Retrieve previously opened tabs in IE7 with “IE Open Last Closed Tab”
Description: “IE Open Last Closed Tab” is a free Internet Explorer extension that can retrieve and launch previously visited URLs. On pressing a hotkey it displays a page of thumbnails representing previously viewed URLs that can be used to quickly access any of these sties.
I was doing some freeware research the other day and had about 8 or 10 tabs open on IE (yes, I use IE7, for work-related reasons). It was at the end of my lunchbreak at work and I had to switch quickly from blogging mode to work mode; except I wanted to be able to access the tabs/URLs I had open later on and not lose them. I knew that you could do this fairly easily with some Firefox plugins and so I started searching for a freeware Internet Explorer extension that delivered that functionality. Eventually I found that MuvExToe’s “IE Open Last Closed Tab” and IE7Pro, both offered this function (and both are freeware). I decided to post the former because (a) it featured a nifty “Quick Tab” thumbnail view with the latter didn’t, and (b) I was more interested in a single extension that did this rather than a program that offered multiple tools. Here are more notes on “IE Open Last Closed Tab”:
How it works: the extension installs itself in Internet Explorer 7 and monitors sites visited. It will install a button on the IE command bar that, when pressed, will display a list of visited sites (see screenshot to the right). Alternately you can press a hotkey (Alt+Q by default) and get a page of sites represented as thumbnails (see screenshot above).- The site history: this program apparently stores the URL history and does not use that of IE. What this means is that the list of visited sites can be retrieved even after you delete your browsing history, cookies, cache, temporary internet files, etc. You can delete the visited sites history from within the program itself.
- Quick tab style view: i.e. the page with site thumbnails. A rather cool feature. I am not sure why but many sites end up without a thumbnail/visual representation. Note: this page includes an ad at the bottom of the page, but the ad can be disabled; click on “disable product bar”.
- Number of tabs to remember: is set at 25 by default but can be increased up to 200.
- Keyboard shortcuts: Alt-X will automatically open the last closed tab, while Alt-Q will prmpt the Quick tab style view. There is no option to customize these shortcuts, however.
- The search box: this is only accessible from the Quick tab (thumbnail) view. Typing a word in the “find” box will immediately filter the sites on display. The search function seems to index the page titles and not the content within the page.
- Wish list: the ability to customize/redefine the hotkeys.
The verdict: this is quite a nice addition to Internet Explorer 7 and very useful to have. (I even like that it’s history is separate than that of IE7). I actually found that I was using this functionality more than I expected that I would, and moreover it is useful to retrieve sites after recovering from a crash. I particularly like the thumbnail page representation; overall highly recommended.
Version Tested: 3.5.0.0
Compatibility: Windows 2003/Vista/XP. Requires Internet Explorer 7, .NET Framework 2.0.
Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 224K).
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This is a very useful feature and ever since I switched to the Maxthon browser (previously called MyIE, which uses the IE engine) I find that I have used this feature the most. The best part in Maxthon is that the re-opened tabs have their individual histories accessible through the browser back button etc. In other words no different from if that tab wasn’t closed at all. Does this extension do the same?
Funny that you mentioned about a crash (that never happens, does it :-). Maxthon actually automatically brings up a generated page with all the tabs that were open before the crash.
Thanks for the reviews - keep them coming. Been lurking for a while and I find the site very useful.
Cheers,
Mukesh
@Mukesh: I just checked and no, a tab’s history is not kept. The program simply functions to access presiously viewed URLs.
Thanks, Samer. I’ll stick with Maxthon for now. Perhaps something you should profile it when you get a chance. From your superb taste in free software, I think you will like it too.
Note: I am unaffiliated with Maxthon - just a regular user of their software.
Could anyone name me one single reason for using IE over Firefox, or even Opera? As for Maxthron, it was good in 2002-2003, but now it’s practically unneeded. With all due respect (and I mean it), it’s like reviewing useful utilities for Windows 98 instead of promoting WinXP or any other modern operating system out there that is vastly superior in almost every respect.
Khmm,
I agree, especially when you can get an IE add on for Firefox for those websites that won’t open in Firefox.
But still, a great review for anyone using IE.
Regards.
@ Khmm: I can give you 30 reasons:
all my 30 plugins, that i use both in maxthon 1 and maxthon 2.
@ samer, i hope you are not insulted, if i just link to my reply in another place, but seriously, i can say nothing more to khmm, as what i already said in this post:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/muo-polls-whats-your-browser-of-choice/
I am a faithful maxthon (1 and 2) user for five years, and have it fully customized with 30 plugins to my needs.
and yes, I do realize, you are, as the million other ff users, probably just don’t recognize its value, just because you all think its “just” an addon for IE .
For me (and I can at least claim, I have tried FF, while many who just start to dismiss maxthon, because its not having a multi million dollar ad campaign backing it up) a barebone firefox is plain awful to use.
so is plain basic maxthon version. or the plain basic IE 6 and 7.
with maxthon AND all my plug ins, I can fully claim, I am up to par with any FF user anytime.
and really, what does FF have for a market share in China ?!? lol, 1 or 2 %?
Maxthon has nearly 20 or 30 % in China, and as long as Firefox doesn’t give me a killer feature, that is suppose to make it superior to all other browsers, I see no personally use it.
long before FF came (or IE7 was developed), I knew what tabbed browsing is, was crash recovery of all tabs was, what ad blocking features one can have, and what plug ins meant.
don’t get me wrong, I am tryig to turn this into a philosphical discussion which browser is *better*. Better is a subjective term.
also its not about *security*, and OH HOW so superior and safer FF is compared to IE (with or without addons), as so many FF users claim.
I am talking purely about usability , and it that, I cannot see, what advantages FF can give me over a something, that I have used for 5 years (no, actually its 6 years now).
“Better” is not a subjective term. I’ve been using Firefox long before the “multi million dollar ad campaign”, a.k.a. worldwide popularity, kicked in. It’s is safer, it is better for web development, it has undeniably larger plugin database, and (as of the latest 3 beta) it is the least memory consuming browser out there. It’s also quite fast - definitely faster than the last version of Maxthron I’ve tried out. Long story short, I’ve worked with Netscape, IE, Maxthron, Opera, Firefox, and even an earlier version of Safari. It is my opinion that the only thing out there that’s even close to Firefox is Opera, but it fails to provide any kind of reasonable competition in terms of add-ons. I know some may claim that Maxthron is faster (it’s an upbuild of the IE engine, should I add more?), more secure, twice as l337, thrice as customizable and so forth, but these are opinions, not facts. There are various browser tests out there and I don’t recall seeing Maxthron amongst the winners…ever.
There are various browser tests out there and I don’t recall seeing Maxthron amongst the winners…ever.
by whom are these tests made??
If you mean any tests by either European or US magazines or sites, sorry, but all the German PC mags that i know, dont ever hardly *know* or ever mentioned maxthon, much less than including it in their tests.
(and I am from Germany, btw, not China).
The only thing that is then and there mentioned for IE users is IE7Pro, for those readers, who dont want to go to FF.
and no, i still stand by my opinion.
*better* is for me, regarding software , any piece of software , whether browser or not, a subjective term.
Better = Best tool for the job.
There are many times when Lynx, Opera Mini, Epiphany, IBrowse, Contiki or Firefox 4.0a1pre is better suited for a specific need than Firefox 3.0b5, latest weekly Opera 9.50 ,latest Webkit nightly, HV3 or Sleipnir.
As for Firefox Extensions, anyone ever done any counting on how many of them are either just javascript addons, or GUI to make editing prefs.js (about:config) , userchrome.css and usercontent.css a little more user-friendly ?
That said, many Maxthon plugins are just javascript plugins too , the better ones are COM plugins.
Disclaimer: see ancient screenshot by clicking on name.
There is an other way to retrieve and launch previously visited URLs, just try Web2wave service (http://www.web2wave.com)
It’s a completely web-based app so there’s no need to install a thing. With Web2Wave, you can store, find and organize all your favorite web content via 3D tabs. The tabs also display an image of each site you have open. It looks a lot like the iPod technology on the new Touch or iPhone., but instead of album covers, Web2Wave displays website coverflows called Surflets.