At first glance, the official release of Internet Explorer 6 doesn't seem to offer much in the way of improvements over its predecessor, IE5. In fact, the only change immediately apparent is a revised look courtesy of Windows XP that adds new stylized buttons in the browser toolbar and more colorful menu background and toolbar areas, as well as the addition of the Personal Bar, a customizable sidebar pane that displays a variety of individual Explorer bars.
New Explorer bars that can be displayed in the Personal Bar include a Media bar with controls that allow you to play music and video files, and a Contacts bar that displays your Outlook Express and MSN Messenger contacts and also allows you to use Instant Messaging features from the browser window. Both of these bars are useful tools, but neither can be considered a "break-through" addition to the browser.
