New features and functionality in the Beta 3 release include:

• All security updates for IE7 released through June.
• The ability to drag-and-drop reorder browser tabs in the tabbed-browsing bar.
• The reappearance of the optional read e-mail button for the customizable "Command" bar, or main toolbar.
• The Web page zoom-in scaling feature adds a horizontal scroll bar automatically.
• A global RSS feed settings dialog.
• A global RSS "refresh now" function.
• Additional work carried out since the Beta 2 release aimed at improving Web-site compatibility.

In response to a question about why IE7 isn't expanding features and functionality more aggressively, Gary Schare, Microsoft's General Manager of Internet Explorer, acknowledged that the goal of IE7 wasn't to win back market share from Mozilla, but merely to update IE7 to currently expected levels of browser functionality.

The preview of Beta 3 takes up 12.8MB of hard drive space. IE7 requires Windows XP Service Pack 2. It's important to uninstall any previous version of IE7 before installing this one. It may be uninstalled from Add or Remove programmes.