I notice that the news item about Phase Out has been pulled off the news list, I assume because of the controversy about the default skin being a ripoff of Abaracadabara. But, it was via that incident that I learned about the world of skinable makovers for IE.

At first, I didn't think much of it, after all, WebBlinds can do that, right? Well, I've since discovered that there are lots of alternative browsers that really add good functionality. I particularly am fond of tabbed browsing. Some people may say that the browsers I'm talking about aren't "real" browsers since they are built around IE. But in my mind, that makes a lot of sense. That way, you get full IE compatibility, but an improved interface. Here are the ones I've come across so far. I believe they are all skinable and freeware:

www.avantbrowser.com
www.crazybrowser.com
www.myie2.com
www.neoplanet.com

The following isn't freeware, nor is it skinable. But it way cool anyway. It is worth checking out, they give you a 21 day trial:

www.irider.com