Internet Explorer 7 in its final release will be distributed as part of a monthly Windows XP automatic update (patch Tuesday, as it's become known as, occurs on the second Tuesday of each month). We'll all be asked if we want to install IE 7 but Microsoft is strongly recommending that all users do the install because of the much stronger security features in IE 7.

Currently IE 7 is has been released as Release Candidate 1 for more testing by IT professinals, web developers and web masters. Whether there is a Release Candidate 2 depends on whether the IE 7 team are informed of any major bugs or glitches but the features in IE 7 RC1 won't be changed.

So it's expected that the final release of IE 7 for the general public could be in October or Novemeber.

Either way, now is a good time to familiarise yourself with some of IE 7's features. Rushworth Community House has been running IE 7 RC1 on a number of its computers to help users get a feel for tabbed browsing, searching and making sure the sites they visit work properly. The latter includes banking and financial sites in particular - e.g., National Aust Bank still doesn't recognise IE 7 for online banking (at the time of posting) but everything works ok once the user is past the "not-supported browser page".

An easy way to get started is to take the tour of IE 7's features by using the tabs on IE 7's home page. For more info, towards the top of the page is a link, take a tour.

One of IE7's new features you may take a bit to get used to is tabbed browsing. Basically the idea is to load IE just the one time (by clicking it's logo from the Quick Launch bar or Start or its desktop icon) and then open new windows for new web sites you want to visit by opening a new tab window for each as required. After a while you'll get the hang of it as you only need to look across the tabs to see which sites you're viewing and a click on a tab takes you from one site to another.

Another way to use tabbed browsing is to right-click a link and have the site open on a new tab - the advantage here is that you're still looking at the current page. For example, you might be reading through the opening page on ABC News but don't want to leave this page just yet. So using the right-click on a link/open in a new tab feature, you can open stories you can read later after you've skimmed through the main headlines.

The Live Expo site explains itself this way:

Expo is a dynamic social listing service that allows members to find and sell items, discover information, and meet other parties in their area - all for free!

Although not yet available to Australian users, it's worth taking a look at Expo classifieds and start to understand its features.

Like other sites where you can buy and sell, Expo has some uniqeue features to protect both buyers and sellers - e.g., you might want to restrict what you want to sell to just your Messenger contacts (because you trust these people since they're family, friends and co-workers on your Messenger contacts list).

Search for some items or browse the listings to see how it all works.

You can try creating an Expo account for yourself but, unless you live in the U.S., you won't be able to complete it at this stage. Note the Code of Conduct and the mandatory entry of your address, all of which goes to make up your Expo Profile. You enter your address because you noticed, didn't you, that each item has a distance mentioned. As well, you can use the map to find out how to pick up any items you buy.