Most of the configuration options for IE are accessed
by starting IE, clicking the Tools button, and selecting Internet
Options. It can also be accessed from the Internet Options applet in the
Control Panel. The Internet Options dialog box has several tabs,
including General, Security, Privacy, Content, Connections, Programs,
and Advanced (see Figure 1).
At the top of the General
tab, you can configure the home page or the default page that is loaded
when you start IE. This enables you to have your favorite search engine,
news, website, portal, or an organization’s internal website load
automatically when you start IE. By going to a web page and then
clicking the Use Current button, you make the page that is currently
being displayed your home page. You can also configure it to show a
blank page. Of course, to make the change go into effect, you have to
click the Apply or OK button.
Some
organizations may configure the organization’s home page as the default
home page so that users cannot make changes to IE using group policies.
Other times, if you experience an unexpected change in the home page,
it was most likely caused by visiting a particular website (usually you
have to click Yes to change the website, but that is not always the
case), installing a program that changes the IE home page, or being
infected by a virus or spyware.
Below the home page, you
will find the section to configure browsing history, including how IE
uses temporary Internet files, which are used as a disk cache for
Internet browsing. When you visit a website, parts of the web page (such
as pictures, sound, and video files) are copied on the system as a
temporary Internet file so that on future visits to that site, it will
load faster. If you click the Settings button, you can configure the
browser to check for newer versions of the saved page on every visit,
every time you start IE, automatically, or never. If you need to force
IE to reload a fresh web page, you can hold down on the Shift key while
you click Refresh, or press Shift+F5. You can also click the View Files
button to view the temporary Internet files.
You
can determine how much disk space you want to use as a cache and where
the folder is located that stores the temporary files. If you click View
Files, you will open the folder that stores the temporary files so that
you can inspect them directly.
History specifies the
number of days that IE should keep track of your viewed pages in the
History list. IE creates shortcuts to pages you viewed in this and
previous browsing sessions. If you are low on disk space, you might want
to decrease the number. You can also clear your history from here.
The AutoComplete feature
remembers previous entries that you made for web addresses, forms, and
passwords. When you type information in one of these fields,
AutoComplete suggests possible matches. These matches can include folder
and program names you type into the address bar; the matches can also
include search queries, stock quotes, or other information that you type
in forms on web pages. To use AutoComplete, start typing the
information in the address bar, in a field on a web page, or in a box
for a username or password. If you have typed a similar entry before,
AutoComplete lists possible matches as you type. If a suggestion in the
list matches what you want to enter in that field, click the suggestion.
If no suggestion matches what you are typing, continue typing.
To select AutoComplete
settings in IE, click Tools, Internet Options. On the Content tab, click
AutoComplete. You can specify whether you want to use AutoComplete for
web addresses, forms, usernames, and passwords. You can also clear the
history of previous AutoComplete entries. When typing information in web
forms, and when typing passwords, you can remove an item from the list
of suggestions by clicking the item and then pressing the Delete key.
If you click the
Advanced options, you can configure a wide range of configuration
options, including disabling script debugging, enabling Folder view for
FTP sites, enabling personalized favorites menu, notifying when
downloads are complete, enabling automatic image resizing, and playing
sounds and videos in web pages. It also has several security features
such as emptying temporary Internet files when the browser is closed,
enabling Profile Assisting, using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) 2.0 or 3.0
(needed to connect to secure web pages as indicated by https://),
warning about invalid site certificates, and warning if a form is being
redirected (see Figure 2).
