Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Macintosh Release Notes (192270)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 for Macintosh
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.1 for Macintosh
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 for Macintosh
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 for Macintosh
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Macintosh
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.5 for Macintosh
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 for Macintosh
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.01a for Macintosh
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0a for Macintosh
This article was previously published under Q192270

SUMMARY

This article contains a copy of the information in the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for Macintosh Release Notes file.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Internet Explorer is a World Wide Web (WWW) browser for the Macintosh. The WWW is the fastest growing component of the Internet today. In order to use a WWW browser, you will need a modem or network access, access to the Internet, and software that enables your computer to communicate with the Internet.

If you performed a minimum or custom install and did not install Java components, the Java features discussed in these Release Notes might not apply to you.

Java users should read the Java Release Notes for Java support information.

Requirements

System Requirements
  • Macintosh with 68030 or higher processor
  • System 7.1 or higher
  • 8 MB of RAM with Virtual Memory on (12MB recommended)
  • 12 MB of hard disk space for Internet Explorer
  • 8.5 MB of hard disk space for the Java VM, which now includes support for JDK 1.1.4


Access to the Internet
You must have access to the Internet through an Internet service provider or the network to which your computer is connected.

Internet software
  • Open Transport 1.1.1 or higher or MacTCP 2.0.6
  • If you are a dial-up user, Config PPP or similar PPP connection software (Control Panel) with PPP (Extension)

New and Improved Features in version 4.0.1

  • Improved performance
  • Support for Apple's ColorSync color management system in JPEG images
  • Improved stability

New and Improved Features in version 4.0

Ease of Use and Personalization
  • Channel Definition Format (.cdf) support brings timely content from the Internet to your computer
  • Explorer bars give you quick access to favorites, history, search, and channels items
  • Enhanced AutoComplete lets you use Control and Arrow key combinations to move through the folders and files. Plus, click and hold the arrow next to the Address bar to review list of possible matches
  • Toolbar styles let you customize the look of the Button bar
  • Tooltips provide descriptions of browser elements
  • Mac OS 8 contextual menus support increases productivity
  • History menus on the Back and Forward buttons give you easy access to the history in the current session
  • Combined Mail and News toolbar button lets you select from different mail and news options from within the browser
  • Favorite and history list search support can help keep you organized
Offline features
  • Cached pages are retrieved faster making the offline experience even better
  • Web site archiving lets you download entire sites to your hard disk instead of the cache so that you can move the content to other computers and view the content offline
  • Offline Channels support can save you Internet connection time
Web Content Standards
  • Dynamic HTML support including Document Object Model, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS1) Positioning, Dynamic styles, data binding, and dynamic content
  • Enhanced scripting support provides fast, comprehensive, language- dependent script handling capability for users of ECMA-262 Script (the recently approved JavaScript standard based on JavaScript 1.1.)
  • HTML 4.0 support
  • Dynamic Web font embedding for improved print and Web delivery
  • HTTP 1.1 support improves page download speed
Java support
  • The fastest performance for Java applets on the Macintosh
  • The most up-to-date support for Java Development Kit (JDK) up to and including JDK 1.1.4 features
International support
  • Internet Explorer includes new support for Unicode by installing and relying upon Apple's Text Encoding Converter 1.3.1 (TEC) System Extension. The browser relies on TEC to properly render international characters.
Security
  • Security zones divide the Internet and Intranet into trusted (safe) sites and restricted (unsafe) areas. Once zones have established, browser security defaults can be set for each zone so that you can reduce the number of security-related dialog boxes

Tips and Troubleshooting

Problems Launching Internet Explorer

In general, if you are experiencing difficulties accessing any page on the World Wide Web, please try one or both of the following:

Delete the Explorer folder and the MS Internet Cache folder
  1. Open your hard drive, and then open the System folder.
  2. Open the Preferences folder, and then drag the Explorer folder and the MS Internet Cache folder to your desktop.
  3. Launch Internet Explorer again. New Explorer and MS Internet Cache folders will be automatically created.
  4. To use your old favorites, open the Explorer folder on your desktop from step 2, and then drag the "favorites.html" file into the new Explorer folder (located in the Preferences folder).
  5. Once you're satisfied that your browser is working properly and your favorites have been saved (they appear in the favorites window in Explorer), feel free to throw away the Explorer and MS Internet Cache folders on your desktop as they may unnecessarily consume hard drive space.
Delete the Internet Preferences File
  1. Open your hard drive, and then open the System folder.
  2. Open the Preferences folder, and then drag the Internet Preferences file to your desktop.
  3. Launch Internet Explorer again. A new Internet Preferences file will be automatically created.
  4. If you have modified your default Internet Config settings, you will need to reset them again.
Printing a Web Page that Uses Frames
Some web pages are designed using frames (subsections of the window that display different information). In order to print the information in a particular frame, click in that frame and choose Print from the File menu.

Offline Browsing
Downloading large Web sites is memory intensive and may consume a lot of disk space. Java applets and Macintosh ActiveX controls are not downloaded for offline browsing.

QuickTime and QuickTime PowerPlug
If you have QuickTime installed, Internet Explorer requires that the QuickTime PowerPlug be installed in your Extensions folder in your System folder. QuickTime extensions are available for download from http://quicktime.apple.com/.

QuickTime and QuickDraw 3D
If you use the Extensions Manager to disable QuickTime and QuickDraw 3D, you need to remove the appropriate QuickTime and QuickDraw 3D libraries.

VRML
If you are using Internet Explorer to view VRML pages, you must have QuickDraw 3D version 1.5 or later installed. QuickDraw 3D is available for download from http://quickdraw3d.apple.com/.

Plug-ins
If you experience problems viewing a page that uses plug-ins, you will most likely need to increase the memory allotted to Internet Explorer. To do so, quit Internet Explorer if it is running, select the Internet Explorer icon, and then choose Get Info from the File menu. (Make sure you select the icon for the Internet Explorer program, not an alias to the program.) Try increasing the Preferred Size to 8000K.

Map Control Panel
Some web sites (http://home.microsoft.com for example) use your current date, time, and location to deliver timely and regional information. If the Map Control Panel is not set properly, it can affect how these web sites work. You can access this by choosing Control Panels from the Apple Menu, and double-clicking on the Map Control Panel. Type in the name of your city, or a city nearby, and press the Set button.

ActiveX
Some Web pages may have ActiveX controls that have been built for the Win32 platform and don't support Mac OS. If this happens and you are unable to view the page, you can turn off the viewing of ActiveX content. To do so, choose Preferences from the Edit menu, click Web Content under Web Browser, and then clear the Enable ActiveX check box. If this fixes your problem, the ActiveX control most likely did not support Mac OS.

Note: Please be aware that in this release, Internet Explorer cannot verify the integrity of ActiveX controls. Download and use ActiveX controls from trusted servers only.

VBScript
Internet Explorer does not currently support VBScript, however, most pages use JScript. If you open a page that uses VBScript Internet Explorer will alert you with a dialog box.

Browsing Secure Pages through a Proxy Server
Sometimes you may encounter difficulties in accessing secure web pages when browsing through a proxy server. With certain proxy servers you may be able to correct this situation (the proxy server must support tunneling):
  1. Choose Preferences from the Edit menu
  2. Click on "Proxies" in the lefthand column of the Preferences Window
  3. Using the "Method" popup menu choose "Tunnel"
  4. Click "OK"

Using Help

Internet Explorer Help is available from the Help (?) menu and will give you the information you need to use the powerful features of Internet Explorer.
  • Click a topic area on the left to see a list of related procedures. To open the procedures in a separate window, press and hold on the topic area link, and then choose Open Link In New Window from the menu that appears.
  • Click Index to see the Index. Use the Index just as you would an index in a book.
  • Click Tips & Tricks for information about a particular menu item and its keyboard shortcut.
  • Internet Explorer Help is best viewed in Internet Explorer.
  • To print, click in the frame that contains the information you want, and then choose Print from the File menu.

Technical Support

Microsoft offers technical support and services ranging from self-help tools to direct assistance with a Microsoft technical engineer. For more information on options in your area, read support.txt located in Internet Explorer 4.0: Help: Technical Support.

Also, included in the Technical Support folder are documents that may assist you with setting up, connecting to the Internet, as well as general troubleshooting.

You can also access Microsoft's online support resources at http://support.microsoft.com/.

Reporting Bugs and Making Suggestions

Send mail to iemacbug@microsoft.com with your bugs and suggestions.

Include:

System configuration information (on the Apple menu, choose About Internet Explorer, and then click Support).
  • Version of operating system
  • Type of Macintosh
  • Type of connection to the Internet


Steps that lead to the problem. For example:
  1. Start Microsoft Internet Explorer.
  2. From the File menu, choose Open.
  3. Click the Cancel button.
  4. Result: Nothing happens.
Any other information that will help us reproduce the bug successfully.

Although you will not receive a response via e-mail, all bug reports will be read and evaluated by the engineering team. We appreciate your feedback. Technical Support questions should not be directed to this e- mail address. Please refer to the Technical Support section of this document for more information.

Visit the Internet Explorer for Macintosh Home Page

Learn more about the many features and updates of Internet Explorer by visiting our home page at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/mac/.

Join the Internet Explorer for Macintosh newsgroup

Interact with other users of Internet Explorer for Macintosh by joining microsoft.public.inetexplorer.mac.

Microsoft Internet Explorer for Macintosh Copyright 1995-98 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

ColorSync, QuickTime, QuickTime VR, and the QuickTime logo are all trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer. Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:12/17/2003
Keywords:kbinfo kbreadme KB192270
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.