Diff-IE is a prototype add-on developed by Microsoft Research that adds capabilities to compare the current website with a previously visited version in Internet Explorer.

The Internet Explorer add-on comes as a standalone installer which will install the add-on into the web browser. The Diff-IE add-on itself is compatible with all 32-bit versions of Internet Explorer 7 to the latest beta of Internet Explorer 9. It will however run fine on both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

IE users should take a look at the add-on’s settings first to configure it properly. It does work right away after enabling the add-on but there are some settings in the options that may need to be altered. Among them an option to ignore sites which is by default set to all https and about urls. It would have probably been better if Microsoft would have added an option to disable the add-on on all pages with a whitelist attached to use it on selected ones. Diff-IE as of now will track changes on every visited webpage that is not in the ignored sites list.

Other settings include the highlight color and change threshold above which differences are not shown, if page contents should be cached and a listing of currently cached webpages.

The add-on itself displays a toolbar in the browser that offers quick access to core features.

Here it is possible to add a site to the ignored site listing, compare the current page to a cached page snapshot, show or hide the differences or display a side-by-side comparison. This feature is however only available if the cache page contents as an image setting is enabled in the options.

IE-Diff is a handy tool for Internet Explorer, especially for users who like to track changes made to a website over time. It would probably be better if the devs would change the blacklist approach to whitelisting, as I’m not sure how the add-on handles lots of site visits per day. It is mainly a performance and storage concern.

Report a Webpage Problem is an Internet Explorer 8 add-on that can currently be downloaded from Microsoft Download. The add-on will only be provided for a limited time as a download, most likely to sort out and analyze the biggest remaining compatibility issues. The Internet Explorer 8 add-on is a standalone executable for the Windows operating system that gets added to Internet Explorer 8 during installation.

The Internet Explorer 8 add-on adds a toolbar button to the command line of Internet Explorer 8 and will also provide the same link in the Tools menu. Users who want to report a webpage problem while using Internet Explorer 8 simply have to click on the link which will load a page at the official Microsoft website containing a form. A click will automatically generate a screenshot of the current page and store it in the temporary Internet files as ReportSiteIssueImage.bmp.

The form itself is made up of a comment box that takes up to 1000 chars and a Issue Category selector that classifies the problem as one of the following:

• Page does not render properly
• Only works when emulating IE7
• IE complains of a scripting Error
• Performance is slow
• IE crashes
• Other

Additional data is send to Microsoft as stated in the Privacy Statement:

Along with the information described above, information about your computer (“standard computer information”) is sent Microsoft. Microsoft uses standard computer information to provide you Internet-enabled services, to help improve our products and services, and for statistical analysis. Standard computer information typically includes information such as your IP address, operating system version, browser version, and regional and language settings.

This Internet Explorer 8 add-on will definitely be helpful for users who are stuck with Internet Explorer and experience webpage problems.

Qpedia is an add-on for Internet Explorer 6 and 7 that adds Wikipedia Search to the browser. The function becomes available after selecting and right-clicking text in Internet Explorer. The new entry Wikipedia is added to that menu and a click on that entry opens a new Internet Explorer window that opens the Wikipedia page that corresponds to the selected text.

There are not any options to configure the add-on properly. There is no way to make the links open in a new tab. The search also uses the English Wikipedia website to search for the phrases. This add-on could be useful to some users who search Wikipedia regularly and use Internet Explorer.