box.

Surfing and searching—all in one place

With One Box, surfing or searching the web is a snap. You can start typing a web address and AutoComplete anticipates what you’re looking for to help you get to your websites quickly.

Microsoft said that the Release Candidate version is going to automatically be updated to the final version, so a direct download should be available starting with March 14.

Export To Spreadsheet not showing response columns from Survey:MOSS 2007

Survey list has so many limitations and this list is very unique from all lists which are present in sharepoint.

I have handled so many issues regarding survey from last few weeks. From all of them, i have noticed one which is very unqiue and need some tweaks to get your issue resolved.

When we used "export to spreadsheet" option for survey then we dont get all the columns data  and shows only time stamp and items field.

End user opened a ticket for this and it took some time to resolve this issue as it was new for me also.

Please refer the following steps regarding the same:

1. Open the survey list

2. Edit Page

3. Modify shared webpart

4. Edit the current view

5. Select the appropriate view in which you wants to make the changes

6. Copy the View GUID ID from the URL and paste in a note pad https://sharepoint2007/sites/AHRC/Comp%20Survey%20Report/_layouts/viewedit.aspx?List=%7B415A8DFB%2D0FFF%2D4412%2D925D%2DC4191DDF4127%7D&View=%7B02550769%2DEBF3%2D45F8%2D987C%2DE19F51CC06DB%7D&Source=https%3A%2F%2Ftestl%2Ewsstools%2Econsumer%2Esharepointgroup%2Enet%2Fsites%2FAHRC%2FComp%2520Survey%2520Report%2Fdefault%2Easpx%3FPageView%3DShared

7. Edit the GUID to eliminate few characters , notice the change carefully: %7B02550769%2DEBF3%2D45F8%2D987C%2DE19F51CC06DB%7D&  becomes “02550769- EBF3- 45F8-987C-E19F51CC06DB”

8. Select the number of columns as per your requirements and click OK

9. Click on Actions-Export to spreadsheet. Now as you mentioned in the screenshot below there is a view ID in connection properties-Replace the View GUID with the one copied above and click OK.

10. It will give you the correct spreadsheet.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you

Exploring The New Internet Explorer 9

The improvements to Internet Explorer are as much about what you don't see as what you do see. Internet Explorer 9 has a streamlined design, fewer dialog boxes to click through, more intuitive navigation, and many new features that speed up your web browsing experience. Features like Pinned Sites let you pin your favorite website directly to the taskbar for one-click access. Other features, like hardware acceleration, deliver an all-around faster browsing experience. With Internet Explorer 9, websites perform and feel more like the programs you use every day on your PC.

I have just installed Internet Explorer 9, which is now available for download. First think that i noticed is that it’s a faster browser than Internet Explorer 8. Pages seem to load faster, and IE itself is lighter on its feet and more agile. The second thing is that Microsoft made major changes to the look of IE and moved major components around. The Favorites Center is now on the right side and pop-up blocker notifications display from the bottom of the application window. The IE icon on the taskbar has a large E symbol, and the letter is a lighter shade of blue.

Here's what's new:

-Streamlined design

-Pinned Sites:
Pinning a site is simple: click the icon to the left of the web address in the address bar (or the website icon on the New Tab page) and drag it to the taskbar—the website's icon will stay there until you remove it. When you click the icon later, the website will open in Internet Explorer.

-Download Manager:
Download Manager is a powerful new feature that keeps a running list of the files you download from the Internet and notifies you when a file could be malicious. It also lets you pause and restart a download—if you have a slow internet connection—and shows you where to find downloaded files on your computer. You can clear the list at any time.

-Enhanced tabs:
Tabbed browsing allows you to move easily between multiple open webpages in a single window, but there might be times when you want to look at two tabbed pages at the same time. Tear-off tabs allow you to drag a tab out of Internet Explorer to open the tab's webpage in a new window, and Snap it for side-by-side viewing.

-New Tab pageThe redesigned New Tab page displays the sites you visit most often and color codes them for quick navigation. A site indicator bar also shows how often you visit each site, and you can remove or hide the displayed sites anytime you like.

-Hardware accelerationTo speed up performance, Internet Explorer uses the power of your computer's graphics processor, also known as a GPU, to handle graphics-heavy tasks like video streaming or online gaming. By tapping into the GPU, Internet Explorer delivers a faster and more immersive web experience.

-Tracking ProtectionSome content on websites can be used to track your activity as you browse the web. Tracking Protection allows you to limit the browser's communication with certain websites—determined by a Tracking Protection List—to help keep your information private. Anyone can create Tracking Protection Lists, and there should be many to choose from in the near future.

Download the IE 9 Release candidate and try it out for yourself at:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/products/ie-9/home?WT.mc_id=MSCOM_DLC_US_PT_113LMUS004274

Internet Explorer 9 final to be released in two weeks:
Microsoft released the Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate on February 10, and according to some sources, the company is going to release the final version of the browser during a conference that is going to take place on March 14 in Texas.
The information confirms what we already knew: Microsoft said that there will only be one Release Candidate version, and the date of March 14 fits the six weeks release cycle that Internet Explorer used until now.

Microsoft said that the Release Candidate version is going to automatically be updated to the final version, so a direct download should be available starting with March 14.

Report contains no data

SharePoint Server provides the ability to audit the usage of your SharePoint environment. The SharePoint Server auditing capabilities allow you to track all activities that occur within the environment. The site collection administrator has the ability to set auditing requirements within the environment that determine the types of actions that should be tracked. Reports are then available that can be used to review the logged events.

Yesterday, one of my users reported me the following error message for the site collection on which he was working:

Report contains no data

As we know, only site collection administrator works/can view the audit log reports so my user clicked on the report and got the above mentioned error message.

What you have to do in this situation:

1)   Open the site on which you are working

2)   Site actions

3)   Site settings

4)   Site collection administration

5)   Site collection audit log settings

6)   Select the columns as per your requirements 

The following list of events can be audited:

1)   Opening, Downloading and viewing of content.

2)   Editing Content

3)   Checking in and out.

4)   Moving and copying content.

5)   Deleting and restoring.

6)   Editing Content Types and Columns

7)   Searches performed by users.

8)   Changes to security settings.

Note: Make sure you do some activity in order to get the reports because you have implemented the audit logs by checking all the appropriate audit events. 

Once auditing has been enabled and the site has been in use for a while. Different reports can be pulled from the log. If no data has been recorded in the log, then the reports will simply not open.

After doing the above mentioned steps, your issue will be resolved..

In case of any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know, Thanks…

A usage report is not available for this site. Usage processing may be disabled on this server or the usage data for this site has not been processed yet.

When you try to view the Site Usage Report page, you may see the following message:
A usage report is not available for this site. Usage processing may be disabled on this server or the usage data for this site has not been processed yet.


Logging and usage processing must be turned on, and users must have visited a page on your site before any data can appear on the Site Usage Report page. Contact your site administrator to verify that logging and usage processing are turned on in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Also, if the site is new (created today) or has not been used before today, no data will appear until the usage log processing is completed (usually within 24 hours). Furthermore, if there has been no activity on the site for the past 31 days, you will see the "no data" message.
How to Enable Windows SharePoint Services usage logging:

Enable Windows SharePoint Services usage logging for the farm hosting the Web application containing the SSP. Please refer the following steps to enable usage logging for the farm:

-On the Central Administration home page, click Operations. 

-On the Operations page, in the Logging and Reporting section, click Usage analysis processing. 

-On the Usage Analysis Processing page, in the Logging Settings section, select Enable logging. 

-Type a log file location and number of log files to create. 

-In the Processing Settings section, select Enable usage analysis processing, and then select a time to run usage processing. 

-Click OK.

Enable portal usage reporting:

After Windows SharePoint Services usage logging is enabled in the server farm, SSP administrators must enable the portal usage reporting service. SSP administrators can control the complexity of usage analysis processing, and select whether or not reporting is enabled for search queries. 

Please refer the following steps to enable portal usage reporting:

-On Central Administration home page, click the Shared Service Provider listed under Shared Services Administration in the Quick Launch bar. 
-On the SSP home page, in the Portal Usage Reporting section, click Usage reporting. 
-On the Configure Advanced Usage Analysis Processing page, in the Processing Settings section, click Enable advanced usage analysis processing. 
-In the Search Query Logging section, select Enable search query logging. 
-Click OK.

Note: If advanced usage analysis processing is not selected, usage reporting statistics will be minimal.

Reset Internet Information Server:


-Go to the Start Button and click Run 
-Type IISReset and click OK.

Activate portal usage reporting

After portal usage reporting is enabled for the SSP, site collection administrators must activate the reporting feature. Until the reporting feature is activated on a site collection, usage reports are not available. 

Please refer the following steps to activate the reporting feature:

-On the Site Actions menu, click Site Settings. 
-On the Site Settings page, in the Site Collection Administration section, click Site collection features. 
-On the Site Collection Features page, click the Activate button for the Reporting feature.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know, Thanks...