The final version of Internet Explorer 11 (IE11), which Microsoft released with Windows 8.1, is now available for Windows 7.

Via the update function, the browser will be automatically rolled out in the coming weeks for all Windows 7 users. This applies first to all those who are currently using the developer version or release preview. The browser update can also be made manually, and to this end Microsoft offers the Update Blocker Toolkit.

In benchmarks the latest browser version of IE shows a 7 to 9 percent performance improvement over the previous version. According to Microsoft the increased performance of Internet Explorer is most noticeable on Windows 7 PCs, with better JavaScript performance and faster web page loading.

IE11 has almost all the functions offered by the browser under Windows 8.1. Windows 7 users will not however be able to open up to 100 tabs at the same time.

Also omitted in the Windows 7 version are various video enhancements, and Google’s SPDY Protocol, which is to form the basis of the next HTTP 2.0 protocol.