Nov 24, 2010 07:51 GMT  ·  By

It’s not often that Microsoft offers updates for software that is still in development, but the company is doing just that for the first public testing milestone of Internet Explorer 9.

Users of Internet Explorer 9 Beta, released in mid-September 2010, can boost their browsing experience up a notch with two new updates offered by the software giant.

Microsoft underlined from the get go that the new downloads are not new IE9 development builds, but that they are only designed to be installed on top of the IE9 Beta.

Following the release of IE9 Beta Build 9.0.7930.16406, users have been waiting to see whether a second Beta will follow. This has not been the case, at least for the time being.

Also, from the hints I’ve received from Microsoft, I think that it’s more likely that the IE team will go straight to IE9 Release Candidate (RC) rather than release a second Beta, per the Windows 7 and Windows Live Essentials 2011 model.

“We released a recommended update for all Internet Explorer 9 Beta customers via Windows Update (KB2448827).

“This update includes stability fixes for the beta build. It is not a new Internet Explorer 9 Beta build. Another update shipped today (KB2452648) resolves issues between the IE9 send feedback feature on 64-bit machines with Windows-Live-Essentials 11.

“These updates apply only to Internet Explorer 9 Beta,” revealed Tyson Storey, IE Program Manager.

Microsoft will be pushing both updates automatically to customers that have IE9 Beta installed.

There are quite a few, especially considering the last statistics that the company shared with the world, with more than 13 million downloads of IE9 Beta since September 15.

“Customers who have automatic updating enabled will not need to take any action because this update will be downloaded and installed automatically. Customers who have not enabled automatic updating need to check for updates and install this update manually,” Storey added.

Still, just to make your job easier, I included the links for the updates below:

KB 2448827 - An update is available for Windows Internet Explorer 9 Beta: November 23, 2010 - All supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008 and of Windows Vista - All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 and of Windows Vista - All supported x86-based versions of Windows 7 - All supported x64-based versions of Windows 7 and of Windows Server 2008 R2 KB 2452648 - The Send Feedback tool in Internet Explorer 9 Beta does not start on a computer that is running a 64-bit version of Windows and that has Windows Live Essentials 2011 installed - Update for the Internet Explorer 9 Beta Send Feedback tool for x64-based versions of Windows 7 and of Windows Server 2008 R2 - Update for the Internet Explorer 9 Beta Send Feedback tool for x64-based versions of Windows Vista and of Windows Server 2008 Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Beta is available for download here.

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 7 (PP7) is available for download here.