Much has been said about Windows 8.1 in the media since it was publically revealed and subsequently made available for download in the form of a preview version released at Microsoft's Build conference last month. Through it all, one of the major improvements - Internet Explorer 11 - hasn't received much attention.
Microsoft recently published a blog post on this very subject designed to highlight some of the browser's key features. Chief among them is the ability to open up to 100 tabs per window, overcoming the previous limitation of 10 tabs at once.
One might expect some slowdown from having so many tabs open at once, but Microsoft says that isn't the case. Tabs that haven't been recently used will essentially be unloaded, thus freeing up valuable system resources for other tasks. This also means that with a mobile device, multiple tabs won't drain your battery as quickly as they might with another browser.
Another new addition to Internet Explorer 11 is the ability to anticipate where you might want to go next on the web. When a user demonstrates intent to navigate, like tapping on the address bar or creating a new tab, IE11 will instantly present a list of frequently visited sites. Typing in a few characters in the address bar will result in relevant, rich suggestions and auto-completion to speed up navigation.
These are just a couple of the features that Microsoft decided to highlight in IE11. I haven't had the opportunity to try Windows 8.1 just yet but I must admit the browsing experience does look much improved. Have you had the chance to try IE11 yet, and if so, what do you think?