Windows 7 : Protecting Your Computer While Browsing (part 5)

7. Setting Advanced Internet Options

In the Internet Options dialog box, you’ll find a wide variety of advanced settings on the Advanced tab. These advanced options allow you to fine-tune the way Internet Explorer works. Some advanced options can be set through other settings in the Internet Options dialog box, but they are provided on the Advanced tab so that you have a central location for managing settings.

Advanced settings are organized into several categories. The main categories are:

Accessibility

Settings designed to improve ease of access

Browsing

Settings that control the general way browsing works in Internet Explorer as well as the way web pages are displayed

HTTP 1.1

Settings that control whether and how Internet Explorer uses HTTP 1.1

International

Settings that control whether and how Internet Explorer displays and sends international domain names

Multimedia

Settings that control how Internet Explorer works with pictures, sounds, animations, and ClearType text

Printing

Settings that control whether Internet Explorer prints background colors and images on web pages

Security

Settings that control the way Internet Explorer uses various security and authentication technologies

Table 7-3 lists all the advanced options and details how they are used. Generally, you want to change advanced settings only to resolve a specific issue with the way Internet Explorer displays or accesses web pages. Otherwise, you should rely on the predefined settings. In Table 2, a setting is followed by a plus sign (+) if it is enabled by default and an asterisk (*) if you must restart Internet Explorer for a setting change to take effect.

You can configure advanced options by completing these steps:

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools→Internet Options. This displays the Internet Options dialog box.

2. On the Advanced tab, select or clear individual advanced options to control the way Internet Explorer displays or accesses web pages. With most settings, select them to enable the setting and clear them to disable the setting.

3. Click OK to save your settings.

Some changes to advanced options may cause Internet Explorer to work differently than expected. If you experience unintended consequences because you have changed advanced options, you can restore the default configuration for advanced options by completing these steps:

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools→Internet Options. This displays the Internet Options dialog box.

2. On the Advanced tab, click “Restore advanced settings.”

Table 2. Internet Explorer advanced options and their meanings^[1]

Category/setting	Description
accessibility
Always expand ALT text for images	Specifies whether the image size should expand to fit all of the alternate text when the Show Pictures checkbox is cleared.
Enable Caret Browsing for new windows and tabs	Controls whether Caret Browsing is enabled. With Caret Browsing on, you can move up, down, left, and right on the web page by pressing and holding the arrow keys. To select text, move the cursor to the beginning of the text, hold down the Shift key and move the arrow keys until the text you want is selected. With text selected, you can copy by pressing Ctrl-C and paste by pressing Ctrl-V.
Move system caret with focus/selection changes	Specifies whether to move the system caret whenever the focus or selection changes. Some accessibility aids, such as screen readers and screen magnifiers, use the system caret to determine which area of the screen to read or magnify.
Reset text size to medium for new windows and tabs+*	Specifies whether Internet Explorer resets the text size to Medium for new windows and tabs.
Reset text size to medium while zooming+*	Specifies whether Internet Explorer resets the text size to Medium while zooming.
Reset zoom level for new windows and tabs	Specifies whether Internet Explorer resets the zoom level when you open new windows and tabs.
Browsing
Automatically recover from page layout errors with Compatibility View+	Specifies whether Internet Explorer tries to detect and correct compatibility issues automatically.
Close unused folders in History and Favorites+*	Specifies that when you open a folder in the Favorites bar, History bar, or Organize Favorites window, any folders opened previously will close.
Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer)+	Specifies whether you want to turn off your script debugger, if one is installed. Website developers use script debuggers to test programs and scripts on their web pages.
Disable script debugging (Other)+	Specifies whether you want to turn off your script debugger, if one is installed. Website developers use script debuggers to test programs and scripts on their web pages.
Display a notification about every script error	Specifies whether to display the actual script errors when a page does not appear properly due to problems with its scripting. This feature is off by default, but it is useful to developers when testing web pages.
Display Accelerator button on selection+	Specifies whether the Accelerator button is displayed when you select text on a web page. This button provides quick access to Accelerators that are available in the browser.
Enable automatic crash recovery+*	Specifies whether crash recovery is enabled. Automatic Crash Recovery can help to prevent the loss of work in case the browser crashes or hangs.
Enable FTP folder view (outside of Internet Explorer)+	Specifies whether to show FTP sites in folder view, which is similar to browsing folders in Windows Explorer. This feature might not work with certain types of proxy connections. If you clear this checkbox, FTP sites will display their contents in an HTML-based layout.
Enable page transitions+*	Specifies whether, as you move from one web page to another, Internet Explorer fades out the page you are leaving and fades in the page to which you are going.
Enable suggested sites	Specifies whether support for suggested sites is enabled. Suggested Sites is an online service that uses your browsing history to suggest other websites you may be interested in.
Enable third-party browser extensions+*	Specifies whether you want to enable features you installed for use with Internet Explorer that companies other than Microsoft may have created.
Enable visual styles on buttons and controls in webpages+	Specifies that you want the controls in web pages to use Windows display settings.
Enable websites to use the search pane*	Specifies whether websites can use the Search pane in Internet Explorer.
Force offscreen compositing even under Terminal Server*	Specifies that you want to force off-screen compositing even if you are running Terminal Server. This will eliminate the flashing you see with the compositing normally used by Internet Explorer running under Terminal Server; however, choosing this option might severely decrease the performance of Internet Explorer running under Terminal Server.
Notify when downloads complete+	Specifies whether to display a message at the end of a file download, to indicate that the download is complete.
Reuse windows for launching shortcuts (when tabbed browsing is off)+	Specifies that when you click a web link in an Internet-aware program, such as Office Outlook, and an Internet Explorer process is already open, the web page is launched within that instance of Internet Explorer instead of starting a new process.
Show friendly HTTP error messages+	Specifies whether, when there’s a problem connecting with an Internet server, to provide a detailed description with hints on how to correct the problem. If you clear this checkbox, you will see just the error code and the name of the error.
Underline Links	Specifies how you want links on web pages underlined. The options are Always, Hover, and Never. To underline all links, click Always. To not underline links, click Never. To underline a link when your mouse pointer is over the link, click Hover.
Use inline AutoComplete (outside of Internet Explorer)	Specifies whether you want Internet Explorer to use the SmartScreen filter prior to completing entries when you type web addresses in. The web address you enter will be checked against a list of reported unsafe websites.
Use most recent order when switching tabs with Ctrl-Tab	Specifies whether you want to view tabs in order of the most recently viewed tab when pressing Ctrl-Tab.
Use Passive FTP (for firewall and DSL modem compatibility)+	Specifies whether to use passive FTP, which does not require an FTP server to open a separate, direct connection to a port on your computer. Some network configurations will work only with passive mode turned on, and others will work only with passive mode turned off. This feature allows you to select which mode to use for compatibility with your network settings. Most network configurations will support both modes. The passive FTP mode allows FTP to work even if your computer cannot be contacted directly from outside your network (such as if your computer is connected to a firewalled router on a home or office network).
Use smooth scrolling+	Specifies whether a special type of scrolling is used to display content at a predefined speed.
HTTP 1.1 settings
Use HTTP 1.1+	Specifies whether to attempt to use the HTTP 1.1 protocol when connecting to websites. Some older web servers still use HTTP 1.0, so if you are having difficulties connecting to a website, you might want to clear this checkbox.
Use HTTP 1.1 through proxy connections+	Specifies whether to attempt to use the HTTP 1.1 protocol when connecting to websites by using a proxy server. Some older web servers still use HTTP 1.0, so if you are having difficulties connecting to a website through a proxy connection, you might want to clear this checkbox.
International
Always show encoded addresses*	Specifies how to display Internet addresses that contain UTF-8-encoded characters, which is used by some non-U.S. domain names. If you enable this option, these addresses will be displayed in an encoded format (starting with xn--) and will make it impossible for you to visit websites with these characters. For more information, see Section 7.3.2 earlier in this chapter.
Send IDN server names+*	Specifies whether international domain names are sent to sites on the public Internet using UTF-8 encoding.
Send IDN server names for Intranet addresses*	Specifies whether international domain names are sent to sites on the local network using UTF-8 encoding.
Send UTF-8 URLs+*	Specifies whether to use UTF-8 encoding when exchanging web addresses that contain characters from any language.
Show Information Bar for encoded addresses+*	Specifies whether web addresses are displayed on the Information bar using UTF-8 encoding.
Use UTF-8 for mailto links*	Specifies whether mailto links in web pages use UTF-8 encoding rather than ASCII encoding.
Multimedia
Always use ClearType for HTML*	Specifies whether ClearType is used for text in web pages.
Enable automatic image resizing+	Specifies that you want Internet Explorer to resize large images automatically so that they fit in the browser window.
Play animations in webpages+*	Specifies whether animated images can play when pages are displayed.
Play sounds in webpages+	Specifies whether music and other sounds can play when pages are displayed.
Show image download placeholders	Specifies whether placeholders should be drawn for images while they are downloading. This allows items in the page to be positioned where they would appear when the images are fully downloaded. This option is ignored if the Show Pictures checkbox is cleared, as placeholders are always shown when Show Pictures is disabled.
Show pictures+	Specifies whether images should be included when pages are displayed. When this checkbox is cleared, you can still display an individual image by right-clicking the icon that represents the graphic and then clicking Show Picture.
Smart image dithering+	Specifies whether you want Internet Explorer to smooth images so that they appear less jagged when displayed.
Printing
Print background colors and images	Specifies whether you want Internet Explorer to print background colors and images when you print a web page. Selecting this checkbox might cause your printer to use a lot of ink.
Search from the Address bar
Search from the Address bar	Specifies whether and where search results are displayed. The default option is to display the results in the main window.
Security
Allow active content from CDs to run on My Computer*	Specifies whether active content (such as ActiveX controls) from CDs opens automatically in Internet Explorer.
Allow active content to run in files on My Computer*	Specifies whether active content (such as ActiveX controls) from files on your computer opens automatically in Internet Explorer.
Allow software to run or install even if the signature is invalid	Specifies whether software with an invalid digital signature can run or install.
Check for publisher’s certificate revocation+	Specifies whether you want Internet Explorer to check a software publisher’s certificate to see if it has been revoked before accepting it as valid.
Check for server certificate revocation+*	Specifies whether you want Internet Explorer to check an Internet site’s certificate to see if it has been revoked before accepting it as valid.
Check for signatures on downloaded programs+	Specifies that you want Internet Explorer to verify the integrity of programs you download. When you download programs, a dialog box will appear providing the information that Internet Explorer finds during the check.
Do not save encrypted pages to disk	Specifies whether secure, encrypted web pages are saved in your Temporary Internet Files folder. As these pages may contain sensitive personal information, you may not want to save encrypted pages on a shared computer.
Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed	Specifies whether to clear the Temporary Internet Files folder when you close the browser.
Enable DOM storage+	Controls whether DOM storage is enabled. DOM storage is a method for storing and retrieving strings of key-value pairs. Data can be maintained in memory until the tab that created it is closed, or stored on the local machine. This allows web developers to cache text on your computer in a similar fashion to using cookies.
Enable Integrated Windows Authentication+*	Specifies that you want to turn on Integrated Windows Authentication.
Enable memory protection to help mitigate online attacks	Specifies whether you want to enable memory protection to help protect your computer against online attacks. You can select this option only if your computer supports it.
Enable native XMLHTTP support+	Specifies whether support for XML HTTP is enabled.
Enable SmartScreen Filter	Specifies whether support for the phishing filter is enabled.
Use SSL 2.0	Specifies whether you want to send and receive secured information through Secure Sockets Layer Level 2 (SSL 2.0), the standard protocol for secure transmissions. All secure websites support this protocol.
Use SSL 3.0+	Specifies whether you want to send and receive secured information through Secured Sockets Layer Level 3 (SSL 3.0), a protocol that is intended to be more secure than SSL 2.0. Some websites might not support this protocol.
Use TLS 1.0+	Specifies whether to send and receive secured information through Transport Layer Security (TLS), an open security standard similar to SSL 3.0. Some websites might not support this protocol.
Use TLS 1.1	Specifies whether to send and receive secured information through TLS 1.1.
Use TLS 1.2	Specifies whether to send and receive secured information through TLS 1.2.
Warn about certificate address mismatch+*	Specifies whether Internet Explorer should warn you if the address (URL) in a website’s security certificate is not valid.
Warn if changing between secure and not secure mode	Specifies whether Internet Explorer should warn you if you are clicking links or submitting forms between Internet sites that are secure and sites that are not secure.
Warn if POST submittal is redirected to a zone that does not permit posts+	Specifies whether to warn you when information you enter on a web-based form is being sent to a website in a zone other than the one you are currently viewing.

^[1] + indicates that a setting is enabled by default; * indicates that you must restart Internet Explorer for a setting change to take effect.

8. Troubleshooting Internet Explorer Problems

Internet Explorer has several built-in features for helping you resolve problems you may experience. If you are having problems accessing a web page or connecting to the Internet, you can initiate network diagnostics by selecting Diagnose Connection Problems on the Tools menu. As shown in Figure 12, Windows Network Diagnostics will then attempt to identify the problem. If the problem can be repaired automatically, you’ll see a list of possible solutions. Click the solution to apply it.

Sometimes a problem you are experiencing may be related to:

• The toolbars and add-ons you’ve installed

• The way you’ve configured the browsing history

• The security settings or security levels you’ve applied

• The advanced options you’ve configured for use

• The search providers and home pages you’ve configured for use

Figure 12. Using network diagnostics to identify problems

Rather than trying to troubleshoot each individual configuration area, Internet Explorer gives you a simple solution for resetting all Internet Explorer settings. The only settings not reset to their original default states are personal settings, such as those for home pages, search providers and accelerators, as well as settings enforced through Group Policy.

You can reset all Internet Explorer settings by completing the following steps:

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools→Internet Options. This displays the Internet Options dialog box.

2. On the Advanced tab, click Reset under Reset Internet Explorer Settings.

3. When the warning dialog box shown in Figure 13 is displayed, click Reset. Optionally, select the “Delete personal settings” checkbox before clicking Reset to delete personal settings, including home pages, search providers, and accelerators. Note that this step will not delete favorites or feeds.

4. Click Close and then click OK. Close all Internet Explorer windows and restart Internet Explorer.

Figure 13. Resetting Internet Explorer settings to resolve problems related to Internet Explorer configuration

When you exit all Internet Explorer windows and then restart Internet Explorer, all your Internet Explorer settings will be reset, and this should resolve any problems you’re experiencing due to Internet Explorer configuration.