Here are some Internet Explorer Tips, Tricks, Tweaks, and Registry fixes that work with Internet Explorer. These tips will help you customize your Internet Explorer.
Internet Explorer Tips, Tricks & Tweaks
1] Keep the Menu Bar always visible
Currently, to view the Menu Bar, a user can hit ALT on the keyboard to temporarily view the Menu Bar.
To keep the Menu Bar always visible, Open Regedit via Start Menu\Run\Regedit.
- Navigate to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Policies\ Microsoft
- Right-Click Microsoft select New then click Key.
- Name this key Internet Explorer
- Right-Click Internet Explorer select New, then click Key
- Name this key Main
- Right-Click Main select New, then click DWord (32-Bit) Value
- Name this value AlwaysShowMenus and set its value to 1
Now hit ALT on your keyboard, and the menu bar should remain. To remove, either set the value to 0 or remove the AlwaysShowMenus value.
2] Always load Internet Explorer in Full-Screen Mode
Currently, to view IE9 in Full-screen Mode, a user can hit the F11key on the keyboard.
To always load Internet Explorer in Full Screen Mode, Open Regedit
- Navigate to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\ Main
- To the right of main locate the value Fullscreen
- Change the Fullscreen value to Yes
Now when you open Internet Explorer, it will be in full-screen Mode. To revert, set the value back to No. You can also toggle between Normal and Full-screen Mode by hitting F11 on your keyboard.
3] Move the Menu Bar to the Top of Internet Explorer
UPDATE: In the final release of Internet Explorer, the Menu Bar At Top tweak does not work.
The Menu Bar currently is located below the Search Box. Though not recommended as there are some side effects, to move the menu Bar to the top of Internet Explorer you can do the following.
To move the Menu Bar to the top of Internet Explorer 9, Open Regedit
- Navigate to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\ Toolbar\ WebBrowser
- Right-Click WebBrowser select New then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name this value ITBar7Position and set its value to 1
Now when you open Internet Explore, the Menu Bar will be above the Search Box. To remove, either set the value to 0 or remove the ITBar7Position value.
Known side effects from moving the Menu Bar to the top are it adds a small window border to the top. It also removes the ability to move the Internet Explorer window by dragging its borders. Will also add a black background effect behind the tabs. To move the Internet Explorer window, you can drag the window by clicking on the black area and dragging. When going into Fullscreen Mode, the Menu Bar is no longer visible.
4] Enable More Simultaneous Downloads
If you have trouble downloading more than two files from a single website. You can try this Registry Edit to enable more than 2.
To enable more simultaneous downloads in Internet Explorer 9, Open Regedit
- Navigate to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Internet Settings
- Right-Click Internet Settings select New then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name this value MaxConnectionsPerServer and set its value to 4.
- Right-Click Internet Settings select New then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name this value MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server and set its value to 6. You can set both of these to as many as you want, but settings them to 4 and 6 is a safe number
You should now be able to download more than two downloads at the same time. To revert, just remove the two values.
5] Run InPrivate Mode Automatically when you run Internet Explorer
If you like running your IE in InPrivate Mode, you will notice the ability to run InPrivate Mode Automatically has been removed by Microsoft.
The alternative to running in InPrivate Mode Automatically is to create a shortcut to InPrivate Mode, For example, a new IE shortcut on your desktop
- Right-Click on the desktop, Select New, next select Shortcut.
- Type the following in the path box:
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -private(The path will be the path to Internet Explorer, then add -private after ending quotes)
Click next and give it a name. Now you can run InPrivate Mode Automatically by running the shortcut
A few IE tips without the use of hacks
- To open a new tab, just Double-Click, and area to the right of the tab boxes, without having to click the little blank Tab Box.
- Right-click a blank area and hit the Favorites bar to enable the Favorites bar.
- Right-click a blank area and hit Command bar to enable the Command Bar.
- Right-click a blank area and hit Status Bar to enable the original style Status Bar at the bottom of IE9.
- Right-click a blank area and hit Move Stop and Refresh to move the Search Bar Stop and Refresh from Right of Search Box to Left side of Search Box.
- To give more area to your Tabs and make the Search Box smaller, position your cursor between the Search Box and a Tab, when the Cursor switches to the Right/Left arrow, you can click and drag the Search Box to the Right or Left to either enlarge or make it smaller.
- Click the ALT key, then click View on the Menu Bar, click Style and select No Style to View the Webpage without Webpage formatting. Click Default Style to change the Webpage back to default.
- Hover over the Tools icon at Right and under Safety, click InPrivate Browsing to Start the InPrivate Browser Mode.
- If you are having problems viewing webpages, click the ALT key on your keyboard and under Tools, click Compatibility View.
You may also want to check out our freeware Ultimate Windows Tweaker or IE Tweaker Plus v2.0.
Someone has resolved a regedit hack to keep inprivate filtering permanently on in IE9 beta:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\PrivacIE]
“FilteringMode”=dword:00000001
check out the find at http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en/InternetExplorer/thread/e3790005-3c80-4dba-92b8-262f3f902680
Steve, Though I wish it did because it would have been an easy fix, that registry trick does not work to run InPrivate Automatically. It does check the option for InPrivate Filtering, but it is not running the browser in InPrivate Mode.
In IE8 to know if your browser is running in InPrivate Mode it gave an indicator in the Status Bar. IE9 now displays this is the Searchbar, big and bold. Renaming the registrykey though checking the InPrivate Filtering, does not run the InPrivate Browser.
[IMG]http://i56.tinypic.com/2na8fx5.jpg[/IMG], this is what your browser reads when you run in InPrivate Mode
Why BOTHER with all these Registry TWEAKS?
Microsoft should ***ALREADY have Added***
Options like
-Keep the Menu Bar always visible,
-Move the Menu Bar to the Top of Internet Explorer,
-Enable More Simultaneous Downloads
etc.
inside the IE9 Options!
On the contrary, Microsoft want us to do it Manually
by Tweaking the Registry etc.
IE9 did NOT even offered a ‘Paste & Go’ button or Right-Click Option.
This is a feature other Browsers have added Long Ago!
In addition, users have asked for a REALLY Better/Different
*Favorites Manager*.
Again, Microsoft failed to listen to users’ inquiries and offered just some MINOR improvements over the IE8 *Favorites Manager*!
Yeah, a paste-and-go button would actually have been very useful.
But thanks fro the tips!
Lee:
InPrivate Filtering and InPrivate Browsing are two different things. I have noticed users confuse these two in IE8 previously too.
Jonas: I couldn’t agree with you more. A gripe I have with IE9 is not being able to have tabs on a separate bar from the URL/Search address bar if I wish. I’m not sure it’s worth giving feedback to M$ but I have done so.
Yes, I know Steve. This has been my point I have been trying to make to users. I should have made it clearer. Users are thinking the changing of StartMode to Filtering Mode will enable InPrivate Browsing which is not the case. StartMode in IE8 enables InPrivate Browsing, while Filtering Mode just enables InPrivate Filtering, which can be done at any time while a user is browsing. Yes it’s a good tweak if users would like to run InPrivate Filtering on IE9 Startup, but users need to be aware this is not the same thing as InPrivate Browsing, as the only benefit is filtering enables the sitead blocking, and InPrivate Browsing is for privacy. In effect there is really no need to rename StartMode as it has nothing to do with Filtering Mode
Never mind the Antivirus 2010 variant, IE9 is a devil in itself. I run Win 7 64x and have downloaded the browser and installed it only to boot up to trouble. It blew out a gadget, upset my task bar where I cannopt now combine and hide anymore, and the 32 bit browser works no more. I uninstalled the browser and went back to IE8 instead. The gadget repaired but the task bar will not do as required. Well done Microsoft!
It’s a Beta release…installed at your own risk.
I liked, and have implemented, the in-private-browsing short-cut, but why, when I tried copy and paste, did my computer add C:\ to the front and tell me “The file C:\”C:\Program cannot be found”, whereas typing it in worked?
I shall wait till update implements it…and I still cant get my icons to combine/hide on the task bar. Suspect something is missing in the registry.
I followed the instructions above to keep the menu bar always visible but it did not work. The menu bar goes away when i click somewhere on the page.
by the way, i agree with Jonas on 19th September, why does internet explorer has to always be a problem??
I wish they would have kept the favorive “star” where it has been for the last ten years. I keep trying to go to the upper LEFT corner to open my favorites…
If it is such a minimalist look, why is there a wasted quarter-inch gap along the top edge?
i LIKE IT A LOT BETTER. You have a lot more choices it is faster and works a lot better then ver 8 which was constantly locking up for me.
JC: Make sure you have either closed and reopened IE, or LogOff and back on the view the changes
how do you increase the number of typed URLs in the address bar history drop down?
Since the remedy so called actually does not work for keeping the Menu Bar, is there some other fix? Please advise.
For those who cannot see this posting, please advise someone immediately. Thanks!
Hi Team,
Great Efforts………………..Is there any possibility that file menu bar become stable and does not go like it goes while clicking on windows…..
In Firefox its quiet easy to customize menubar.
Any reg hacks to separate the address bar & search bar? As mentioned I would like the tabs at the bottom of the menu bar.
You know what I really want? A button that says “Looks like ie6.” Why can’t older interfaces just be a one-click fix? The art-deco thing they’ve had going here sucks. Just leave my desktop alone, I don’t come rearrange their living room every couple months, you’d think they’d stay out of mine. I bought, I paid for, I get to choose not to change it.
To view the Menu Bar without going through all the above suggestions I did the following:”Alt plus T” on keyboard. Menu Bar appears.Hit “View” and Toolbar appears.Tick the Menu and thereafter the Menu Bar will always be there when you open IE9.
After installing IE9 RC I must admit that IE8 is much nicer to work with.After adding webpages in the compatibility view settings so that I can open them,the message keeps popping up at the bottom of the screen:”A problem with this webpage caused Internet Explorer to close and reopen the tab”.This does not happen.Now another message says that Java is causing the problem and will be sorted out.Should this not have been done before IE9 was released.Pointless trying to beat Firefox if your product is still not ready.
Sorry IE9 but until you have something similar to IE8 I will stick with IE8.After entering compatibility view settings and entering the webpages I normally go to I still get messages that: A problem with this webpage caused Internet Explorer to close and reopen the tab.Believe that there is a problem with the JavaScript but should this not have been sorted out before the release?
lol. microsoft ripped off the opera browsers rendering engine and made it uglier. sure its faster. until you add the bing rewards bar and then you get a nice little window to hit cancel on informing you internet explorer stopped working. except it is working unless you dont hit cancel in time and the prog kills itself anyway. the menu bar has been added back. only if you think about it, with all the bars enabled, theres a triple redundancy going on. the command bar, the menu bar, and the three buttons at top-left all basically perform the same tasks. i really miss having a useful status bar. it makes me want to go hump mozilla’s proverbial leg a little bit harder.
top-left, top-right. ok, any sense of credibility i may have displayed went out the window. i did get the top part correct.
Heya guys,
I only use IE9 for viewing BBC iplayers videos. in this manner the scrollbar is not needed, is a waste of space and a bit of a eye score.
Is there any way i could hack the regedit to remove the scroll bar
**I only ask cuz in firefox theres a addon, stylish that lets u remove the scroll bar and i was wondering if i could do the same for IE9 or IE8
i can not copy and paste text from web page,it gave me the option to use akcelerators but not option to copy in,hoe to solwe this problem
In final release of Internet Explorer 9, the Menu At Top tweek does NOT work. It has been posted thousands of times as if the registry or Group Policy setting will change the Menu bar as in previous versions, including the betas for IE 9. Microsoft really blew it with this browser.
Yeah, there is a fix…
1) Right click the browser bar up top
2) click on “Menu Bar”
3) play with features before dissing and hacking…
ITS THAT SIMPLE PEOPLE
At least check before posting such drivel as :-
Yeah, there is a fix…
1) Right click the browser bar up top
2) click on “Menu Bar”
3) play with features before dissing and hacking…
ITS THAT SIMPLE PEOPLE
If only you follow your own advice i.e. point 3
if step 2 were possible within IE9 then there would be no need for the hack,
“menu bar” is no longer an option as MS have removed it, it was not even in the betas.
hence people wanting it back.
Instaead of going to the Registry to keep the menu bar visible in IE9 simply press the Alt key, then View on the Menu Bar,then place the pointer on Toolbars and click on Menu Bar. The menu bar will always be visible when opening IE9. The same applies to IE8.
IE9 ? The biggest pile of pants to come out of Redmond since Vista!!!!
Ugly, unintuitive, and non’sensical in its layout. And to add insult to injury (following on from complaints in IE8)you still cannot restart with tabs open from the last session.
FYI, the easiest fix: 1) open an ie window. 2) press F11 3) close the window pushing X at top right. Problem will now be fixed
I tried your “in private” shortcut suggestion and continually get ” file could not be found”. have ie9 on vista Tom
IE9’s lastest version appears to have alot more nice features than given credit for.
1. Menu Bar [new location]
The ‘File’ menu bar is now in a ‘Gear’ icon next to the ‘Favorites’ star icon (mine is top-right below close button [X]). This ‘Gear’ allows you to view ‘File’, ‘Print’, ‘Zoom’ and ‘Safety’ dropdown menus as well as other options. This takes up much less room than the classic menu bar, you just have to know it exists. It took me ages to find it, and I still kept forgeting it was there :).
2. Command Bar [new options]
If you’re still missing other options that were in the old classic menu bar you will probably find that they can now be added to the ‘Command’ bar as dropdown menus. There are heaps of options available in these three dropdown menus.
First, add the ‘Command’ bar ~ right-clicking ‘blank tabs area’ > click [Command bar].
Second, add dropdown menus ~ Right-click the ‘Command’ bar > hover [Customise] > click [Add or remove commands] > add [Page], [Safety] and [Tools]. You will have to add them to view the options available in each menu.
They use minimal space if you customise the icons ~ Right-click the ‘Command’ bar > hover [Customise] > click [Show selective text] or [Show only icons]. It looks really nice if you choose to have the ‘Favorites’ bar to the left of the ‘Command’ bar (see below).
3. Favorites Bar
Add the ‘Favorites’ bar ~ Right-click ‘blank tabs area’ > click [Favorites bar].
Each favorite uses minimal space if you customise the icons ~ Right-click the ‘Favorites’ bar > hover [Customise title widths] > click [Short titles] or [Icons only].
You can also add a folder to the ‘Favorites’ bar ~ Right-click the ‘Favorites’ bar > click [New Folder] > ‘type a folder name’.
4. Tabs Bar
Move ‘Tabs’ bar to a seperate row ~ Right-click ‘blank tabs area’ or ‘a tab’ > click [Show tabs on a seperate row].
If there’s afix that would enable my keeping in the address bar dropdown only the web addresses of sites visited, I haven’t recognized, or found, it ;-)
Any reason the tweak trick tip #3 to bring the menu bar to the top will not work? I did the tweaking in regedit and it still doesn’t work for me