Internet Explorer 4.x FAQ's

This page contains the top 10 questions regarding Internet Explorer 4.x. Click on the question below to be taken to the appropriate answer.

1) When I browse, everything is appearing in half a screen, Why?
2) I used to use FreeServe, how do I remove them completely?
3) How can I remove the Active Desktop?
4) How do I change the default Search Engine?
5) How can I change the default start page?
6) How do I clear Internet Explorers History?
7) How do I add or remove the Windows Desktop Update component?
8) Content Advisor problems!
9) How can I make Internet Explorer use a different e-mail program?
10) When I print, I don't get any of the background colour or images, just the text. Why?

 


1) When I browse, everything is appearing in half a screen, Why?

A) This is caused when using the built in search facility within Internet Explorer. You are supposed to be able to browse in the right hand pane and search in the left, but sometimes you end up doing everything in the left. To resolve this problem, simple click on the 'X' at the top right hand corner of the left pane as indicated on the screen shot below.

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2) I used to use FreeServe, how do I remove them completely?

A)

Removing the Freeserve branding on the IE4 browser.
Windows 95 and Windows 98: To remove the Freeserve branding from IE4 you can delete the directory called \signup in c:\program files\internet explorer\. If you just wish to delete the toolbar motif, locate the file named toolbar.bmp in the SIGNUP directory and delete only that file.

Turning off the Active Desktop and removing the Freeserve channel.
Windows 95 and 98: To turn off the Active Desktop webpage view, go to your Desktop view and click with your RIGHT-HAND mouse button on the desktop. From the menu that appears, select 'Active Desktop'. The top entry 'View as Webpage' will have a tick next to it - click once to remove the tick and return your desktop to a normal view.

Windows 95 and 98: Removing the Freeserve channel. You can remove the Freeserve logo from your Active Desktop Channel bar by clicking on it with the RIGHT-HAND button of your mouse, then selecting delete.

Changing which connection is dialled by default to connect to the internet.

  1. If you wish to decide for yourself which ISP to connect to, the easiest way is to start the connection manually yourself.

    Open Dialup Networking by double clicking on the 'My Computer' icon from your desktop.

    In the Dialup Networking folder you will see all your ISP connections including your Freeserve connection.

    Double click on whichever connection you wish to use, enter your password if it isn't there and press 'Connect'.
    (If you make a copy of each connection and put it on the desktop this will make the procedure easier next time.)

    Once you are connected you will see an icon in your system tray on your taskbar which looks like two computers connected to each other.

  2. Setting the connection used when Internet Explorer 4 is started (Windows 95 and 98):
    Go to 'View', then 'Internet Options' and select 'Connection'.

    The circle marked 'Connect to the Internet using a modem' should already be checked. Press the button marked 'Settings'.

    From the first box at the top you can select which connection should be used as default.

    If you don't want Windows to dial up a connection when you open the browser, after you start Internet Explorer 4, when the connection dialogue appears, click on 'Work Offline' .

  3. Setting the connection used when Outlook Express is started (Windows 95 and 98):
    Select 'Tools' from the Outlook Express menu bar. Then go to 'Options' - under the 'Dial Up' tab you will see options listed for which connection to dial.

    Dialup connections for all the Email accounts that you are accessing under Outlook Express will be shown here.

    You may not wish to connect to the internet when you start Outlook Express, in which case you can select 'Do not dial a connection'.

    If you wish to specify a particular connection to dial for a particular email account, you should do this by going to the 'Tools' menu, then selecting 'Accounts', then selecting the 'Mail' tab. Highlight whichever mail account you want to set the connection for and select 'Properties'. Under the 'Connection' tab, you can specify which ISP connection to use.

Uninstalling all Freeserve components.
Windows 95: You can uninstall IE4 and Outlook Express (and any of the other Microsoft packages that you could have chosen during the Freeserve installation) using the Add/Remove Program functions in Control Panel as described above.
Follow the other steps outlined above to remove the other Freeserve components.

Windows 98: You will not be able to uninstall IE4 or Outlook Express.

The Freeserve icon can simply be deleted from your Desktop, and the icon itself (freeserve.ico) can be deleted from the directory, C:\Windows.

Freeserve entries in the 'Start' menu can be removed from the following directory in Windows Explorer:
C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Freeserve

Registry settings.
You can modify your registry settings using the regedit tool. If you wish to do this, from the Start menu, go to Run, and type 'regedit'. Search for those Keys which refer to Freeserve and, if you wish, remove them.

NB. We do not advise modification of registry settings and cannot guarantee to support customers who chose to adjust registry settings.

The methods detailed above are sufficient in most cases to remove all Freeserve components from your system. Remember to make a back-up of the registry before making any changes. Outstanding items that you may wish to remove that are not covered by the instructions above include:

To modify the title of Internet Explorer:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
Right click on Window Title to edit

To modify title of Outlook Express:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express
Right click on Window Title to edit

To remove the Infopane at the bottom of Outlook Express:
Remove the key 'BodyBarPath' in the same section as above.

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3) How can I remove the Active Desktop?

A) You can turn off the Active Desktop without removing it by performing the following:

  1. Right click on the desktop
  2. Select "Active Desktop"
  3. Unselect "View as Web Page" (by clicking it)

To actually remove Active Desktop completely while leaving the browser intact:

  1. Start the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet (start - settings - control panel - add/remove programs)
  2. Select "Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0" and click the Add/Remove button
  3. Click the "Remove the Windows Desktop Update component, but keep the Internet Explorer 4.0 Web browser" option and click OK
  4. A dialog box explaining the change will be shown and you should click the "Restart Windows" button
  5. Once restarted the active desktop will have been removed

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4) How do I change the default Search Engine?

A) The URL for the Search Engine used with the Go - Search the Web is stored in the registry so this can easily be changed:

  1. Start the registry editor (regedit.exe)
  2. Move to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
  3. Double click on Search Page
  4. Change to the search page you want, e.g. http://www.altavista.digital.com and click OK
  5. Close the registry editor

NB. We do not advise modification of registry settings and cannot guarantee to support customers who chose to adjust registry settings.

Now when you select search you will be taken to this URL. If you want to change back to the default enter http://www.msn.com/access/allinone.htm

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5) How can I change the default start page?

A) When you first start Internet Explorer it loads a page, by default this is a Microsoft page (http://home.microsoft.com) however this can be changed:

  1. Start Internet Explorer
  2. Select Internet Options from the View menu
  3. Select the general tab
  4. In the first section "Home page" enter the page you wish to be displayed when you start Internet Explorer and click Apply, then OK. If you just want a blank page click the "Use Blank" button, again click Apply then OK.
  5. Close Internet Explorer

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6) How do I clear Internet Explorers History?

A) Internet Explorer keeps a history of the sites you visit and can be viewed by clicking the History button on the toolbar. If you wish to clear this History perform the following

  1. Select "Internet Options" from the View menu
  2. In the History section click "Clear History" (you can also set the number of days to keep history for)
  3. Click Yes to the confirmation
  4. Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box

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7) How do I add or remove the Windows Desktop Update component?

A) To remove Windows Desktop Update, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double- click Add/Remove Programs.
  2. Click the Install/Uninstall tab, click Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 in the list of installed programs, and then click Add/Remove.
  3. Click "Remove Windows Desktop Update, but keep the Internet Explorer 4.0 Web browser," and then click OK.
  4. If there are any files in the Recycle Bin, you receive the following message:

    Internet Explorer 4.0 has modified the format of the Recycle Bin.

    If you want to keep any of the items currently in the Recycle Bin, open the Recycle Bin and move the items to a different location.
    To permanently delete all items from the Recycle Bin and continue, click OK.
    Click OK when you are sure there are no files in the Recycle Bin that you want to restore.

Internet Explorer attempts to close all programs and reconfigure your computer to run without Windows Desktop Update.

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8) Content Advisor problems!

A) Open Internet Explorer. Click on View, then Options. Click on the Security tab. At the top of the screen is the Content advisor settings. Click on Settings. When asked for a password, leave this blank and click on OK. If a password has already been set for this you must enter it here. On the next screen, click on OK. Now click on Disable ratings, enter your password (if you set one). Click on OK. Exit from Internet Explorer and run it again.

If you have entered a password and cannot remember it you will have to do the following:
Click on Start, goto run, typ in regedit. Goto the following entry as specified in the path below HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Ratings   and delete the key in this folder. Once this is done find the file named Ratings.pol and remove it. Re-boot the machine and it should now let you in.

NB. We do not advise modification of registry settings and cannot guarantee to support customers who chose to adjust registry settings.

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9) How can I make Internet Explorer use a different e-mail program?

A) Normally the default program for Internet Explorer to use for e-mail is Outlook Express. To change this follow these steps:

  1. Click on View and then Internet Options.
  2. Click on the Programs tab.
  3. Use the drop down menu's to change the default programs.

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10) When I print, I don't get any of the background colour or images, just the text. Why?

A) The default setting for Internet Explorer for printing is with this setting off. To change this follow these steps:

  1. Click on View and then Internet Options.
  2. Click on the Advanced tab.
  3. Scroll down the list to the Printing option and place a tick in the Print background colours and images box.

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