How to reset the content advisor Password in Internet Explorer

I received an email from Heather describing a problem that she encountered. She enabled the content advisor option in Internet Explorer but lost the password that allowed her to configure or disable the content advisor again. The so called supervisor password is defined when you first activate the content advisor. The funny thing is that the password is still set even if you uninstall and install the Microsoft Internet Explorer again.

There is however an easy method to disable the content advisor password again and it is a typically example of weak security. If you can look it up on the Internet your kids can as well. All you need to do is delete two keys in the registry to disable the supervisor password which makes it possible to disable the content advisor or change settings to be able to visit all websites.

Now to disable the supervisor password go to the following registry key:

HKEY LOCAL MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ MICROSOFT \ Windows \ Current Version \ Policies \ Ratings

Delete the entry “key” and “hint” and restart your computer afterwards. The content advisor is not protected by a password anymore and you can change all settings or disable it without providing a password.

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Saturday April 14, 2007 -
Tags:content advisor, Microsoft internet explorer, reset supervisor password, supervisor password

Responses so far:

1. Douglas Nelson says:

   May 3, 2007 at 12:33 am

   Useful information in more compact form than other sources. Thanks a lot.
   What is the latest but stable version of Firefox?
   Where is the best site to get a copy?

   Reply
2. Martin says:

   May 3, 2007 at 7:47 am

   The latest stable build is 2.03 and you can get a copy at the official site www.mozilla.org

   Reply
3. srinman says:

   July 13, 2007 at 4:23 am

   Can you please go into a bit more detail in that. HKEY LOCAL MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ MICROSOFT \ Windows \ Current Version \ Policies \ Ratings

   Whats the HKEY LOCAL MACHINE and how does one get there??

   Reply
4. dawn says:

   January 17, 2008 at 3:17 am

   Upon doing some looking i found the software/microsoft/ windows but no current version folder or file was listed

   Reply
5. rowena says:

   February 4, 2008 at 1:54 pm

   HKEY LOCAL MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ MICROSOFT \ Windows \ Current Version \ Policies \ Ratings

   what do you mean by registry keys?
   do let me knw!

   Reply
6. Martin says:

   February 4, 2008 at 2:01 pm

   Open regedit and navigate through the structure until you reach the Ratings key.

   Reply
7. Helped me says:

   June 3, 2008 at 8:06 pm

   Start/Run/Regedit then follow the path HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE MICROSOFT Windows Current Version Policies Ratings

   thanks this helped me when an employee tried to lock me out of my own computer.

   Reply
8. Samson says:

   April 15, 2009 at 3:27 am

   Hey…Thanks for your help…This issue of mine was resolved.By the resolution you provided.

   Reply
9. adric says:

   June 13, 2009 at 7:42 am

   thanks i can finaly sort my otha com out

   Reply
10. fiyas ahamed says:

    November 15, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    Thanks a lot man.. very useful information.

    Reply
11. blurb says:

    July 6, 2010 at 11:56 pm

    THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
    Did i say thank you? OH, Thank you.

    Reply