Internet Explorer Plugins

Date Released: 2021
File Size: 187 MB
License: Freeware
Operation Systems: Windows OS
Last Updated: February 20, 2024

Internet Explorer browser addons and plugins can help personalize the way you use the Internet. The plug-ins and add-ons available here have been carefully screened by Microsoft and rated by users to help you select the ones that suit your needs and preferences.

A while back, someone told me that by the end of ’00 there would be 500 necessary plug-ins. I laughed. Not at the “500 plug-ins” part; at the necessary part.

Just because you made the right choice to switch from your old browser to Microsoft Internet Explorer, we won’t make you throw away everything. For former Netscape users, not only does Internet Explorer convert all your bookmarks into favorites, but we’ll even let you keep those plug-ins you’ve become so attached to. And how many browsers give you that level of versatility? Just one: Microsoft Internet Explorer.

There’s really nothing to it. Internet Explorer uses the plug-ins you’re already using: Go to any Web page you’ve viewed before that contains plug-ins. Internet Explorer detects the plug-ins needed, locates the plug-ins on your computer, runs them, and you’re ready to go!

Add New Plug-ins
Whether you’ve been using another Web browser and are just switching to Internet Explorer 3.0, or this is this your first browser on this computer, plug-ins and ActiveX controls are easy to install.

• When you go to a page that requires plug-ins, Internet Explorer checks to see if you have the needed plug-in(s) installed.
• If you don’t have a plug-in installed, then you can install either the plug-in or an ActiveX control, if available.
• Install the plug-in to the Netscape Navigator folder (if you’ve been using Netscape Navigator), such as “C:\program files\netscape\navigator\program\plugins,” or to the Internet Explorer folder: “C:\program files\plus!\microsoft internet\plugins.”
• When you’ve installed the ActiveX controls or plug-ins you need, then you’re ready to go!

What with Internet Explorer offering up a plug-in SDK (software developer’s kit), everyone and her brother will be creating a plug-in that you’ll need in order to see her homepage. You’ll never use it anywhere else, mind you, but it’ll be indispensable in this one instance. Super. Just what we all need – a little more non standardization on the Web.

This isn’t to say that the current “standard” is the end-all-be-all. But hey, a plug-in is supposed to make the Web more useful; it seems logical that it should have more than one application. And that it should work. And that the developers tool should use standard file formats. Is that so much to ask?

The operative phrase of the day is “reinventing the wheel.” There are more than hundreds plug-ins on Internet Explorer Plug-Ins pages alone, and most of them do exactly the same thing (either nothing, or crash your machine). Now this isn’t to say there aren’t any good plug-ins out there (there are). And this isn’t to say that no one could develop a better plug-in than what’s currently available (I’m quite sure someone could).

Our mission is to help you narrow the growing list of plug-ins down to a manageable, quality few. To sort out which are useful, which need a little more work, and which you can write off altogether. Every month, we’ll bring you the lowdown on up-and-coming plug-ins, and what could be done intelligently with them. We’ll talk about good and bad usage (good = enhanced pages; bad = three-finger salute), and generally try to make sense of it all.

Start exploring and downloading them today.