A look at Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3

Once up and running, Beta 3 is a somewhat improved version, with welcome changes primarily in the RSS feed handling department. Some of its speed, which was clearly missing from the Beta 2 release, has now happily returned. When no default search provider has been entered into the search tool, IE7 now installs Windows Live (Default), though it clearly gives the user the option to change this default. Previous editions referred to MSN Search.

The new IE7 remains a small download, at least by modern standards, and certainly by Microsoft's: under 13 MB, which over broadband connections still takes less than a minute. But the real conservation takes place with respect to the memory footprint; and here, Microsoft's familiarity with its own operating system pays off yet again.