Internet Explorer 4 dropped in September 1997 and marked the point when Microsoft really started pushing hard into the browser wars. It came bundled with Windows 98 and was deeply integrated into the OS—like, your desktop was basically a web page with “Active Desktop.” IE4 was also when the “blue e” icon showed up and stuck around for over a decade. Microsoft added dynamic HTML, better JavaScript support, and pushed updates like 4.01 in early '98 to fix bugs and improve stability. It was clunky by today’s standards, but back then, it was everywhere. If you used a PC in the late ‘90s, chances are IE4 was your window to the internet—whether you liked it or not.