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Take Control Over Internet Explorer

Have a more enjoyable web experience. by SoftwareGuru Friday 23rd January 2009 Every time I see someone surfing the internet I usually notice two things. Firstly, they are usually using the Microsoft browser Internet Explorer (IE). Secondly, the top of the browser is messy and not very user friendly. Thirdly, the browser is unresponsive and slow. Even in 2009, the average home user still treats the web browser with far too much respect, worried that somehow adjusting its settings may cause IE to stop working altogether. That's a bit like buying a car and then being afraid to change the radio station from Radio 1 because you are in fear of not finding it again. Truth is, it's YOUR browser. It belongs to you, not Google, Yahoo, Norton or any other company who would ask you to install a toolbar and ask you to hand over complete control of it to their own software. It's time to take your browser back.
Internet Explorer Tricks and Tips. In 2008, the alternative browser Firefox gained popularity from being responsive and clever. A lot of this is down simply to Firefox not letting every tom, dick and software company take over the browser at the first sign of an ActiveX Control update (that's the yellow bar that appears at the top of your screen). With a small amount of care, IE can be every bit as good. Check Your Browser Version To start with, check whether you're using INTERNET EXPLORER 7. With IE open, at the top of the screen menu click HELP > ABOUT INTERNET EXPLORER. It will tell you whether you're using version 6 or 7. If you have 6 then go to Windows Update and download IE7 for free. Keep in mind that IE8 will be out very soon so don't miss that either. Increase IE7 Responsiveness, Remove Toolbars You'll now notice that IE7 has a new search engine bar beside your URL bar. This renders non-MS toolbars as pointless and messy. Even if you're a Google fan you're better logging in to their site and using your Google account features there than allowing IE7 or IE8 to become cluttered and messy. Frankly, if you have a Yahoo! toolbar you need to leave the 90s behind and start enjoying the future McFly! There's a reason Yahoo! tried and failed to sell themselves to Microsoft... Let's start the spring clean. Go to Start > Control Panel > Add & Remove Programs. Once your program list has loaded, look for any program that has loaded itself into Internet Explorer. Common examples would be the Google Toolbar or Yahoo Toolbar. You may also find IE add-ons from a variety of other companies such as Adobe, Norton etc which you don't need and only slow things down. UNINSTALL THEM. These companies don't want you to uninstall their plug-ins so they often hide them, making uninstalls annoyingly difficult. Trust me, it's worth persevering with. Letting anything else have any influence over your browser is just a bad idea. Remove Clutter Without Uninstalls If you can't figure out how to uninstall, the next best option is to hide them from your IE7 layout. From the IE7 menu mouse over VIEW > TOOLBARS. Here you can deselect anything you don't want shown in your browser. This helps remove clutter but won't necessarily improve stability. You can also do this: mouse over the word HELP, then move the arrow to the right until it's no longer showing a highlighted button, now right-click. You should now see a list of extras which have been installed in IE. Deselect anything you don't use as it will make your browser cleaner looking. The less text, buttons and 'noise' you have at the top of your browser, the easier you'll find it to use.
Additional Techniques The search engine bar in IE7 can be edited. This allows you to access many different search engines instantly without having to go to a new URL. Microsoft's LiveSearch will be your search engine by default. It's surprisingly good. At the end of the search engine bar in IE7 / IE8 there is a drop down menu, so click on: 'FIND MORE PROVIDERS'. Now your webpage should show you a list of search engines including the likes of Google, Wikipedia, and much more. Follow the simple onscreen instructions on the right side of the webpage to install your choices. Now you can access all of these within IE7! Find Pages Using Your History Another great tip to make surfing easier in IE7 is the history function. Keyboard shortcut: Click and hold down Ctrl + Shift + H Now you should see a history panel on the left side of your browser window. From this you can view any website within your history and sort by date or order visited. So if you forget what that really interesting site was that you found two days ago, you can now find it again! Learn To Use The AutoHotkey If you feel you're not a beginner in the ways of the browser, try setting up AutoHotkeys for repetitive tasks. Instead of taking minutes to make several clicks and write text, you can now launch programs and generate pre-written text using a single keystroke. A real time saver!	Live.com - used it yet?

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