Microsoft Internet Explorer Tips #1



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*1.   OPEN A NEW WINDOW 

Although it's not new, this tip subscriber Aarem H. sent is worth
 repeating now and then: 

"I have been using Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 for about a year.
 I just recently discovered that I could open a URL in a new
 window if I held down Shift while I clicked its link. I don't
 know if this is a new tip, but I thought it might be worthwhile
 to pass along." 

Note that although you can use this method to open URLs you see
 on a Web page in a new window, it doesn't work in your
 Favorites folder. 


*2.   CUSTOM E-ICON LINK 

Reader Sylvia W. sends this question: 

"I'm almost certain that I saw somewhere a way to set the big E
 icon in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3's upper right corner to a
 custom URL. Is this possible?" 

Yes, it is possible to assign a new URL to the E-thing
 (officially called the Internet Explorer icon). To assign a new
 URL to the logo, choose View, Options and click the Navigation
 tab. Now, click the arrow at the right side of the Page list box
 to expand the list. Select Quick Link #5. Click in the Address
 entry box and type the new address. Be sure to type the entire
 address. For example, you might enter 

http://www.pcworld.com 

After you change the icon's assignment, click OK to close the
 dialog box and save your changes. To check the link, click the
 Internet Explorer icon and watch your assigned page appear. 


*3.   SEND A LINK 

Reader Rich C. sends this tip: 

"I wonder if most Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 and Mail users
 realize how easy it is to send a link to someone. If you happen
 on a site that you think a friend might be interested in, you
 can just click Mail (the Mail button in the Microsoft Internet
 Explorer 3 toolbar) and choose Send a Link. When the Mail window
 opens, add the recipient's address and type in any message you
 like. Now, click Send and the message with the link is on
 its way." 


*4.   A LONG HISTORY 

Although most History folder questions focus on how to make it
 smaller, reader Art D. would like to know how to keep a longer
 history of URLs. Here's how: Choose View, Options and click the
 Navigation tab, and you'll see that the number of days Microsoft
 Internet Explorer will retain your History is 20 (unless you've
 already changed it). You can set the time period to more or
 fewer days. The maximum setting is 999 days. The History folder
 doesn't require a huge amount of disk space since it stores
 URLs--not pages--so you can set the History to a long time
 without placing a severe load on your hard disk space. After you
 choose the number of days to keep in your History folder, click
 OK to close the dialog box and record your change. 


*5.   ERASE THE PAST 

While we're on the subject of History folders, let's look at a
 question from subscriber Eamon C.: 

"My History folder gets a bit too full at times, but I don't
 usually want to delete all the URLs in the folder. What I'd like
 to do is delete only a few. Is this practical?" 

If you'd like to keep most of the URLs in your History folder,
 but delete a select few, go to the View menu in Internet
 Explorer 3 and select Options. Click the Navigation tab, then
 the View History button. All the URLs in your History folder
 will appear in a separate window. Right-click the URL you want
 to delete and choose Delete History Item. This removes the URL
 from the History folder. To delete more than one URL at a time,
 click the first one and hold down Ctrl while you click the
 remaining candidates. After you've selected all the URLs you
 want to delete, right-click the selected area and choose Delete
 History Item. This deletes all the selected files. 


*6.   SURF ON, DUDE 

William S., a longtime subscriber, asks this question: 

"I was wondering if I could continue surfing the Internet while I
 download long files. This would save me a lot of time, but I've
 been afraid to try it because of the possibility of losing
 my download." 

Yes, you can continue to navigate around the Web while a file
 downloads. You'll slow the download somewhat, but the tradeoff
 is probably worthwhile. All you have to do is choose another
 site from Favorites, or type a URL into the Address Bar. In
 short, just go ahead and work as you would if there were no
 download in progress. 


*7.   SPINNING YOUR OWN WEB 

Since many Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 users are now designing
 their own Web sites, Dan C. suggests that you take a look at the
 Microsoft Site Builder Gallery. You'll find all kinds of cool
 stuff at this site that you can add to your Web pages--style
 sheets, images, icons, sounds, music, fonts, ActiveX controls,
 and so forth. 

Go to 

http://www.microsoft.com/gallery/default.asp 

and see for yourself. Spend some time at this site--a quick look
 isn't enough. 


*8.   SORRY, THIS PAGE HAS MOVED 

Here's a question from Vern G.: 

"I'm sure everyone has had this experience. You click a URL that
 you're interested in, and instead of navigating to the Web site,
 you get a message that says the site has moved. So you have to
 click on the other address to get to the Web site. Is there a
 way to get Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 to go to the correct
 address to begin with?" 

We get this question periodically. The answer is no. This isn't a
 Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 problem. Explorer (or any other
 browser) has no way of knowing when an address has changed. 


*9.   PRINTING FOLDER CONTENTS 

Some time ago, we published a tip that made use of Notepad to
 print the contents of the Favorites folder. In that tip, we
 described a batch file that would copy the contents of the
 Favorites folder to a file and then use Notepad to print that
 file. We recently received messages from several readers who
 were having a problem because of the size of the Favorites
 folder. When a file is too large for Notepad, you get a message
 telling you that the Favorites folder is too large to open in
 Notepad and asking if you would like to open it in Wordpad. When
 you answer Yes to this question, you'll get an error message and
 the batch file will fail. 

Since your folder may eventually get too long for Notepad, let's
 modify the original tip to use Wordpad. To generate the batch
 file, run Notepad and type in the following: 

dir "c:\windows\favorites" /s /b /l > c:\tmp.wri 
write c:\tmp.wri /p 
del c:\tmp.wri 

Now, choose File, Save As and name the file PrintFav.bat. Save
 the file in a folder of your choice. This is basically the same
 as the original batch file, but this one uses Wordpad instead of
 Notepad. This may be a good idea anyway, since most people
 probably have numerous listings in the Favorites folder. 

If you'd like to save the file, you can delete the batch file line 

del c:\tmp.wri 

This deletes the file when you finish printing it. Since we
 changed the file's extension to .wri, you can double-click the
 file to open it in Wordpad. 


*10.   I HAVE NO HISTORY 

Reader Tara J. sends this message, but we received similar
 questions from several other readers as well: 

"I was under the impression that the History files were stored
 for a number of days. But when I close Microsoft Internet
 Explorer and then start up again, the Back arrow is grayed out,
 indicating that I have no History files. What do I need to do to
 get Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 to save my History files?" 

The problem with the History files is a problem of perception
 only. Although you see a grayed-out arrow when you start
 Microsoft Internet Explorer 3, the History files are still
 intact. To get to the files, you have to choose Go, Open History
 Folder. You'll find the entire contents of the folder available. 
