Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Tips #14



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*1. MOVE THE MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 4 ADDRESS BAR         
 
Here is a tip from reader Charles G.: 

"I use the Links bar and always find it a pain because the
 Address bar gets in the way. If I move the Address bar up one
 space, it interferes with the toolbar (where all the
 buttons are located).  

"I recently found the perfect place for the Address bar--drag it
 all the way to the top of the screen. The Address bar will fit
 perfectly to the right of the menus. In this position, you can
 see enough of the Address bar without having it interfere
 with anything else." 

If you would like to try this, just run Microsoft Internet
 Explorer 4 and grab the Address bar with your mouse. Drag to
 the top right of the Internet Explorer 4 window and release
 the mouse button. 

Thanks for the tip, Charles.


*2. OPENING THE HARD DISK'S ROOT FOLDER IN MICROSOFT
 INTERNET EXPLORER 4         
 
Here is a browser tip from subscriber Lee G.:  

"I don't know if most people are aware of this, but you can get
 to the root folder of your hard disk very quickly in Microsoft
 Internet Explorer 4. All you have to do is type a backslash (\)
 into the Address bar and press Enter." 

Let's say you are working in Internet Explorer 4 connected to
 the Internet. You quickly decide that you need to view the files
 in your hard disk's root folder to search for that
 oh-so-important document you were supposed to send to your boss.
 You can simply type a backslash in the Address bar and press
 Enter as described above. To return to the Web page you were
 viewing before you navigated to the hard disk, press Backspace
 or click the Internet Explorer 4 Back button. 

Thanks, Lee!


*3. OPENING PICTURES FILES IN MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 4         
 
Here is a Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 browser tip from
 reader Frank B.: 

"As you know, you can open GIF or JPG graphics files in Internet
 Explorer 4. You may not know that you can open a GIF or JPG
 file in Internet Explorer 4 just by dragging its icon to the
 Internet Explorer icon on your desktop." 

Give this a try if you like. Place a JPG or GIF file on the
 desktop and then drag its icon to the Internet Explorer icon.
 When you release the mouse button, Internet Explorer 4 will
 open and display the picture. 

This will also work when you use the Internet Explorer 4 icon in
 the Quick Launch tray. Just drag the picture icon over the
 Internet Explorer icon and release the mouse button. 

Thanks for the tip, Frank.


*4. USING KEYSTROKES TO ADD A SITE TO YOUR FAVORITES FOLDER         
 
Reader Jim M. asks if there is an easy way to use keystrokes to
 add a Web page to the Favorites folder.  

Yes, there certainly is. All you have to do is press Ctrl-D.
 This will add the current page to your Favorites folder with no
 questions asked. If you want to move the added URL to one of
 your subfolders later, you can choose Favorites, Organize
 Favorites and drag the new URL to an appropriate folder. 

It doesn't get much easier than that, now does it?


*5. RELOCATING THE TEMPORARY FOLDER          
 
Here is a question from reader Helen C.: 

"I have a problem with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4. Drive C is
 getting full, and I have a problem with the temporary folder.
 I have enough room on Drive D. Is it possible to get Internet
 Explorer 4 to use a temporary folder on Drive D rather
 than Drive C?" 

There sure is. You can tell Internet Explorer 4 to relocate the
 temporary folder. But first, let's copy the old folder to your
 new location. Run Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows.
 In the right pane, locate the Temporary Internet Files folder
 and use the right mouse button to drag it to Drive D. When you
 release the mouse button, choose Copy Here from the menu. 

Now, run Internet Explorer 4 and choose View, Internet Options.
 When the Options dialog box opens, click the General tab. Next,
 under Temporary Internet Files, click Settings. When the
 Settings dialog box opens, click Move Folder. This will open a
 dialog box warning you that you will delete subscription
 content. Click Yes to continue. When the Browse For Folder
 dialog box opens, click your new folder (in Drive D), then
 click OK to close the dialog box and record your selection.
 You'll get a dialog box telling you to restart Windows. 

Click OK, and then OK again to close the Settings and Internet
 Options dialog boxes. Restart the computer and run Internet
 Explorer 4. You'll find that all your temp files will now go
 to the new drive. 

Good luck!


*6. ADDING A NEWSGROUP TO OUTLOOK EXPRESS          
 
Here is an Outlook Express question from reader Ann F.: 

"I use Outlook Express and have one newsgroup set up--the one
 that comes from my ISP (Internet Service Provider). I
 understand that Microsoft has a newsgroup that is open to
 everyone. Could you explain how to access that newsgroup
 in Outlook Express?" 

Sure--there is a Microsoft newsgroup (msnews.microsoft.com) that
 you can use. To set up the account, run Outlook Express and go
 to News (choose Go To, News). Next, select Tools, Accounts.
 When the Internet Accounts dialog box opens, click Add and
 select News from the drop-down menu. 

In the Internet Connection Wizard, enter the name you want to use
 and click Next. On the next page, type your e-mail address and
 click Next. On the Server Name page, enter  
 
msnews.Microsoft.com 
 
and click Next. Now, type the name that you would like to use
 for this account (MS News would do) and click Next again. On
 the next page, select the radio button that represents the way
 you need to connect to the newsgroup and click Next.
 On the final page, click Finish. 

At this point, click Close to dismiss the Internet Accounts
 dialog box. You will be asked if you want to download
 newsgroups from your new server. Click Yes to continue. When
 this process finishes, your newsgroup will be ready for use. 

Enjoy your new newsgroup, Ann.


*7. DISABLING THE MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 4 CONTENT ADVISOR          
 
Here is a question from reader Gianna L.:  

"Here in my office we have several computers that are shared by
 many people. Some of these people often put a password into the
 Content Advisor in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4. When they do
 this, other people can't use the Internet. Is there some way to
 keep people from fooling with Content Advisor?"  

Yes, there is. You can make a change in the Registry that will
 disable any Content Advisor use.   

Since the Registry key that requires changing doesn't exist in
 all installations, we wrote a REG file to add the key for you.
 Don't forget that messing with the Registry in any way can be
 dangerous. We don't guarantee that our REG file will do the job
 for you. So, proceed with caution.   

To generate the REG file, run Notepad and enter the following.
 (Where you see BLANK LINE GOES HERE, press Enter to enter a
 blank line. Do not type in BLANK LINE GOES HERE.)  
  
REGEDIT4  
BLANK LINE GOES HERE   
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet 
Explorer\Control Panel]  
"Ratings"=hex:FF,FF,FF,FF  
BLANK LINE GOES HERE  
  
Now, choose File, Save As. When the Save As dialog box opens,
 name the file Content.reg and locate a folder for the new file.
 Now, click Save to save the file and close the dialog box.  

To use the new REG file, double-click its icon. When a dialog box
 opens asking if you are sure you want to add the information to
 the Registry, click Yes. Another dialog box will open informing
 you that the information has been merged. Click OK to close
 this dialog box and continue.  

Now, restart the computer and then run Internet Explorer 4.
 Select View, Internet Options. When the Internet Options dialog
 box opens, click the Content tab. You should find that the
 Content Advisor buttons (Enable, Settings) are grayed out.
 Click Cancel to close the dialog box.   

If you need to enable the buttons again, you can modify the REG
 file as shown here:  
  
REGEDIT4  
BLANK LINE GOES HERE   
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet 
Explorer\Control Panel]  
"Ratings"=hex:00,00,00,00  
BLANK LINE GOES HERE  
  
Name the new file Advisor.reg and save it. Now you will have two
 files--Content.reg to turn off the Content Advisor, and
 Advisor.reg to turn it back on. In both cases, you will need to
 restart the computer.  

If this doesn't sound fun, you can always try threatening your
 co-workers--but of course, we don't recommend that.


*8. SPEEDING UP THE OUTLOOK EXPRESS SHUTDOWN          
 
Here is an Outlook Express question from John P.: 

"It seems to me that Outlook Express takes longer to shut down
 with every passing day. Is there some reason for Outlook Express
 to take longer to close than when it was first installed?
 Is there anything I can do to speed up the closing?" 

We suspect that your Outlook Express is slowing because it has
 to compress numerous messages as it closes. We had the
 same problem here. 

Here is something you can try. Run Outlook Express and choose
 Tools, Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the
 Advanced tab. Now, set the Compact Files When There Is xxx
 Percent Wasted Space spin box to 100 and click OK to close
 the dialog box and save your settings. 

This high setting will tell Outlook Express to not bother with
 compressing files until there is 100 percent wasted space.
 This means that your files will almost never get compressed
 and Outlook Express will close more quickly.


*9. SAVING YOUR NEW MAIL MESSAGES FOR LATER EDITING          
 
Here is a tip that was recently submitted by reader Lou A.: 

"Not everyone knows about the Drafts folder. Suppose you write a
 new mail message, but you decide that you may need to modify it
 later--before you send it. All you need to do is choose File,
 Save. Outlook Express will save the message in the Drafts
 folder. Later you can open the Drafts folder and double-click
 your message to open it. Now, you can edit the message all you
 like and then click Send. Or, if you like, you can choose File,
 Save and save your modified message in the Drafts folder for
 still more modification." 

Thanks for the tip, Lou.


*10. WORKING WITH THE MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 4 HISTORY FILES
 
Here is a question about History files from reader Sharon P.: 

"I thought the History files were retained by Microsoft Internet
 Explorer 4 for 20 days. But, if I close Internet Explorer 4 and
 then restart it, the Back button is not available. So, what
 happened to my 20-day history?" 

Several readers have asked basically the same question over the
 past few months. The problem with the History files is a
 problem of perception only. The Back and Forward buttons only
 navigate to pages visited during the current session. When you
 close Internet Explorer 4 and open it again, the buttons are
 not available until you have visited a few pages in the current
 session. Fear not--this doesn't mean that the History files are
 gone. To get to the files, just click the History button on the
 Internet Explorer 4 toolbar.
