After switching from Windows XP to Windows 7 on my new laptop I also changed my primary browser from Microsoft Internet Explorer to Google Chrome. I have been really happy with the results as Chrome is really lightweight and runs very smoothly. One thing I was initially not happy with was the fact that I used Google Toolbar all the time with Internet Explorer and it was not available for Chrome. I then spent some time researching all of the Chrome extensions I would need to install to simulate everything that I was able to do with the Google Toolbar installed in Internet Explorer.
So today I was searching for popular Google Chrome browser extensions and happened across one that is really cool and pretty much fills the last gap that I had with using Chrome and having to ever use Internet Explorer on its own again. The Google Chrome extension is called “IE Tab” which allows you to launch Internet Explorer within a Chrome tab as displayed below.
Internet Explorer 8 Running In A Google Chrome Tab:
As you can see in the example above there is a smaller address bar located in the IE Tab where you type the address you want to open in Internet Explorer. This is great for testing sites with Internet Explorer or for sites that require Internet Explorer for one reason or another. The IE Tab extension will launch the version of Internet Explorer that is installed on your computer which in my case is currently Internet Explorer 8.
Install IE Tab To Launch Internet Explorer In A Chrome Tab:
Installing Google Chrome extensions is really easy and IE Tab follows suit. From a Chrome window click here to open the IE Tab page located in the Google Chrome Extensions Gallery. There will be a fairly large blue button that says Install on it displayed on the IE Tab page. Click the Install button which will open a pop up window asking you to confirm the installation of IE Tab as displayed below.
Installation Confirmation: Install “IE Tab”?
Click the Install button to install the IE Tab extension which will then add an icon to the Chrome browser taskbar with a temporary message right below the Chrome icon bar letting you know about the new IE Tab icon as displayed in the below example image.
IE Tab Is Now Installed Confirmation Message:
The IE Tab extension for Google Chrome can be really useful if you cannot stand having to open Internet Explorer by itself. In my case I wanted to minimize the amount of Internet Explorer usage since when I first got my Windows 7 laptop and was primarily using Internet Explorer I believe it to be the source of a couple blue screens. The issue more than likely relates to the version of Internet Explorer installed on my Windows 7 laptop being the 64-Bit version of Windows Internet Explorer. Regardless now with IE Tab I can still use IE while keeping it to a minimum.
