Windows 7 - Silly IE8 Question

Im back on Windows for the first time in about a decade. I'm trying to use IE8, but i dont know where to see a list of active downloads. Does it have a window that shows the status of all current downloads? Where do i find this?

If you right click on a file in a web page to download, and choose "save target as", IE (or whatever program you use to start a download) will open a new separate "download file" dialog box in which you choose the save location. The next window tracks the download until it says "Download Complete". Once the download begins you can close the IE window since the download status is tracked in it's own window. If you start 10 separate downloads you will have 10 separate "progress tracking" windows which you can minimize to the task bar to get them out of the way. IIRC, that's also how IE worked in Win98 10 years ago.

It would be nice if it kept a list of active and past downloads.... like other modern browsers.

Perhaps we can finally see something like that in IE9. The beta is coming out in only 2 days and it has been the best kept secret about its looks and features, so let's hope your wish comes true.