Enlarge Microsoft appears to be on the right track with Internet Explorer 8, despite some kinks. THE BOTTOM LINE THE BOTTOM LINE Internet Explorer 8 www.microsoft.com/ie8 Score: 3 stars (out of four), rating based on Beta 2 software Pro: Private browsing. Improved search, security and navigation. Web Slices and accelerator features have potential. Con: A little sluggish at times. Many Web pages don't fully appear until you click a "compatibility view" button. Relatively few partners so far for Web Slice and accelerator features. TALKING TECH TALKING TECH Anonymous Web browsing, in which your cybertracks are concealed, may be the most attention-grabbing feature in the new Beta 2 release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft (MSFT) is aiming the browser at a wider consumer audience. But because of the potentially erratic behavior inherent in beta or test software, it will mostly appeal to tech enthusiasts who want to check out the latest features. Many of those features — private browsing, improved search and better tabbed browsing (keeping multiple pages open at once in a single window) — are welcome. So are so-called accelerators to help you quickly view a map or check a price of some product you're reading about. Microsoft is also promising greater security, which seems to come up every time it upgrades its browser. And the latest IE can reopen tabs you've closed since launching the browser. Some features are merely catch-up; Apple's Safari browser, for example, has had a version of private browsing for some time. I encountered some sluggishness testing Internet Explorer 8 on Windows Vista and XP computers. Microsoft says its new browser is faster than before, but it didn't always feel that way. IE8, unlike its predecessor, conforms to the latest Web code standards. But that meant I sometimes had to click a "compatibility view" button to display full Web pages designed for the IE7 layout. Here's a closer exploration of key IE8 features: Private browsing. You're shopping online for a present for your spouse or significant other and don't want them to find out. Or maybe you don't want them to find out where you've been for other reasons (wink-wink). With "InPrivate" browsing turned on, all traces of the sites you visit are removed from the Web history. No Web cookies (small text files that store information on your preferences), temporary Internet files (copies of Web pages you've viewed) or user names and passwords are left behind after you close a session. Internet searches are also kept mum. You can prevent websites from sharing details about your visit with other sites. The privacy feature is easily turned on when you click to open any new tab. Lest you fret about your kids, Microsoft says the feature won't override any parental controls set up in Vista. Address bar. When you type something in Mozilla's "Smart Location" (or "awesome") bar, the browser serves up a drop-down list of possible Web destinations based on sites you've already bookmarked or tagged. Similarly, when you start typing a URL into the new Internet Explorer, a drop-down list of potential matches appears, based on places you've already gone. In IE7 you'd only get a match if the characters you typed came at the beginning of the URL (just after "www"). That's no longer so. But IE8 doesn't go as far as Firefox in making intelligent guesses about where you want to go. Type "WhiteSox" in Firefox, and you're transported to the ballclub's official website. Typing WhiteSox in IE8 instead brought up a Google page suggesting www.whitesox.com as a possible destination. Search. Microsoft has improved the IE8 search box to let partners such as Amazon, Wikipedia, and Yahoo add search suggestions as you type. It also is working with eBay, Facebook, and others to help you find stuff without many extra clicks. One way is through ?accelerators? — clickable buttons that may appear when you highlight text on a page. You might select an address to map it through Microsoft?s Live Search service. Or highlight words to bring up a tool to translate them. A Facebook accelerator helps you quickly find people or update your profile. The number of accelerators now is slim; Microsoft hopes developers will create more. Another IE8 feature with potential is called ?Web Slices.? It lets you monitor information on sites you check frequently, right from the Favorites Bar near the top of the browser. Say you?re bidding for a Nintendo Wii on eBay. You can mouse over the Wii in an eBay search results page and click on the Web Slice icon that appears. Once in the Favorites Bar it will turn bold when the price changes. Meanwhile, Mozilla Labs Tuesday unveiled a prototype of an intriguing concept called Ubiquity, which also promises shortcuts to maps, translations and more. It?s way early. But Ubiquity suggests even more dramatic changes are coming for browsers. Security and stability. IE7 included an anti-phishing filter to steer you away from bogus websites masquerading as real ones. IE8 goes further by helping you also avoid sites that distribute malicious software. And it combats an insidious security vulnerability known as "cross-site scripting" or XSS, which Microsoft says might steal your data, deface a Web page or launch other types of attacks. IE now posts clearer warnings when you come upon a suspect site; a can't-miss-it red border is accompanied by the words "Unsafe Website." You can report sites you think are up to no good. The new browser is also supposed to be more stable. Microsoft isn't saying it'll never crash. But there's a decent chance a crash will just bring down the tab with the misbehaving page, without causing the browser to shut down entirely. A handy new tool makes it easy to manage (and if need be disable) the mess of add-on software toolbars and plug-ins you may have installed as shortcuts to various tasks. It seems AOL and AIM instant-messaging toolbars and a RealPlayer download plug-in were slowing down the browser on one of my PCs. Each toolbar gets a separate "close" button. I'm for anything to make browsing safer, more productive, even secretive. Microsoft appears to be on the right track. Even if at times Internet Explorer 8 still feels like a work in progress. E-mail: ebaig@usatoday.com Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more