N.B. As from 15th June 2022 Internet Explorer will become unsupported and will automatically be disabled in Windows 10 - you should already be using either Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge for all your browsing needs.
Overview - Desktop App (Windows 7/8)

Back/Forward Buttons |
Use these buttons to navigate backwards and forwards through recently viewed web pages |
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Tabs |
Allows you to have multiple websites open at a time and easily switch between them by clicking the relevant tab |
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Takes you to the page set as your home page, usually defaults to your internet providers homepage but can be customized by clicking Tools, Internet Options |
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Shows a list of your favorite websites along with a list of feeds you are subscribed to and the history of websites you have visited recently - the option to add the current page or all open tabs to your favorites is also shown here |
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Allows you to access settings relating to Internet Explorer as well as options for printing, online safety and to view downloaded files |
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Website content |
Your chosen website content is displayed here |
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Zoom Level |
Allows you to increase/decrease the size of the page - useful to make the text larger if you are struggling to read it
If the zoom option is not showing see Tips and Tricks below |
Overview - Windows 8 App

If you right mouse click anywhere on the page (or swipe up if using a tablet) the options pane will appear at the bottom of the screen (as shown above) - the table below explains all the available options:-
Website content |
Your chosen website content is displayed here |
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Tabs |
Allows you to have multiple websites open at a time and easily switch between them by clicking the relevant tab |
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New tab |
Opens a new and allows you to choose to open a frequently used website or to type in the address of a website you wish to visit |
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Tab tools |
Allows you to re-open closed tabs or to open an InPrivate browsing tab |
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Back/Forward Buttons |
Use these buttons to navigate backwards and forwards through recently viewed web pages |
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Address bar |
Type the address of the website you wish to visit here |
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Reading view |
If this icon appears then you can click it to enable reading view, which changes the layout of a webpage, removing unnecessary images etc to make it a lot easier to read on a small screen device such as a tablet |
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Refresh |
Reloads the current page |
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Favorites |
Shows all your favorites (bookmarked) website, as well as options to add current page to favorites, share favorites or to pin the site to your Start Screen |
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Page tools |
Allows you to search on current page, view downloads, or view the current page in the desktop version of Internet Explorer |
![]() | SmartScreen Filter |