Some Policies That Might Be Useful for Managing Internet Options

You'll find many policies for managing Internet Options under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer. Key policies are summarized in Table 1. As you'll see when you examine the table, many of these policies are useful in preventing users from performing specific actions in Internet Explorer and for controlling Internet Explorer behavior.

Table 14-2: Additional Policies for Managing Internet Explorer

Policy Node	Policy Name	Description
–	Disable Internet Connection Wizard	Prevents users from running the New Connection Wizard.
–	Disable Changing Connection Settings	Prevents users from changing dial-up settings.
–	Disable Changing Proxy Settings	Prevents users from changing proxy server settings.
–	Turn Off Pop-Up Management	Prevents users from configuring pop-up options and hides related dialog boxes. This means pop-up manager controls, notifications, and dialog boxes do not appear when this option is enabled.
–	Pop-Up Allow List	When enabled, permits administrators to specify a list of sites that are permitted to use pop-ups regardless of Internet Explorer settings. Enabling this option and adding internal sites to the list is useful if these sites call the window.open() method in JavaScript or use similar methods to open windows.
–	Turn Off Crash Detection	Crash detection allows the browser to track add-ons that cause problems with browser stability. The user can then elect to disable unstable add-ons. By enabling this option, you turn off this browser feature.
–	Turn On Menu Bar By Default	Controls the display of the classic menu bar. By enabling this option, you turn on the menu bar by default.
–	Turn Off Managing Pop-Up Filter Level	Controls whether users can change the pop-up filter levels. By enabling this option, you prevent users from changing the pop-up filter level.
–	Do Not Allow Users To Enable Or Disable Add-Ons	Add-on management allows users to control whether browser add-ons are enabled or disabled. By enabling this option, you disable add-on management and prevent users from configuring the related settings.
Browser Menus	Hide Favorites Menu	Removes the Favorites menu from Internet Explorer, preventing users from accessing lists of favorites.
Internet Control Panel	Disable The Connections Page	Removes the Connections tab in the Internet Properties dialog box, preventing users from changing connection settings, proxy settings, and automatic configuration settings. Also prevents users from accessing the New Connection Wizard.
Internet Control Panel	Disable The Security Page	Removes the Security tab in the Internet Properties dialog box, preventing users from changing security settings.
Internet Control Panel	Disable The Programs Page	Removes the Programs tab in the Internet Properties dialog box, preventing users from changing the default Internet programs.
Internet Control Panel	Disable The Advanced Page	Removes the Advanced tab in the Internet Properties dialog box, preventing users from enabling advanced features.
Internet Control Panel	Prevent Ignoring Certificate Errors	Prevents users from browsing a site with an expired, revoked, or mismatched name certificate.
Internet Control Panel\Advanced Page	Allow Software To Run Or Install Even If The Signature Is Invalid	By default, downloaded files and other executables are prevented from running and installing if they have invalid signatures. By enabling this policy, you override the default setting and allow files with invalid signatures to be installed.
Internet Control Panel\Advanced Page	Allow Active Content From CDs To Run On User Machines	By default, users see a prompt that allows them to continue or cancel the running of the active content from a CD. By enabling this policy, you override the default setting and allow active content from CDs to run without prompting.
Persistence Behavior	File Size Limits For	Allows you to set size limits for cached dynamic files from each of the security zones. You can set per domain and per document limits.
Toolbars	Configure Toolbar Buttons	Specifies which buttons are enabled on the standard toolbar in Internet Explorer. If you enable this policy, you can specify whether a particular button is displayed by default or hidden.

Note

An en dash (–) in the policy node column indicates the policy is under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer. A named entry in this column means the policy is located in a subnode of User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer.

You can easily enable one or more of these policies by double-clicking the policy, selecting Enabled, and then clicking OK. In some cases, you'll need to specify additional parameters, such as a file size limit or whether a button is active or inactive.