Better known as Microsoft Internet Explorer or simply IE, it is nothing but a series of web browsers supported by high graphic content. It is included in the line up of applications in the operating systems of Microsoft Windows itself. The popularity of this browser is more than evident by the fact that ever since 1999, it has been the most widely used web browser. The latest version offered as you all might have known is the Internet Explorer 7. So what exactly is this www.internetexplorer.com…why do I ask this? Well, just enter this URL in the address bar and see what you get. All you’ll find is a weird (literally) web page offering you the download of Internet Explorer 7 and some free anti virus softwares. But hey, is that the actual Internet Explorer homepage, I’m afraid not…….

You will find the Internet Explorer homepage in no other site but in Microsoft’s official web site. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx is the direct link to the Internet Explorer home page. As soon as you open the page, you get the classic Windows feel and why shouldn’t you, it is the Microsoft web site after all. The page introduces you to the Internet Explorer version 7 and explains its features and the benefits of using it thereof. The version 7 is a free download directly offered by Microsoft web site. Microsoft promises that the Internet Explorer 7 is the best against viruses which normally would do harm to the older version and eventually to your computer.

The web site also offers a technical support in case the user faces any problem with the browser during use, anytime in the future. Apart from the technical support, there is a forum where users can discuss their problems with others about any topic that draws attention, which may not necessarily relate to Internet Explorer. Any software or even game related topic can have its place in this forum. So there you have it, Microsoft’s very own Internet Explorer.

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Adobe Flash Player is perhaps one of the most downloaded applications, which helps the users to enhance the quality of animations and enables the aspect of interactivity between the web pages. A flash player makes it easy for videos to be consolidated into html pages. With the help of a adobe flash player, users are able to view Internet pages in a rather rich format, which could not be possible otherwise. The flash player comes in many versions and as the version name suggests, you have got to have the latest to enjoy the whole experience of Internet surfing.

Now, the adobe flash player is constantly being modified to make it better than ever. In order to avail of these features, it is important that the user upgrade his flash player whenever required. One problem that is usually faced by the user is that if he using both Internet Explorer and Firefox at the same time, an upgrade will be prompted twice, i.e., individually for both Internet Explorer as well as Mozilla Firefox. Keeping this aspect aside, upgrading the adobe flash player is totally hassle free and the best thing is that the latest version hardly takes any time for the download making the installation process pretty fast.

The adobe flash player 9 is the latest that is available for upgrade at this stage thereby giving the user access to fast playing animations, games, videos and other multimedia content on the web sites. Upgrade isn’t all that difficult because as soon as you visit the flash website, you will be asked to download the latest version which in this case is Adobe Flash Player 9. Moreover, the users need not worry because every version of the flash player has backward compatibility. Apart from Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, it also supports other platforms like Opera as well as Safari. 

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Have you opened up Internet Explorer only to find that your browser re-directs and sends you off where you don’t want to be visiting?

If the answer is yes, the chances are high that you’ve been attacked by the notorious about:blank homepage hijacker. It’s likely that if you’ve been affected by the virus, you’ll know it as the Cool Web Search utility that appears on the desktop and in your web browser.

Make no mistake; there are many different homepage hijackers in circulation. They are used for several reasons, most notably for hackers to send traffic to websites of their choosing. Sometimes this’ll be to steal advertising revenue, other times it may be to fool a search engine. And of course, there are those occasions where the pesky hackers will attack for the sake of attacking.

You may have heard the about:blank problem described as a symptom of the HomeOldSP hacker. There is a simple reason for this, and to find it you only have to look as far as the Windows Registry where you’ll find the following key:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,HomeOldSP = about:blank

While you might think that it’s possible to get rid of the about:blank virus by simply deleting the registry entry, it’s not quite as simple as that. Deleting the entry will temporarily disable the virus, but the infestation is designed to undo any attempt to delete it permanently. This means that within moments, you’ll be suffering from the same about:blank problems.

The good news is that the threat isn’t severe. It won’t render your system useless, although the same can’t be said for Internet Explorer which becomes extremely difficult to use with any variation of the Cool Web Search virus in place.

The DLL file at the root of the problem can be found hidden away at the key below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\

WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Windows\\AppInit_DLLs

Once again, it’s not worth deleting the DLL because it will simply re-spawn. To remove it effectively, we need to download a copy of HijackThis and a comprehensive registry cleaner.

A good registry cleaner will scan and remove the about:blank hijacker. But it’s well known that the virus is capable of avoiding deletion across some anti-Virus platforms. Booting in safe mode is a good way of ensuring that you get to the root of the problem when you run your removal software.

It’s also possible to go in and correct the problem manually, if a little problematic to do so. You will need to use the Windows Registry Editor to locate a key named AppInit_DLLs. In its value entry, you will find the corrupt hidden DLL file that needs to be removed. The only problem is that you won’t be able to remove it unless you go through the Windows Recovery Console and rename the file first.

Before you can delete the file, you will need to lift the read-only protection that the hacker has placed on it.

Open up command prompt, find the stray DLL, and enter the following:

ATTRIB -R *file-name-here*.dll

Once the attribute has been changed, go ahead and delete the DLL file. Reboot the system and load up Internet Explorer. You should find that the about:blank problem is fixed.

We would strongly recommend that you purchase, or download, a sufficient spyware removal tool. There are many which sit in the web browser with the sole purpose of preventing intrusions such as the about:blank homepage hijacker.

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As the world’s most popular web browser, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is used by over 80% of users on the Internet. This puts it way out in front of every other browser, but it also means that the software is required to reach out to the newest and obscurest of technologies.

While Internet Explorer is certainly the most popular, it’s not always the most reliable browser on the market. Each browser is different, and we’re going to look at some of the problems you could face while using Microsoft’s popular interface.

The biggest issue, and the source of most criticism directed at Internet Explorer, involves the danger of infecting your system through spyware and adware. There is no absolute way of eliminating malicious content from the web, but Internet Explorer is somewhat exposed to the dangers – more so than its rivals. This is due to the way that the program is structured, making it easier for hackers to attack your system.

It’s quite common to find the browser lagging - or even not working at all – after enabling an ActiveX control which isn’t as it seems. Whenever you load an ActiveX control in Internet Explorer, you’ll be given a warning about the content. It could seem completely innocuous, but after accepting, it’s possible for a malicious user to execute a “drive-by download” and effectively spam your computer without you so much as batting an eyelid.

Yes, this is still possible using Mozilla Firefox or any other browser. The difference is that Microsoft’s product is much more discrete about letting you know that you have a problem. Sometimes it won’t even tell you at all. The only way you’ll know for sure is by running a scan of your computer, or by using good ol’ common sense when the browser freezes up or overflows in third party advertisements.

A good spyware removal utility should clear up any issues related to the third party corruption of your browser, and believe us, there can be many. If you’ve been browsing the Net for a month without sufficient anti-Virus protection, the chances are that you’re harbouring some kind of malicious content.

It’s also good practice to delete your temporary Internet files on a regular basis. Every time you visit a website, a cookie is downloaded on to your computer. As you allow these to mount up, they can clog the system and ruin what was once a fresh browsing experience. They’re also very important when it comes to maintaining privacy in the websites that you’ve accessed.

Sometimes you’ll access websites and click on links which fail to load. This isn’t usually a trait of Internet Explorer, but of a toolbar that’s attached to it. Check to ensure that you have pop-ups enabled, since some sites will use the target=”_blank” key to open a page in a new window.

Other problems such as failed applets and scripting malfunctions can often be a sign that you’re Internet Options have been adjusted. Try going to Tools then Internet Options and under the access permissions, make sure that the three scripting boxes are checked. If they’re not, JavaScript will not run in the browser. This, as you can probably imagine if you have a web background, can cause a lot of difficulties.

With the release of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, many of the security issues have been taken care of. But that’s not to say we should neglect the likelihood of opportunist attacks on the web. Be sure to browse safely with anti-Virus protection and clean your system regularly.

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JavaScript has been designed to enhance the browsing experience when using the Internet. It is a programming language and follows the syntax of C, although it isn’t to be confused with Java – a completely different language.

Most web browsers support JavaScript. If you have one which doesn’t, you should definitely consider an upgrade! Internet Explorer offers full support and other companies such as Mozilla implement it too.

Unfortunately, JavaScript can lead to a troublesome browsing experience and poor site usability if used in the wrong way. Many websites will have trouble functioning if the browser is unable to compile JavaScript. This should become less of a problem as developers pay closer attention to accessibility standards, but it’s still there.

So what are symptoms of JavaScript problems? The most obvious is, of course, applets and programs that fail to load. If you are receiving errors and parts of the site are refusing to function correctly, it’s probably down to the JavaScript or the permissions designated to it.

Go to your Internet Options (Usually under Tools from the top toolbar). Then go to Advanced Settings and ensure that the scripting boxes are checked. You should also see an option for Java applets. Make sure this is checked. If the option isn’t there, head on over to Sun’s website and download the latest JavaScript support bundle. Installing it will iron out many JavaScript problems including the biggest problem of sites refusing to operate altogether!

JavaScript can be switched off to prevent pop-ups and dynamically generated adverts. This is one of the biggest reasons why people run in to problems. Of course, it’s nice to block out the bad things. But JavaScript provides some important functionality which has nothing to do with pop-ups. If you are one who likes to get rid of the ads, consider a professional pop-up blocker. Disabling scripting isn’t the best way to go about the problem.

You might also notice that some pages load with errors. How can you tell? Well, usually you’ll see a little exclamation mark in the bottom left of the browser and an “Errors on Page” annotation.

Sometimes it’s quite possible to use the site for its purpose with these errors still on the page. They’re usually down to poor code or technical errors. It’s not the greatest display of web development, but you don’t need to worry unless it’s affecting your browsing experience.

You’ll also find that JavaScript entries can clog up a system’s registry with log files. While relatively harmless, this can contribute towards a reduced system performance and programs can take longer to start. Be sure to stay ahead of the game and clean your registry regularly. There are error blocking software packages on the Net, but even with these, the logs are still building up behind the scenes.

Many forms are coded with JavaScript to validate your inputted information and verify that it meets the requirements. For example, if a password has to be between 6 to 12 letters with numbers and letters – JavaScript will take care of this on the client side. Therefore, if you access a website and the forms are not working, it could be down to the validation stage that occurs after you’ve submitted it.

Even if the data you submit is correct, the form won’t process unless it can verify via the scripting. As you can imagine, this is capable of inflicting serious woes on your browsing experience. Forms and registrations play an important role on the web.

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Is your computer a constant source of frustration?
Is it so slow that you can hardly complete a task?
Are programs taking forever to respond?
Too many crashes, freezes or slowdowns?

If so, it’s time to make a change, optimize your system and improve
the performance of your PC!

The following fail-proof methods for improving PC performance will
definitely bring results you’ll be pleased with.

These 6 methods are sure to result in much better computer performance.
Repeat them regularly as indicated, and you will enjoy a Revitalized PC. 

1. Empty the Recycle Bin

Empty the Window’s Recycle Bin. This frees up hard
drive space and improves the PC performance.When a file is deleted, Windows first transfers it to the Recycle
Bin, instead of deleting it completely, to give the users a chance
to restore the files to their original locations on the computer,
in case they change their minds.

For better performance, make sure you empty the Recycle Bin at
least weekly, or even daily. Emptying the Recycle Bin is done
simply by right clicking the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop and
choosing “Empty Recycle Bin” from the drop down menu.

2. Remove Unneeded Programs

Though most people are quick to install new programs, few think
about removing programs once they are no longer required, and leave
them unused on the hard disk.Most programs have an uninstaller, and can be removed by going to
the program’s entry, accessed from “All Programs” from the Start
Menu.

For programs that don’t have an uninstaller, from the Start Menu,
go to the Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs. It will
take a few seconds for the PC to assemble a list of all the
programs installed on the computer.

Once this is completed, find the program you want to remove, click
it and select Change/Remove.

Since some programs leave uninstallation traces in the Windows
Registry, it’s important to clean up the Registry after each
uninstallation process.

3. Run Disk Clean Up

For improving PC performance, Window’s Disk Clean Up can be used, a
built-in utility which initiates regular maintenance tasks like
deleting Setup log files, Temporary Internet files and similar.Disk Clean Up is started by double-clicking My Computer, right
clicking the ‘C drive and selecting Properties from the drop down
menu, then clicking Disk Cleanup. It will take the computer a few
moments to carry out the self-analysis.

Upon completion of the audit, Windows will display a list of areas
which contain files for cleanup. By putting a tick at the check box
next to an area, Windows will clean the files there. If you want to
leave some files undeleted, remove the tick from the check box and
click OK.

The computer will start a removal process. This process may take
some time.

4 Defragment disk

When programs are stored on the PC hard disk, fragments of files
are saved in the empty spaces nearby.

The PC then has to find these fragments and piece them together,
which takes time and slows down the performance.

This can be easily solved by running the Windows program Disk
Defragmenter, which assembles all the fragments of the programs and
places them back in the correct order.

Once this has been done, the hard disk can find what it’s looking
for easily, which enables files and programs to load more quickly.

To activate the defragmentation, click Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, then select Disk Defragment. Once the
program has started up, click Defragment.

This process can take well over an hour to complete, which is why
this usually isn’t carried out very often.

It’s recommended to defragment the hard disk about ever three
months, for best results.

5. Empty the Prefetch Cache

In order to improve the time required for loading programs, Windows
attempts to guess which files will be needed next and then loads
them into a cache, a process known as prefetching. Though this
process indeed works well, with time, the Prefetch Cache may become
clogged with files which are no longer required. This causes
Window’s startup to slow down considerably.

The remedy is to clear Prefetch, by choosing Run from the Start
Menu, and typing “Prefetch” in the text box that appears. This will
result in a window filled with many icons. To select them all press
Alt+A and delete them.

The cache will resume its regular use and refill with files and
links required by Windows. The result will be that the system will
be more responsive and the PC performance will improve.

6. Clean up the Windows Registry

Most PC users don’t understand the significance of cleaning up the
Windows Registry, mainly because Windows does not come with
 a Registry clean-up tool.While this is often neglected, it is probably:

The single most important PC maintenance task.

Whenever a program is installed, changes are made to the Windows
Registry, which is a large internal database that contains all
Windows settings. These settings, which include thousands of
entries, control how everything in the system looks and behaves.

Repeated installing and uninstalling of programs , “Messy” uninstallation
of programs (traces are left behind), Hardware uninstalls which leave

entries in the Registry, Drivers which are no longer required on the system,
Spyware or other malicious programs that appear every time the

computer is restarted,  may all cause Registry conflicts and, as 
a result - a Slower Computer.

The Registry can be edited manually using Regedit, a Windows
program for editing the Registry; however this requires a
considerable amount of skill and experience to complete successfully. 

If you prefer not to do this by yourself, click here for a
Complete Registry Scan & Fix software. 

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Alphabetizing your favorites is a great way to make things easy to find, especially if you have accumulated quite a few over the years. To do this, you simply need to find your list of favorites. Once you have the list in view, right click on any one of the favorites and select sort by name. You will now have a favorites list in alphabetical order making things much easier to find.

For those of you who are a little bit less experienced with using favorites, we are going to go through a few things that you might find helpful. First of all, Favorites are a feature that can be found in Internet Explorer to allow a user to browse to websites they visit often without the need to know the address of that site.

In order to add a web page to your favorites list, you will need to go to the web page that you would like to add. Once are on that page, open the favorites menu and click on add to favorites. On the Add Favorite window that appears, you can change the name of the favorite if you wish to do so and you can select a folder that you would like to place the favorite in if you wish. If a folder that you want to use does not exist, you can also create one by clicking on the new folder button and giving that folder a name before saving the favorite.

The reason most people use the favorites list is because of how simple it is to visit a website once it has been placed in the list. If you would like to go to a site in you favorites list just click on the favorites menu at the top of the Internet Explorer window and then click on the favorites item that you would like to visit. If your favorites are organized into folders, select the folder that you would like and then the name of the page within that folder that you would like to browse to.

If you would like to keep your favorites list handy, you can select the favorites button on the toolbar which then opens a list of favorites on the lefts side of your Internet Explorer screen. To close this window, just press the toolbar button again.

Sometimes a web page address could change or you may no longer visit a particular site. If you decide that you would like to remove that favorite from your list, you can do so by opening the favorites menu, right-clicking on the link that you would like to delete and selecting the delete option. You will be asked to confirm that you would like the favorite to be sent to the recycle bin, just click on yes.

If your list of favorites becomes too large, you can organize them into separate folders to help you keep things organized. To do this, you click on the favorites menu and then select organize favorites. A window will appear and you can now select create folder. Enter the name of the folder that you would like and press enter. You can now drag individual favorites to that folder by dragging them over to the folder. Once you are done organizing your favorites, click on the close button.

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If you are experiencing problems with your address bar missing, there are a few different things that you can try to get things back on track. The resolution for two of the most common scenarios can be found on Microsoft’s website. We are going to go over these for you now.

First off, if you are using Internet Explorer 6 and the address bar still shows up find in windows explorer, then this issue may occur if the Toolbar settings are set to remove the Address bar, or if there is a problem with a registry key. Here is what you will need to do to fix this problem.

Start by checking to see if the Toolbar settings are correct. Once you have started Internet Explorer, click on view and then point to Toolbars. If there is not a check mark next to Address Bar, then click on Address Bar to place on there. If there is a check mark there then remove it and re-add it using the same technique. If the address bar is in the upper right corner and is not available, then right click on Address and click Lock the Toolbar to remove the check mark. Now you can click on Address and drag the Address bar to where you want it. If this has not resolved your problem, then you will need to try the next method.

There could be a problem with the WebBrowser registry key, and so we will have to delete it. Remember to backup your registry in case you accidentally chance something else and cause serious problems with your computer.

To get started click on Start, Run and then type regedit and hit OK. You are going to need to locate HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar. Now that you are here, right click on WebBrowser and delete it. Then click Yes to confirm. Now you are going to want to open up an Internet Explorer window, click on view and then point to Toolbars. The toolbar default settings are now restored and you should once again have an Address bar!

Another problem that can be encountered is when you do not have an Address bar in Internet Explorer or in the Windows Explorer. This is also caused by corrupt values in the Windows registry. Remember, once again, before doing anything in the registry to back it up in case you make and error.

To fix this problem you are going to have to edit the registry to remove the corrupt values. Start by closing all Internet Exploere and Windows Explorer windows and start the registry editor. Now find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar. For Windows Explorer find the Explorer sub-key and open it. In the right window pane, locate the ITBarLayout value and delete it. For Internet Explorer locate the WebBrowser sub-key and open it. Now in the right window pane locate ITBarLayout and delete it. Now you can quit the registry editor.

Now you can open any affected programs, such as Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer and verify that your Menu bar or Toolbar has been restored. If not you will need to close all Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer windows and repeat the steps above. Then locate the ShellBroswer sub-key, open it and delete the ITBarLayout value there. Also note that any Toolbar customizations that you have done will be lost.

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When browsing internet web sites, often a user has to wait for all of the advertisements on a particular web page to load before any of the valuable web page content is displayed. This can be frustrating and very time consuming, but there is an answer for users of the Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Application Suite web browsers.

Adblock is a filtering extension for these web browsers that allows a user to prevent advertisements and other page elements from being displayed when browsing the internet. Similar to the built in image blocker in Mozilla’s applications, Adblock will successfully block HTTP requests depending on their source address and can block IFrames, script and Flash for being downloaded or displayed. In 2004 a more advanced version of the Adblock extension for Mozilla web browsers was introduced. This version is called Adblock Plus and offers improvements to the user interface, filter subscriptions and element hiding.

The main focus of the Adbock Plus version of Adblock is its usability. The Plus version has a main window with menu items at the top, and a sidebar that integrates a list of the blockable items on a page which can be removed for the main web browser window. The element hiding of Adblock can be used to compliment regular ad blocking. It uses automatically generated user stylesheets to hide elements on a web page as they load rather than just blocking them. Some of the other newer features of Adblock Plus include the ability to enable or disable filters, and a set of filter statistics to determine the effectiveness of the filters that are being used. Adblock, however, has removed the site-blocking feature that was used in the original version of Adblock.

The first version of Adblock Plus was created by Michael McDonald, which improved on the orgional Adblock by adding whitelisting, blocking of background images, subscriptions to filters, ability to hide HTML elements, ability to hide adverstisements on a per site basis and memory leak fixes. However, Michael McDonald discontinued development of Adblock Plus after this version was released and transferred the development rights over to Wladimir Palant, who released the next version of Adblock Plus in January of 2006.

The subscriptions that are available to users of Adblock Plus can be found on their website. A user can subscribe to more that one list and these lists are automatically updated. This is the easiest way for a user to keep up with the every changing ways that web site developers display advertisements to get around advertisement blockers such as Adblock. If the subscriptions that you are using do not seem to be blocking some of the advertisements that you dislike, you can always individually enter filter parameters to tell Adblock Plus to block them in the future.

For more help in setting up Adblock Plus, be sure to visit the Adblock Plus web site. There you will find tutorials on installing the extension, signing up for different subscriptions and troubleshooting help to get you on your way.

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ActiveX is a series of strategic object-oriented programming technologies and tools that were introduced by Microsoft in the late 1990s. The ActiveX name is not used very often today and most of the technologies that used ActiveX are considered defunct or have been renamed. However, some of the ActiveX technologies are still used widely. People like to view dynamic and exciting web sites and this is where ActiveX controls come in.

The main technology of ActiveX is the Component Object Model. This is used in a network alongside a directory and other additional supporting programming. In this situation it becomes the Distributed Component Object Model. When working with ActiveX technology, a developer will write self-sufficient programs that can be run anywhere on an ActiveX network. This is known as ActiveX control. ActiveX is Microsoft’s attempt to compete with Java technology that was introduced by Sun Microsystems and because of this an ActiveX control is very similar to a Java applet.

If your computer uses a Windows operating system, chances are you have noticed many different Windows files that have the OCX extension on them. OCX stands for Object Linking and Embedding control. Microsoft has changed to the term ActiveX for OCX. The main advantage to ActiveX, which uses components, is that a single component can be reused by many different applications on a personal computer. A Component Object Model can also be created using many different programming languages or development tools. This makes ActiveX available for use by many different programmers with little difficulty.

There are many practical uses for the ActiveX technology. For example a web developer may use ActiveX controls for scripting on web pages. ActiveX programs can also allow you to incorporate video and audio into business applications or enable universal access to data on a Windows network using several different versions of the Windows operating system.

There are also many utilities available to help you troubleshoot problems with ActiveX. ActiveX Manager will keep track of the ActiveX controls that you have installed on your computer. There are also websites available that can be navigated to. These will determine very quickly for you if your internet browser has been set up correctly to download, authenticate, install, and display ActiveX controls, and manipulate them with JavaScript.

ActiveX security is somewhat of a concern because it relies entirely on the judgment of the computer user. An ActiveX control will have a digital signature from the developer of the program and other parties that choose to endorse the program. Once the internet browser has verified the digital signature on an ActiveX control, it will provide you with a window that will give you information about who has signed the application and will ask you whether or not you want to trust the signer. Because of this, ActiveX relies entirely on the computer user to make the right decisions about what software should and should not be run on your computer. If a poor judgment is made, malicious software may be allowed to run on your computer system causing many headaches.

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