Runonce Setup Running all the time in IE ?

Microsoft thought it would be nice to present a configuration screen to users who have installed or upgraded to Internet Explorer 7. The user can change the default search provider in this initial setup or pick some additional plugins. This runonce page is not really needed in my opinion because all the changes can be made directly in the options as well.

You can take a look for yourself if you load runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx in Internet Explorer 7. But it’s only once, not a big deal Martin ? That’s right for most users. Some however have experienced that the runonce script is running all the time when they start Internet Explorer 7 which reminds me just a little bit of the bug that made users activate their Windows after every system start.

Users who experience the runonce configuration all the time can either change the browser or edit the Registry and change the value of it manually so that Windows believes it already has shown the message to you.

Press Windows R, type regedit and hit enter. Now navigate to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main and change the value of the Registry string RunOnceHasShown to 1.

Setting this key to 1 means that runonce has already shown on your system and that it will not be shown again, hopefully. Restart Internet Explorer 7 to test if this has worked.

The Online Tech Tips blog has two more ways to get rid of the Runonce setup screen, one is a freeware called Runonce Remover, the other is by editing the Group Policies.