Are you a die-hard Internet Explorer fan, sick of hearing all your techy friends constantly bugging you about Firefox, Chrome, or whatever their favorite alternative-browser-of-the-week is? We've got some good news for you, because the popular browser is almost ready for its final release, with another peek now available at the latest version of Internet Explorer 8.

The IE8 Release Candidate is now available for download, building off the last IE8 beta release. This copy is as stable as you're going to get before the final release, so if you've been holding off on checking it out, not wanting to mess around with buggy beta releases, this is a good time to check it out.

IE8 RC1 is supposed to work just like the final version of IE8 will; this release is mainly to give developers time for one last run-through on identifying any still-extant bugs. According to the team, development of IE8 was focused mainly on improving the quality of the browsing experience, studying how users actually use their browsers to access data. This has led to the creation of Accelerators, mini plugin-like widgets that let you access features of frequently used sites. Hand in hand with ease-of-use, the browser needed to be as solid as possible, running consistently without sudden crashes.

Security is another big concern for the IE8 team, which has now implemented techniques to protect you against "clickjacking" attacks. These malicious sites trick you into performing actions you normally wouldn't, by hiding what's going on on-screen. For instance, you might think you were navigating through a photo gallery, but there could be an invisible window floating on top with your bank's web page, which you're actually clicking on, inadvertently revealing account info.

If you're interested in checking it out, Microsoft has a step-by-step guide on installing IE8 RC1.

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