IE8 has been released several weeks ago at the MIX Web conference. Next week the actual rollout via Windows Update will start.

You can watch the MIX keynote speeches online and there is also a nice video showing that JavaScript performance is not everything.

I have tested IE8 RTM the past few weeks and can really recommend upgrading. IE8 is faster and more secure than IE7 and has cool features such as tab coloring, standards-compliant CSS 2.1 support and a great built-in script debugger.

If you have not done already, please also update Quero to the newest version, which I optimized for IE8.

One complaint about IE7 or IE8 I hear often is that it takes so long to open a new tab. In fact IE can open a new tab in a fraction of a second. What slows IE down are buggy or old add-ons such as the old Java SSVHelper BHO or Java Plug-in, which were part of older Java SE installations.

I recommend taking a closer look into the Tools > Manage add-ons dialog and uninstall or disable all add-ons you do not need.

In order to solve the issue with the SSVHelper add-on, uninstall all Java Runtime Environments through the control panel. Afterwards check that all Java add-on were removed. If you need support for Java applets (some bank Web sites require Java applets) install the latest version (currently Version 6 Update 12) from java.com.

Other add-ons which are safe to disable: Research, Adobe PDF Linker Helper, Sun Java Console, Google Toolbar Helper, etc.

Tip: Set your home page and new tab page to "about:blank" to further speed up IE.

Here is my xmas present for you: a new version of Quero with IE8 support and neat new features:

• IE8 support added
• You can now disable the ad blocker temporarily for the current domain (shortcut Ctrl+Ins or click on the recycle bin icon in the Quero box).
• New option added: "Show Search Terms While Searching"
• New OpenSearch template parameters added, which can be used to build queries depending on the current URL: Quero:url, Quero:hostname and Quero:domainname.
• New keyboard shortcut added: Ctrl+L toggles between search and navigation mode
• New Registry setting "Keys" of type DWORD added for disabling global keyboard shortcuts used by Quero. In order to turn Ctrl+Ins off, set the value to hexadecimal "FFFDFF".
• Win9x: included newer version of UnicoWS.dll (1.1.3790)
• Fixed: crash on certain Web pages if the ad blocker was turned on

You can now post your comments in the new Quero Forum.

Happy holidays and a happy new year 2009!

Update 2008-12-23: fixed an issue with the XP installer, please redownload if you are using XP or 2003

Today I am celebrating the fourth birthday of Quero since the release of version 1.0 :-) In the past four years Quero kept me awake many nights fixing bugs, implementing new features and adapting to new IE and Windows versions.

I am currently finalizing the next version of Quero, which will support the new multi-process architecture of IE8, also known as LCIE (Loosely-Coupled IE).

I would like to thank all contributors who help me by their constructive feedback, suggestions, bug reports and donations.

I am going to Canada again and give a presentation about the ad blocking part of Quero at the Privacy, Security and Trust (PST) conference.

This time the PST conference will be held in Fredericton, New Brunswick from 1st to 3rd October 2008.

I also looking forward to making a week vacation in Canada :-)

Update 2008-10-24: The PST 2008 presentation slides are now online.

You can now get support and share your experience with Quero in the Quero Forum.

I encourage you to ask your questions in the forum so that other users can also benefit from the answers posted there.

Of course, you can still get individual email support.

Again, I want to thank you for the great feedback you wrote me so far. See you in the forum.

You may already know, that Quero is the first IE toolbar which supports both new Windows Vista themes, namely Aero Basic and Aero Glass, but how to enable the Glass effect?

While Quero automatically extends the Aero Basic background to all other toolbars, I unfortunately was not able to do the same for Aero Glass, since all other toolbars – including the Menu and Links bar – do not support Aero Glass.

In order to activate Aero Glass in Quero the following conditions have to be true:

1. Your Vista version and graphics card have to be capable of Aero Glass and the Aero Glass theme has to be activated.
2. You have to run the Vista version of Quero (see Quero > About).
3. The Aero theme option has to be activated in Quero (on by default, see Quero > Options > Appearance).
4. Due to compatibilty reasons the Quero Toolbar must be placed at the top and reside in its own line since otherwise incompatible toolbars would not be correctly rendered under Aero Glass.

I am happy to announce that I have now managed to migrate Quero to the 64-bit era:

• 64-bit version for Vista x64 released (x64 installer includes both the 32- and 64-bit version of Quero)
• Ad blocker updated: Quero can now block various ad scripts from Google and other ad providers (more general option "Block ad scripts" replaces "Block ads by Google/IntelliTXT")
• Support for pasting multi-line URLs added: you can now paste URLs that are split into several lines (which often occurs in emails) into Quero
• Moved registry key in Windows Vista where Quero stores its settings from Internet registry to [HKCU\Software\AppDataLow\Software\Quero Toolbar]
• Fixed: crash after excessive surfing when the ad blocker was enabled; dragging long URLs with characters which are not allowed in Windows file names failed; Quero does not capture the keys F3/F2 if the search box is hidden any more

• Fixed: crash when IE was opened in protected mode due to an unexpected state in the Windows Internet registry

After migrating from IE6 to IE7 I often hear users complaining about the loss of screen space due to the newly added tab bar and I am asked how to reposition the toolbars to just one line again.

My answer is: With Quero you can as long as you can do without tabbed browsing and the command bar.

1. Disable tabbed browsing (Tools > Internet Options > General > Tabs Settings)
2. Disable the command bar (download the Quero Launcher and run once: qlaunch.exe commandbar=no)
3. Unlock the toolbars. Now you can move them to one line.

Tip: To save even more space, use a small button Quero Theme and hide the status bar.

For quite a long time now it was expected that Microsoft will reveal the first Beta of IE8 at the MIX08 conference. Watch the keynote speech from IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch at 09:30 (PST) live online. Quero is not yet IE8 compatible, but I plan to fix all issues and offer a compatible version before RTM. I am already curious about the newly added "security features" ;-)

Update: Screenshot IE8 Beta 1 with Quero

• Improved integration with Windows Vista: Quero is the first IE toolbar to support Vista's new Aero theme (download the special Vista version now)
• Paste and go (from the search box context menu, or with the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+V)
• For users who do not want to use Quero as an address bar replacement the toolbar can now be reduced to just one button
• Increased the maximum number of search engines and search profiles from 32 to 64
• New options to disable the ad blocker for local or https sites added
• Fixed: certain content was blocked anyway even though it was whitelisted