Microsoft has officially released Internet Explorer 9. It's available for Vista and Windows 7. It is the long-awaited answer to browsers like Firefox and Chrome.

There are plenty of great new features to be found. IE now includes hardware acceleration. This uses your graphics system to render Websites. That speeds up performance for graphics-intensive and video Web sites.

The program also has a new layout. For example, the address bar and search bar have been merged. Overall, IE 9 is sleek and minimal. You get more screen space for viewing sites. It also integrates better with Windows 7.

Best of all, IE 9 incorporates the new HTML5 Web standard. This makes it compatible with future Web sites and technologies. For example, interactive sites will soon use HTML5.

There are plenty of other new features. For example, there is a new download manager. When you open a new tab, you see a list of your most visited sites. And the security has been updated to block more threats.

Of course, there's much more to IE 9. You'll definitely want to take the recommended tour after installation. You should also read my tip about all the new features of IE 9.