Open Internet Explorer to a Blank Page
- Create a new Desktop shortcut
- In the command line, (highlight and paste the below)
"C:\Program
Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -nohome
- Name the shortcut: (example) IE Blank
From now on you can paste a saved URL without loading your ISP
software, etc.
- You can also drag this shortcut into your Quick Launch area.
Note: this is the same as setting your Home Page to: "about:blank"
Ad-Aware users, setting your page to "About:Blank" causes a
false
CWS detection.
SendTo
Tip
- Add Internet Explorer to your SendTo folder
- Start - Run (type) "sendto" (no quotes) File - New -
Shortcut (XP only)
- In the command line, (highlight and paste the below
- including quotes)
"C:\Program
Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE"
Note: IE supports opening: .gif, jpg, htm, html, .txt, ico, etc.
Windows Vista users will need to navigate to the following location:
Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
[or]
Start | Run (type) shell:sendto (click
Ok)
Right-click in the right pane and select: New > Shortcut
In the command line, (highlight and paste the below - including
quotes)
"C:\Program
Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE"
Gain more viewing space (XP only)
- Right-click the Toolbar and select: "Unlock the Toolbars"
- Left-click the Address Bar button, it changes to a four-way
arrow
- Drag the Address Bar into the empty space next to Help in the
Toolbar
- Next, right-click on any of the Icon Buttons, and uncheck Text
Labels
- Also you can select: Small Icons from the
Customize menu.
- Then right-click the Toolbar and select: "Lock the
Toolbars"
Odd Toolbar Behavior
Did you ever get your Toolbars in IE set just right only to
reboot and you lose your settings? Many times when Toolbars are
added or removed the Registry entry that controls these settings
does not get updated or has become corrupt. You can download a small
registry file to reset (to default) and correct this behavior.
- Download: ResetBrowserToolbar.reg
[right-click and select: "Save Target As"
To use: right-click and select: Merge - Ok the
prompt and reboot.
Missing Status Bar
The above registry file will correct this behavior, if your status bar
disappears when opening a new IE browser window. However make sure
that option is selected - right-click the top Toolbar and select:
Status Bar. If you are still having problems verify the below
Registry entries exist and are correct:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Show_StatusBar"="yes"
"Show_URLinStatusBar"="yes"
Opening Internet
Explorer Full Size
Ever notice sometimes you right-click on a link and open a new
window and it's not full screen? This usually occurs because IE
remembers the last window size when closed. Many times a background
pop-up will do this too, if it is the last window closed. To resize
the window and regain control:
- Close all instances of Internet Explorer except for one.
- Right-click on a link in the page and select: "Open in
New Window"
- Close the first browser window using the [ X ] (upper right
corner)
- Resize the window manually by dragging the sides to the
desired size.
Note: Do NOT click the Maximize button, you must
do it manually.
- Hold down the Ctrl key and click the Close button (upper
right)
[Exception]
In some cases the "Remember last window size" info becomes
corrupted in the Registry.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Window_Placement"=
To reset the "Window_Placement" entry to default. You
can download a small reg file to reset (to default) and correct this
behavior.
Download: ResetWindowPlacement.reg
[right-click and select: "Save Target As"]
To use: right-click and select: Merge - Ok the prompt
and reboot.
Fast Printing web
pages without images
- Create a one line .css file [example] "NoImages.css",
copy the below line to Notepad and Save As: NoImages.css. Open
Internet Options | General tab | Accessibility button, place a
check in "Format documents using my style sheet", click
OK.
IMG { display: none !important;}
Download:
NoImages.css
[right-click and select: Save Target As]
The next time you want to print the contents of a web page but don't
want to waste the time and ink printing all the ads, banners, etc.
just Toggle the above option on\off.
Note: there is no need to restart IE as this trick works on
the fly.
Protecting
Your Internet Explorer
Lately there has been a rash of incidents where either a web site
or email spam has contained a hidden javascript that changes your
Home Page entry, then disables the users ability to change it back.
To prevent this from happening ... be one step ahead of these
characters. Set your Home Page then disable the ability to change it
via a Registry restriction. It is also recommended you use a Startup
Monitor.
Be aware that in some cases this method does not work as some of
these parasites will re-write the registry entries on each restart.
However a "Startup Manager" will prompt you if your setting are
being changed.
HKCU_Hide_HomePage.reg
(Current User)
HKCU_Undo_HomePage.reg
(Current User)
To download: Right-click the above link(s) and select: "Save
Target As".
To use: right-click and select: Merge (to view: open in Notepad)
HKLM_Hide_HomePage.reg
<Local_Machine> HKLM_Undo_HomePage.reg
Note: this restriction can apply in 2 locations, the Registry
checks the HKLM location first, then the HKCU location. The HKLM
takes precedence and applies to all users. The HKCU applies to just
the "Current User".
If your HomePage gets hijacked, you may need to "undo"
both locations.
For more info and a reg file to unlock the Home Page 
[click here]
Note: XP Pro already has the ability to make these changes
via the Group Policy Editor. If the HomePage restriction has been
applied by an Administrator, "Limited Users" can not make
this change. Start | Run (type) gpedit.msc
Resize
your IE Cache size
(XP)
By default IE reserves 10% of your drive space for the Temporary
Internet Files. This was fine several years ago but since then the
hard drive capacities have increased dramatically. If you happen to
have one of these large disks the 10% is truly unnecessary and
wasteful.
- Close all instances of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express
- Control Panel | Internet Options | General tab
- Click Settings and move the slider to 50 mb, click Ok
- Click Delete Files and also select: "Delete all offline
files", click Ok
- Click Clear History, click Ok, Apply/Ok [more
info]
Note: While viewing Newsgroup messages Outlook Express dumps a
series of zero-byte files into the browser cache. When Outlook Express is
closed it fails to cleanup these files. To delete these zero-byte
files you must select the above option "Delete all
offline files".
Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar - many features has now been incorporated into this new Toolbar. In my
testing this Toolbar works great, although it is mostly intended for
website developers.
Other
Add-ons for Internet Explorer 7
Power Toys for
Windows
TIFF Image Viewer
AlternaTIFF
is a web browser add-on (ActiveX control or plug-in) that displays
most of the common types of TIFF files.
Cannot
Open a Tagged Information File Format (TIFF) File in Internet
Explorer
Tune your
ClearType settings
ClearType can dramatically improve the appearance of your
onscreen display. However some video adapters need a little fine
tuning. You can use the
Microsoft ClearType Turner to adjust this.
Editors Note: XP users can download the
ClearType Tuner PowerToy
Spell Checker for
Internet Explorer
ieSpell is a free
3rd party Internet
Explorer browser extension that spell checks text input boxes.
Editors Note: has an option to integrate the database from
other spell checkers.
Agent Ransack (freeware) File searching software (XP only)
This is not a replacement to Microsoft's built-in Search
Utility, it's just much faster!
Various Troubleshooting
Articles
