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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Internet Explorer tips and tricks, Part 1 (along with an apology)


Jan. 17 , 2001

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2001 Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2001, The Syracuse Newspapers

   It's no surprise that Internet Explorer is the most popular Web browser. It comes with Windows, and that alone gives it the edge over every other browser. But IE, as it's known, is ahead for another reason, too: It's a very good browser. It's fast and works well at just about everything a Web browser is supposed to do.
   No matter what you think of Microsoft's Windows operating systems or of the company's attitude toward its customers and competitors, you probably can't use Internet Explorer without admiring it. IE is a delight.
   For many months I've been struggling with my conscience over the other side of Internet Explorer -- the Swiss cheese side of IE. As you might already know, Internet Explorer and its companion mail program, Outlook Express, have poor security. Be sure to get the latest version of IE and the mail software and always download and install all security fixes on the Windows update site.
   My attitude toward Microsoft is well known. I don't need to repeat any part of it here. But I've been feeling for many weeks that my aversion to Microsoft's programming and business practices was keeping me from doing something much more important than castigating Microsoft. It was keeping me from helping you.
   For that, I apologize. This week and next two, I'll try to make up for lost time by telling you in the first two articles how to perform some of the lesser-known operations in Internet Explorer and in the last one how to make IE as safe as possible.
   First, some keyboard shortcuts you might not know about
   The first two are my favorites: Press the Backspace key to go back to the last page you had open, or press Shift-Backspace to go forward to a page you came from before you want back. (Sounds confusing, I know. Think of them as Back and Not-Back and you'll be closer to remembering them.)
   How about F11? I've never come across an Internet Explorer user (even among professionals who write about Windows) who knows what F11 does. It gets rid of all the window dressing that usually frames the browser window and makes IE full screen. Pressing F11 again puts everything back to normal. (If you knew about F11, send me a note.)
   Now for heavier stuff. I've had a lot of mail from IE users asking how to clear the IE address-line history. That's the list of sites that you (or someone else using Internet Explorer on your PC) typed in to the address line at the top of Internet Explorer.
   The sites are shown in a drop-down list. You can tell IE to go back to any of them just by clicking the drop-down list open and clicking on an entry. Sites ONLY show up there when you type them in manually. Contrary to what many users assume, the drop-down list does not show all the sites you've been to. It shows only the ones you typed in.
   To clear the Address drop-down box, open the Tools menu at the top of IE and choose Internet Options. Click the Clear History button. Click OK. Close Internet Explorer and run it again to make sure the list has been cleared.
    Next: Tricks with Favorites and other tips.