Application Development - eWeek

Application Development: Internet Explorer Administration Kit 8 Is All Business, eWEEK Labs Finds


Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is a big improvement over previous versions, but it has few features that outshine those in competing Web browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. However, there is one area in which the Microsoft browser has a very big advantage-namely, in its ability to give companies, ISPs, Websites and software developers the option to create customized and easily deployable versions of IE 8. The Internet Explorer Administration Kit 8 (or IEAK 8) provides fine-grain control over how IE 8 is installed, what options and settings it will have, and how security is set. This makes it possible, for example, for a business to deliver an employee browser that has the right security settings and that points to company Web resources right out of the gate.
 
  • The Internet Explorer Administration Kit comes in versions for ISPs, Websites, software vendors and corporations. (I tested the corporate version.)
  • Upon launching the IEAK 8 Customization Wizard, admins can choose the Windows platform for which they are building a custom IE 8 installation.
  • Custom IE installations built with IEAK 8 can be delivered to CD-ROM, as downloadable files or as configuration packages to be applied to systems that have IE 8 already installed.
  • To speed up the customization process, users can preselect which areas of the browser they plan to customize.
  • The Automatic Version Synchronization in IEAK 8 lets businesses keep their installation packages up-to-date with the most recent versions of IE 8.
  • Businesses can choose to have IE 8 installations work in the standard way or silently to end users.
  • Using IEAK 8, it is possible to configure IE 8 so that a company name or Website appears in the title bar of the browser.
  • Search engines, including internal company search engines, can be preconfigured using IEAK 8.
  • Businesses can preset the home page for the browser, as well as the sites added to the link bar.
  • The new Accelerators feature of IE 8 makes it possible for businesses to preload key accelerators into their customized versions of IE 8.
  • Customized Favorites sites and RSS feeds can be preloaded into IE 8 using IEAK 8.
  • Using IEAK 8, businesses can control how the browser behaves after installation, including sending users to an in-house post-browser-install Web page.
  • For businesses that use proxy servers to manage or control Web access, IEAK 8 makes it possible to preconfigure proxy settings for employee browsers.
  • Security is one of the key areas of customization available in IEAK, allowing administrators to preselect the security settings that their employees' browsers will have.
  • After running the IEAK 8 Customization Wizard, admins can tweak their browser installations before deployment.
  • The IEAK 8 Profile Manager lets administrators make changes to already created IE 8 installation packages.
  • After completing the IEAK 8 Wizards, businesses can deploy their own customized versions of IE 8, such as this eWEEK Labs-branded browser.
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