Internet Explorer: the Internet Properties settings' tool

Internet Explorer's "Internet Properties" settings' tool & the Security tab settings

Last updated on 3 August 2005

In July 2006, Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 was made available. It introduced tabbed browsing, which other browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, had first, and additional security features, such as a Phishing Filter that warns the user of suspicious websites by making the address box turn yellow and the message Suspicious website appears in a yellow box beside it. This feature can create a tab within the browser at the top of the page for each site that is opened.

The officially-released version of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) was released at the end of October 2006. The settings for tabbed browsing in IE7 are on the General tab of the Internet Properties window shown below. The Internet Properties window that is accessed via Internet Explorer's Tools => Internet Options menu item and via Internet Options in the Windows Control Panel, looks the same for IE6 and IE7, but IE7 contains additional options, such as the option to turn on the Phishing Filter.

To find out more about the Phishing Filter and other security features, you can copy this search term: "internet explorer 7" + "security features". Then backtrack to the page you came from on this site, go to the top of the page and use it in the Google search box (with its Web radio button enabled).

The Windows Internet Properties window with Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 installed

You can download IE7 from http://support.microsoft.com/.

Note that the Spybot Search and Destroy utility can disable several changes being made to the settings under Internet Options, such as changing the Home page, which is shown under the General tab (shown in the image below). This is useful because some spyware can make undesirable changes to Internet Explorer that can be difficult to remove once they are in place.

There are three settings available in the latest version of Spybot S&D. It's advisable to enable them all, but just remember that if you want to make changes yourself and can't, it's because you have to disable one or more of these settings first. To find the settings, run Spybot and go Mode => Advanced mode. Options appear in the bottom left corner of the window that don't appear if Default mode is enabled. Click on Tools followed by the IE tweaks icon. The three settings have check boxes beside them that you have to place a check mark in with the mouse to enable.

The image below, that is the same for IE6 and IE7, shows the Internet Properties window with its Security tab opened.

Interner Explorer 6.0 SP1 - Internet Properties - Security tab

The default e-mail program, newsgroup reader, and HTML editor, etc., are listed under Programs. The security configuration settings are under the Security tab => Custom Level => Advanced tab.

Read the article called How to surf the Internet more safely with Internet Explorer here: http://www.infinisource.com/techfiles/surf-safe.html. This article was written for IE6, but it is still worth reading.