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5.1 Customization and Performance
Outlook Express
For IE 5 and up:
by MSeng Originally submitted by Tommy G: I see quite a few post just about weekly where people cannot keep IE (Internet Explorer)Maximized or have it open Maximized or having any "Open New Window" to open Maximized so I thought I would post this "How To" for everyone... If your IE is not corrupted, this should work but you must follow all of the steps that I am listing...If you don't follow all of the steps or do them in the order I am listing them, then it will not work for you..I hope this is helpful for those of you who have asked about it..
And always remember to close the main window Last or you'll have to do it all over again. And for those of you who always Right Click to open a new window, you can also open a new window by holding down the Shift Key while you Left Click on the link.. And to make your window go full screen just press F11 and F11 again to go back to normal. Added - 12/03 An alternative to the instructions above is a little freeware program that is repeatedly mentioned for this problem - IE Maximizer. Feedback received on this FAQ entry:
by MSeng Found at WinGuides.com. As always, backup the registry before making any changes. This setting specifies whether a new process is created for each instance of Internet Explorer that you start. This can prevent one instance of Explorer from affecting other instances if it stops responding. Open your registry and find the key below. [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\BrowseNewProcess] Value Name: BrowseNewProcess Data Type: REG_SZ (String Value) Value Data: Yes or No You may need to create the key if it does not already exist. Create a new String value, or modify the existing value, called 'BrowseNewProcess' and edit the value according to the settings below. Exit your registry, you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect. Note: Normally this is automatically enabled or disabled based on the amount of random access memory (RAM) that is installed in the computer. If the computer has less than 32 megabytes (MBs) of RAM installed, this setting is disabled. If there is 32 MBs of RAM or more installed on the computer, the setting is enabled. by MSeng Found at WinGuides.com. Always backup the registry before making any changes. When you browse the Internet using Internet Explorer or read messages using Outlook Express, a logo is displayed indicating whether activity is taking place. With this tweak you can modify which logo is shown, customize it or reset it to the default. Use Your Own Animated Logo There are two bitmap files used to display the animated logo, both can be identical except for the size, one is 38 pixels wide and the other 22 pixels. Using an image editor, such as MS Paint, create an image similar to a roll of film, where equal sized "frames" are a stacked vertically within the one larger image. For example, a large icon, with 10 frames, would be 38 pixels wide and 380 pixels high (38 pixels x 10 frames = 380 pixels high). When active and the logo is animated, the top frame is shown first, then the next, an so on, until the last frame is reached and the image loops. Similarly, when the application is idle, the first frame is shown statically until further activity, that is unless an alternate non-animated logo has been defined using the technique below. Once you have created the icons you need to register them by opening the key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar] in your registry. Then create two new string values, or modify the existing values, named 'SmBrandBitmap' and 'BrandBitmap' and set their values to equal the full filename of the small (22 pixel) image and large (38 pixel) image respectively. Use Your Own Non-Animated Logo These images are shown when the application is idle, as with the method above there are two images one small 22 x 22 pixel and a larger 38 x 38 pixel. To activate them open the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main] and create two string values named 'SmallBitmap' and 'BigBitmap' setting the values to equal the filenames of the images. Reset to the Default Logos To restore the default animated logo, delete the 'BrandBitmap' and 'SmBrandBitmap' string values found under the registry key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar]. To restore the default idle logo, delete the 'SmallBitmap' and 'BigBitmap' string values found under the registry key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]. Restart Internet Explorer or Outlook Express for the change to take effect. by MSeng by MSeng Submitted by mrchipb: Regardless of whether you choose to install over a network or download the installation files to your hard disk, some or all of the Setup files are copied to your hard disk. This allows you to reinstall more quickly if necessary. If you want to reclaim the disk space, you can remove the Setup directory. To remove the Setup directory:
This does not affect the repair function. by MSeng submitted by gt7697c: Notes
Prevent Homepage and Branding Start up Group Policy Editor and go to User Configuration\administrative templates\Windows Component\Internet Explorer and enable the following Disable settings:
•Disable customizing browser toolbars Brand IE Start the Group Policy Editor and then go to User Configuration\Windows Settings\Internet Explorer Maintenance Highlight Browser User Interface and on the right you are presented with everything you need to customize IE including (but not limited to) Browser Title, Animated Bitmaps, Custom Logo and Browser Toolbar Buttons. You also get the ability to add as many toolbar buttons as you need. If you select URLS then Important Urls you can set your Homepage URL, Search URL, and Support Page URL permanently. by MSeng This registry edit works in all versions:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Window Title•Create a new string value, or modify the existing value, to equal the title you would like. Feedback received on this FAQ entry:
by MSeng Outlook Express 5.0 and 6.0 users... Open the Registry Editor (Start-->Run-->regedit), drill down to the following key and modify the data to what you want to appear: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{*UserID#*}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\WindowTitle] Note: Delete the value of 'WindowTitle' to change the title back to the default. by aeroman edited by MSeng
ActiveX technologies are built using Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) and have the ability to access everything on your computer, all folders, all files, everything!. ActiveX control and plug-ins can include many things such as web forms, sound and graphics and installation programs. Some of the names associated with ActiveX and benign in nature are Microsoft Windows Media Player, Macromedia Shockwave, RealNetworks RealPlayer.Unfortunately there are forms of ActiveX that some refer to as trojanware and are asociated with names such as Comet Cursor, Xupiter, Gator\Gain, Bonzi....etc. The controls for ActiveX were designed so that you can trust or not trust the person who developed the control. This is done through signatures.
ActiveX controls and plug-ins have a facility for signing by the developer by checking the developer certificate.Digital certificates are electronic credentials that verify an individual's or an organization's identity on the Web. The identity of the digital certificate owner is bound to a pair of electronic keys that can be used to encrypt and sign digital information, assuring that the keys actually belong to the person or organization specified. A valid digital signature, though, does not necessarily mean that the software is without problems. It just means that the software originated from a traceable source that you may choose to trust and that the software has not been tampered with since publication. Likewise, an invalid signature does not prove the software is bad or dangerous, but just alerts users to potential dangers and problems. • Download unsigned ActiveX controls and plug-ins....Fig 1b Security Warning popup This option determines whether users may download unsigned ActiveX controls from the zone. Such code is potentially harmful, especially when coming from an untrusted zone. • Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe Many ActiveX Controls are initialized with persistent data, which is either local or remote, and most ActiveX Controls are scriptable (they support a set of methods, events, and properties). Both initialization (with persistent data) and scripting require certain safeguards to ensure that security is not violated. An example of a control that poses a security risk at initialization time would be a data compression/decompression control. If the user pointed this control to a remote, compressed file that contained a Trojan-horse copy of a system file (such as Kernel.dll) and requested that the control decompress this file, system security could be breached. An example of a control that poses a security risk at scripting time would be a control that relies on certain system settings before a script can be safely executed. It would be up to the control developer to provide the necessary code that retrieves the system settings before allowing the script to execute. • Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins....Fig 1d Security Warning popup Determines whether a Control or Plug-In is allowed to run assuming it has already been downloaded and is on the machine. An example would be if you had already downloaded Windows Media player. • Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting....Fig 1e Security Warning popup Indicates that it is permissible to invoke the control from a script contained in a web page, using data and parameters provided by that page. In essence, a control marked "safe for scripting" is an assertion by the author that the control has implemented its own "sandbox" and cannot be used by an intruder to damage or compromise your system. Because you must rely on the author of the control to implement this "sandbox" correctly, controls marked as "safe for scripting" require an especially high degree of trust.
While downloading files is an everyday occurence....downloading files from the Internet can be dangerous. Trojan horses love to hide in games and other programs users frequently download from the Internet. Some versions of the popular Whackamole game are actually Trojan horses that install Netbus, which lets hackers take complete remote control of your computer. Letting users download files also makes it easy for malicious users to bring hacker tools into your network (like the password sniffer in L0phtcrack). •Font download....Fig 2b Security Warning popup This option determines whether Web pages within the zone can download HTML fonts. •Microsoft VM....Fig 3 Default Level recommended settings Microsoft VM (Virtual Machine) is the software in your browser that allows Java Applets to be fully functional.
Your browser displays what HTML code says, but Java goes beyond display and actually executes what the Java says to do. Java is a language that can execute commands to access your files, other computers, even your printer. Because of this, Java must be handled with care. For the novice, recommended settings for your Internet Zone are "High Safety". This will allow Java to function without allowing access to files, printers, or other computers. Additionally, it won't allow any new windows out side of the IE window. •Miscellaneous Options....Fig 4 Default Level recommended settings
Controls cross-domain data access. Cross-domain data access can open the door to various spoofing attacks. •Allow META REFRESH The Meta Refresh setting (tag) enables the author of a Web page to redirect your browser to another Web page after a specified amount of time. •Display mixed content....Fig 4a Security Warning popup When you browse to a secure web site(Https\SSL(Secure Sockets Layer) your information that you provide, such as your name or credit-card number, is encrypted so that it can't be viewed by other people. However, that page may also contain items that do not use this secure protocol. This is referring to miscellaneous images or navigation bars, which do not need to be encrypted. All personal information you send and receive should still be encrypted. •Don't prompt for client certificate selection when no certificates or only one certificate exists This option specifies whether users are prompted to select a certificate when no trusted certificate or only one trusted certificate has been installed on the computer. •Drag and drop or copy and paste files Controls whether users can drag-and-drop files or copy and paste files. •Installation of desktop items Controls whether or not users can download and install Active Desktop content.
Feedback received on this FAQ entry:
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