Internet Explorer hacks to lock settings?

[GJW]

Does anyone have a way to lock Internet Explorer's Home and Search pages?

My coworkers have a nasty habit of accepting any stupid offers that pop up when surfing and I'm constantly having to reset the Home and Search pages.

IE6 on Windows NT 4.

 

[trailstoride]

I don't know how to "lock" the settings, but it is trivial to save them to a file. Double clicking on the file restores the saved settings. Here is how:

Explorer keeps this info in the Registry. If you were to keep an export of the Explorer registry, a simple import would fix it. Go to regedit and look under HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Microsoft -> Internet Explorer -> Main

You will see "Local Page" (the Home page), "Search Bar" and "Search Page" among other things. Export just Main or the entire Internet Explorer registry to a file (right click on the "Internet Explorer" or the "Main" folder and select export.) To import, just double click on the exported file.

Note that Internet Explorer includes themes, screen background and other things a user often changes. Exporting just the "Main" under Internet Explorer will just save the main Explorer settings.

Ron

 

[Chris M.]

Or - install a popup blocker and ad-catcher (like AdSubtract`s pro package) and they won`t be tempted to f*** up your computer in the first place /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Want to be worried? Download and run lavasoft.de`s Ad Aware to see (and remove) just exactly how much spyware has been infesting your system as a result of all that junk. It really is scary.....

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[eluminator]

I run spybot too. As for popup windows, I use popup stopper. It's not quite fool-proof. Occasionally you need a popup window. Like the spell-checker on this forum. So you just hold down the control key while you click. It does eliminate all popups though, and I like it.

 

[papasan]

if you're logged onto a domain you can control the homepage through the domain controller. have the system admin set up a security policy to lock the home page. of course, it would lock the same homepage for everyone on the domain...

 

[Skid]

Well, I don't know the hack off hand, but you can download IEAK from Microsoft and set up IE for you entire company. Under the "Policies and Restrictions" page it allows you to lock the home page and also to disable the search customization.

Skid