Image used with permission by copyright holderWindows 7 users: Microsoft has not forgotten you! The Redmond company is bringing Internet Explorer 10 to Windows 7 starting today.

　　On the surface, IE10 looks just like its predecessor IE9, with the Internet bar sitting at the top of the window rather than at the bottom as it does on Windows 8 devices. Users who are familiar with the current version of Internet Explorer should be able to jump right in and start surfing with the new browser with little to no learning curve.

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　　All the improvements made to IE10 are essentially invisible to the user, but they should make webpages load faster, run smoother, and provide users with more privacy. Microsoft said in a blog post that it promises the new browser “loads real world pages up to 20 percent faster in top sites for news, social, search, ecommerce, and more.” Not sure if you believe that claim? You can put IE10 to the test by visiting Microsoft’s IE Test Drive site by running the various benchmark tests like the adorable Penguin Mark.

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　　This latest version of the browser now supports over 30 Web standards, which is 30 more than on IE9, making your Web experience more enjoyable and seamless. With more and more websites relying on HTML 5 and cSS3, Microsoft has created a Minesweeper browser test that not only shows off how it can handle a HTML 5 Web-based game, as well as how quickly the browser can solve each board to give you a sense of its speed.

　　IE10 also tries to make the Internet a bit more secure for users. Just like Firefox, which announced its updated automatic cookies-blocking feature yesterday, the Do Not Track (DNT) option is turned on by default in IE10 for Windows so that advertisers can’t keep tabs on your surfing habit unless you give them permission. Of course, you can always change the DNT setting under options in IE10, just like in Windows 8.

　　Available worldwide and in 95 languages, you can either download the new and free IE10 directly from Microsoft, or just wait for the browser to be automatically updated on your Windows 7 machine in the coming weeks.