gHacks technology news » ie

Protect your privacy from Google AdSense’s new behavioral ads

Joe — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:01:36 +0000

Google recently launched behavioral targeted ads for AdSense. This means AdSense displays adverts not only on the context of the webpage, but on the context of your browsing history. The aim is to provide more relevant and efficient adverts, but tracking cookies being used across hundreds of thousands of websites raises obvious privacy issues, as Google can use this information to log website you have been on.

Usually, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is very critical of big corporations who intrude on people’s privacy, but their criticism was not very harsh. Why? Because Google has developed a web browser plug-in that permits users to opt-out of this scheme.

The plug-in is available for Internet Explorer and Firefox and modifications to browser preferences in Chrome and Safari also allow people to opt-out. Google also maintains an ‘Ad Preferences Manager‘ which allows this tracking cookie to be disabled until the next time cookies are wiped.

There are several reasons to disable these cookies. Firstly, you may not entrust Google with your details. Secondly, adverts based on past browsing may be displayed to other users of the computer… not perfect if, for example, you were buying a present for a family member and they are suddenly swarmed with advertisements about it!

Most tracking cookies can be disabled if you modify browser settings. In Firefox, for example, in Preferences>Privacy, you can refuse to ‘accept third party cookies’.

Tags: Adsense, advertising, behavioral ads, cookies, doubleclick, firefox, Google, google adsense, internet-explorer, privacy, protect privacy, safety, Security, tracking cookies

Internet Explorer 8 Can Be Uninstalled In Latest Windows 7 Build

Martin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:17:36 +0000

A complaint of browser developer Opera that Microsoft has undermined competition by integrating its own Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system is currently being investigated by the European Union. If Microsoft is found guilty the company could face hefty fines and be forced to untie Internet Explorer from its next operating system installment Windows 7.

The latest build of the operating system Windows 7 (build 7048) which leaked to the Internet earlier this week apparently contains an option to uninstall Internet Explorer 8. While this uninstallation does not remove the ties of the web browser in the operating system it does remove the Internet Explorer executable from the computer system.

Users should keep in mind that the Internet Explorer rendering engine is being used for various integral parts of the operating system and that it most likely would require a rewrite to untie it completely. It is unclear if the option to uninstall Internet Explorer has been added because of the complaint. It certainly looks that way considering that the option to uninstall Internet Explorer was not available in the beta build of Windows 7.

The real question is if it will be enough to please the European Union. Most end users will probably never make use of this option as it does not make a huge difference for most users. Many experienced users will install an alternative web browser like Firefox or Opera immediately after finishing the installation of the operating system.

Removing only the executable will not have an impact on system performance at all. What’s your take on this? Should Microsoft offer an option to remove Internet Explorer from the Windows operating system?

Tags: internet explorer 8, internet-explorer, operating system, web browser, Windows, windows 7

10 Useful Internet Explorer 8 Accelerators

Martin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:16:55 +0000

Accelerators are a new feature of Microsoft’s upcoming web browser Internet Explorer 8 that have recently been ported to other web browsers like Firefox in the form of add-ons. Like the name implies Accelerators are supposed to speed up the web browsing experience. Not by squeezing another Megabit out of the pipe but by providing fast access to functions that would normally take longer to reach.

Internet Explorer 8 Accelerators help in the retrieval and manipulation of data on websites. It usually involves selected content on a website first and the accelerator to process the content afterwards. This can range from translation services to drawing a map of the location of the near restaurant you just discovered or checking the price of an item on a shopping site.

Whenever the user marks elements on a website that can be processed by installed Accelerators a blue icon appears next to the selected element. A click on that icon will provide access to all installed Accelerators that can be used to process the selected data.

If the user hovers his mouse over an accelerator a small overlay window will usually appear on the screen displaying the contents of the processed data, for example a map if an Internet Explorer 8 Accelerator has been selected that looks up addresses in maps. Some Internet Explorer 8 Accelerators on the other hand do not make use of the overlay.

1.Map on Live Maps – One of the default Internet Explorer 8 accelerators that comes preinstalled. It can be used to quickly lookup an address on Live Maps.

2. Find On eBay – Will look up the selected text on eBay displaying matching auctions.

3. Translhttp://www.ieaddons.com/en/details//ate With Live Search – Another default Internet Explorer 8 Accelerator that can quickly translate selected text in the web browser.

4. Weather.com – Look up weather information at weather.com.

5. Wikipedia Accelerator – Makes it possible to quickly look up information at the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

6. Look up in Google News – Will look up the selected text in Google News.

7. Sent with Windows Live Hotmail – send selected information with an Windows Live Hotmail account.

8. Login Using BugmeNot – BugMeNot is a service that operates a database of public login credentials that can be used log into websites without registration.

9. Blogger – The Blogger Accelerator makes it easier to write about interesting stories discovered on the Internet.

10. Share With delicious – Share information easier with Delicious.

Tags: accelerators, explorer accelerators, ie8, ie8 accelerators, internet explorer 8, internet explorer 8 accelerators, internet explorer 8 tips, internet-explorer

Microsoft February Security Updates

Martin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:18:51 +0000

Microsoft has released a cumulative security update for Internet Explorer 7 and 8 that fixes several critical vulnerabilities in the web browser. It is recommended to update Internet Explorer as soon as possible to fix those vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities are rated critical for Internet Explorer versions running under Windows XP or Windows Vista and moderate for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. The article is mentioning downloads for Internet Explorer 8 beta but the linked article is not containing any. This seems to suggest that Internet Explorer 8 is affected by the vulnerability as well. This probably only affects pre release candidate builds of Internet Explorer 8.

The security update fixes the following two vulnerabilities: Uninitialized Memory Corruption Vulnerability and CSS Memory Corruption Vulnerability. Since it is a cumulative update it does apply all previous security updates for Internet Explorer on the computer system.

The easiest way to update affected systems is to use Microsoft Update which will download and apply the security updates automatically. The other possibility is to download the patch from Microsoft Download and apply it manually.

Microsoft has released three additional security bulletins:

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Could Allow Remote Code Execution (959239)
Vulnerability in Microsoft SQL Server Could Allow Remote Code Execution (959420)
Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Visio Could Allow Remote Code Execution (957634)

Tags: ie security updates, internet explorer 7, internet explorer 8, internet explorer security, internet-explorer, microsoft, microsoft exchange, microsoft office visio, microsoft patch day, microsoft security, microsoft sql server

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 Download

Martin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:16:17 +0000

Microsoft is expected to release Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 in the near future. Internet Explorer 8 is Microsoft’s new flagship browser that is expected to be released later this year. Release Candidate is a follow up on the public beta of Internet Explorer 8.

Users who cannot wait until Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 RC1 is officially released can download the setup routine directly from Mediafire (32-bit XP, 32-bit Vista) thanks to Devrexter who posted the links on his website.

The download will install the setup for Internet Explorer 8 RC1 which will remove prior versions of Internet Explorer 8 from the system before starting the installation. It will also download and use Microsoft’s Malware tool to check the system for malware.

Internet Explorer will be ready after one or two system restarts. It should be noted that the build number of the Internet Explorer 8 RC1 download is lower than the build number of the release that shipped with the Windows 7 Beta.

Update:

Official Internet Explorer 8 RC1 download links are up

Windows XP 32-bit link
Windows XP 64-bit link
Windows Server 2003 32-bit link
Windows Server 2003 64-bit link
Windows Vista 32-bit link
Windows Vista 64-bit link
Windows Server 2008 32-bit link
Windows Server 2008 64-bit link

Tags: ie 8 download, ie8 download, internet explorer 8, internet explorer 8 download, internet explorer 8 rc1, Internet Explorer Download, internet-explorer, web browser

Teleprompter Software

Martin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:46:00 +0000

The Manual Works Prompter is a sub-100 Kilobyte teleprompter software that runs on the Windows operating system. It makes use of so called HTML applications (hta) that run on Internet Explorer. They are basically a mixup of HTML and dynamic HTML files. The teleprompter is basically like the ones seen on TV or during presentations. The benefit of using HTML applications is that the system is completely portable which means it can be run from a local hard drive, removable device or media like CDs or DVDs.

The teleprompter software will automatically recognize any txt document with the .txt extension that is located in the same directory. These documents can be loaded into the software where they can be edited or played. Playing means that the prompter will start scrolling the text by 20 pixels per second. The scrolling speed can be adjusted easily in the teleprompter software. It is furthermore possible to start and stop the text scrolling by left- and right-clicking in the text area.

Options can simply be edited by opening the hta files in a text editor. It is for instance possible to adjust the start position of the script or to change the color of the arrows in the teleprompter software depending on the state of the software.

The teleprompter software comes in a windowed and fullscreen version. The fullscreen version of the teleprompter software adds a mirror mode to the software which could be useful if the text has to be mirrored to be visible.

Tags: hta, html application, internet-explorer, portable software, prompter, teleprompter software, windows prompter, windows software

Internet Explorer Toolbar Customization

Martin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 13:55:06 +0000

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 display the menu bar below the address bar in the header area of the web browser. The menu bar contains links to menus like File, Tools or Help while the address bar is being used to load websites and perform searches on the Internet.

Most web browsers use a different display of toolbars with the menu bar on top and the address bar below which is also the default display in all windows and applications in the Windows operating system. There is however no option to customize Internet Explorer toolbars in the browser itself.

The only way to change the location of the Internet Explorer Toolbar is to edit the Windows Registry. To do that press [Windows R], type [regedit] and hit [enter].

Before:

After:

Navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser

Add a new DWord by right-clicking in the left panel of the Registry and selecting New > DWord Value. Name the new Registry key ITBar7Position. Double-click it afterwards and give it the value 1.

Restart Internet Explorer afterwards and you should see that the Internet Explorer Toolbars have been exchanged. The menu toolbar should now be on top and the address toolbar below.

Tags: internet explorer address bar, internet explorer customization, internet explorer menu bar, internet explorer tips, Internet Explorer Toolbar, Internet Explorer Toolbars, internet-explorer, itbar7position, web browser

Internet Explorer Favorites Search

Martin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:47:33 +0000

One of the areas where Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is lagging behind is favorites management. Favorite is just another term for bookmarks in Internet Explorer. Even the latest beta of Internet Explorer 8 does not come with effective tools to manage the favorites in the web browser.

One of the main functions missing is a favorites search. Internet Explorer does not offer a way to search in the favorites which is one of the most fundamental functions for many users. Imagine having to scroll through thousands of favorites to find the one you are looking for.

Internet Explorer Favorites Search is a small plugin for Internet Explorer that adds the functionality to search Internet Explorer Favorites to the browser. It should automatically add a icon to the Internet Explorer toolbar which will open a sidebar when pressed.

If the icon does not appear after installation do the following: Right-click a toolbar in Internet Explorer and select the Customize > Add Or Remove Commands option from the menu.

Locate the entry Favorites Search and move it to the list of Current Toolbar buttons.

You only need to press the button and enter a search term to search the favorites in Internet Explorer from then on. The plugin will check both the urls as well as the names of the websites for matches.

Tags: favorites search, internet explorer favorites, Internet Explorer Favorites Search, internet explorer plugin, internet explorer search, internet-explorer

Internet Explorer Backup

Martin — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 10:42:52 +0000

Microsoft Internet Explorer does not come with the options to backup its settings. This can be problematic for users who want to backup their Internet Explorer data for security reasons or before migrating to another computer.

Internet Explorer Backup is a data backup software that can backup various Internet Explorer related settings and options such as favorites, proxy settings, autocomplete passwords, cookies or dialup accounts.

It can furthermore be used to migrate the backed up data to another computer system. Even more interesting is the fact that the data can be restored even if Internet Explorer versions differ. It is not a problem to backup Internet Explorer 5 data and restore it on a computer with Internet Explorer 6.

A few options are provided by the backup software upon execution. Data can be backed up or restored. There are additional options to rollback and to create scheduled backups.

A few additional settings can be configured after selecting the initial course of action. Backups can be compressed, password protected, verified and limited in size.

Supported Internet Explorer versions are Internet Explorer 4. 5.0x, 5.5, 6.0 and 7.0. Internet Explorer 8 beta is currently not supported by the backup software.

Tags: backup software, data backup, data restoration, Internet Explorer Backup, internet-explorer, windows software

Ghacks Christmas Giveaway: RoboForm

Martin — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:00:45 +0000

Day 17 of the Ghacks Christmas Giveaway. The giveaway is slowly reaching the end with another week to go before it closes its door for this year on December 24. Today’s application is the popular password manager, note taking and form filler RoboForm.

RoboForm is available for Microsoft Windows operating systems and can be installed directly, on a USB device or on mobile devices such as Windows Mobile, Symbian or Blackberry. The software integrates nicely with web browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer or AOL / MSN and displays a toolbar that provides access to all the application’s functions and there is also a System Tray icon providing the same.

The password manager will automatically catch data that is entered in password forms and provides the means to store those passwords in the application so that it can be used to automatically log into the website or service.

Information are stored in so called passcards which do not only contain information like the username or password but additional parameters like cookie length or emails. The information can be protected with a master password which is similar to the feature of the same name in Firefox. The data is therefor protected and save from prying eyes until the master password is provided.

Keyboard shortcuts speed up the process further by providing access to some of the functions and menus. The password manager is only one of the features of RoboForm. It will also aid the user during registration.

It is not a problem to use very long and secure passwords since all passwords are stored in the application. The password generator helps the user by generating a secure password for the website or service.

It provides options to select the length of the password, the allowed characters and the minimum amount of numbers. The password generator will also display the bit strength of the password to give the user an indication of the strength.

Passwords are only one type of information that have to be provided during registration. RoboForm makes use of so called identities that can be used to fill in the other information automatically as well. Identities are data sets that contain information such as names, email addresses, phone numbers and any other type of data the user likes to add.

These information can then be used to automatically fill a registration form which can be a huge time saver for users who regularly sign up for new services on the Internet. Different identities are available to distinguish different users or different environments such as work and home.

Another useful feature of RoboForm is the note taking module. It can be used to store notes securely on the computer. Notes can also be protected by the master password so that no one can access them without providing the master password first. Notes are simple text documents that contain information saved by the user.

RoboForm is an interesting application for users who spend a lot of time on the Internet. If you ever had to register to 20+ services on a day you know how much time it takes to fill out all the information over and over again. Using RoboForm this could have been done in a fraction of the time since the data would have to be entered only once by the user.

We got five RoboForm Pro licenses. If you want one leave a comment below.

Tags: firefox passwords, form filler, ghacks Christmas giveaway, internet-explorer, master password, password generator, password manager, RoboForm, symbian, windows mobile

Internet Explorer Runonce Loop

Martin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:24:39 +0000

Internet Explorer’s Runonce page can cause some of the most annoying problems for Internet users. It was designed to give users the chance to configure some of the settings after the first start of Internet Explorer. It is basically a form that has to be completed so that the Runonce page will not be displayed on consecutive runs of Internet Explorer.

Many users fail to notice this and wonder why the Runonce page instead of their homepage is always showing up when they start Microsoft Internet Explorer. The reason for this is simply. Internet Explorer keeps a record if the form on the runonce page has been filled by the user. If that is not the case it will be displayed again which can be very annoying especially if you do not realize that you have to fill the form.

The Runonce page will also be displayed after resetting Internet Explorer settings. Some users encountered an even bigger problem as the Runonce page was not displayed correctly on their systems. This made it impossible to fill out the form so that the page would not be displayed the next time they would start Internet Explorer.

There are various options how the Runonce page can be disabled. The easiest for most users is to run the software IE7 Runonce Remover which is a small application that can remove the Runonce page.

Users who prefer the manual way can change two Registry settings for the same effect. To do that they would press [Windows R], type [regedit] and hit [enter].

Locate the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main and change the values of the Registry keys RunOnceHasShown and RunOnceComplete to 1.

Tags: ie7, internet explorer 7, internet explorer tips, internet-explorer, runonce, runonce page, runonce remover

Web Browser Benchmark Comparison

Martin — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:35:13 +0000

Several new web browser versions have been released in the last days which made it important to benchmark the latest official versions and the latest development versions of Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer and Opera to see how the browsers compare to each other. All browsers were installed on a Windows XP Service Pack 3 test system.

The browsers were tested running the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, Kane’s Web Browser Javascript Benchmark and the Acid 3 test. Feel free to run the tests with your web browsers but note that results will vary as the computer’s hardware influences the test on different systems.

The only way to compare results is by running the tests on the same computer system using the same environment. The first two tests are testing the JavaScript engine of the web browser while the Acid3 test is a web standards test.

SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark (Less is better, time in ms)

Kane’s Web Browser Javascript Benchmark (Less is better, time in ms)

Acid 3 Test (more is better, max is 100)

All values:

Google Chrome managed to beat the competition in both Javascript tests. Opera 10 Alpha on the other hand was the only browser that scored a perfect score in the Acid 3 web standards test.

Internet Explorer 7 was last in all three tests. Microsoft has made advancements in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 but is still way behind in comparison to the other web browsers.

Tags: acid3, browser performance, browser speed, firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, opera, safari, web browser

Effective Secure Cookie Management

Martin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:33:56 +0000

How would an effective and secure cookie management look like? Most users would probably answer that it would make use of whitelists, blacklists and temporary cookies. The whitelist would contain trusted sites that require cookies to function properly. Trust would mean that you would keep the cookies on your system even after closing the session to make it comfortable working with the website.

The blacklist would contain websites that should not be allowed to place cookies on the user’s system. A die hard approach would be to start every new site in the blacklist and move it to either the temporarily allowed sites or the whitelist when needed.

The temporary list would contain sites that would require cookies to work properly but that are not trusted enough – or where it is not necessary – to be placed in the whitelist.

Firefox:

If you look at the cookie management features in a blank version of Firefox – that is one without extensions – you notice that it already comes with a few features that are required. The basic settings are to accept cookies / third partie cookies and keep them until they either expire (that would be set by the webmaster of the website), you close Firefox or to ask the user how he would like to handle the cookies.

There is also an option to add exceptions. Exceptions handle cookies from websites that are entered by the user this way. Cookies of those websites can either be allowed, blocked or temporarily allowed which would exactly be what we have been looking for.

Now while this might be everything needed it is highly uncomfortable to work with. Permit Cookies is a Firefox add-on that makes the whole process easier.

Opera:

Cookie management in Opera ~~does not come with an option to whitelist or blacklist websites~~. Users can accept cookies / third party cookies and also make the browser to disallow all cookies. There is an option to delete new cookies when exiting Opera and an option to ask the user whenever a new cookie is encountered.

The ability to manage cookies is different to that of Firefox. Opera users can manipulate cookie contents and delete already existing cookies. ~~There is however no way to add exceptions.~~

Opera’s Site Preferences make it possible to configure cookies per website visited.

This makes it possible to accept or block cookies for specific websites.

Google Chrome:

Google Chrome’s cookie management consists of one pulldown menu with three options. Users can either allow all cookies, restrict third party cookies or block all cookies. It is possible to take a look a the cookies with the option to search and remove selected ones or all of them.

Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 7 comes with sufficient cookie management. Users can use a slider to pick on of six available cookie management options. This ranges from accepting all cookies to blocking them all. In between are restrictions for some first and third party cookies.

Internet Explorer 7 makes use of a whitelist and blacklist to permanently allow or block cookies of specified websites. It’s also the only browser with options to override automatic cookie handling to configure first-party and third-party cookies in detail. At least in the main menu that is.

Conclusion:

Firefox and Internet Explorer provide the most options for their users to handle cookies. Everything that is not directly available in Firefox can be added with some extensions. Opera is the only browser that allows cookie manipulation but fails to provide a blacklist and whitelist. Google Chrome on the other hand offers a miserable cookie management.

Opera is the web browser with the most extensive options for managing cookies. It is the only browser that makes it possible to manipulate cookies. Firefox users can add this option by installing add-ons for the browser. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer come with enough options to manage cookies including the possibility to whitelist or blacklist sites.

Google Chrome on the other hand is the only browser that has an inferior cookie management with no options to add websites to a whitelist or blacklist.

Tags: cookie management, cookies, firefox, firefox cookies, google chrome, google chrome cookies, internet explorer cookies, internet-explorer, opera, opera cookies, secure cookies

Copy Selected Links Internet Explorer

Martin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:54:39 +0000

One of the main areas that Microsoft is lacking behind with Internet Explorer in comparison to browsers like Opera or Firefox is the extensibility. Yes, there are plugins for Internet Explorer but the community is not thriving like those of the other browsers. The main reason might be that it is more difficulty to create plugins for Internet Explorer.

The lack of plugins can be problematic if you have to use Internet Explorer due to work policies. The Copy Selected Links plugin for Internet Explorer makes it a little bit easier to copy multiple links (via Shellcity) of a page.

The plugin installs itself automatically to the right-click context menu of Internet Explorer and becomes automatically active whenever at least one link is selected. Links can be selected with the left mouse button easily. Every link that has been selected will be copied to the Windows Clipboard when the option is selected from the right-click menu.

All links are copied with a carriage return meaning that pasting them into another document will return one link per line.

Tags: copy all links, ie plugins, internet explorer add-on, internet explorer plugin, internet-explorer, web browser

Internet Explorer Sessions

Martin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:47:14 +0000

Working on multiple computers or on several days on one computer makes the use of sessions useful. The Internet Explorer Sessions extensions IE Sessions (via IESessions: save and retrieve your sessions on Internet Explorer ) adds that capability to Microsoft Internet Explorer. It is always up to the software developer what a session really consists of, in this case it means that all open urls and windows will be saved with the ability to open them again at a later time.

Not included are the browsing history or session cookies which is a bit unfortunate as it could mean to log into several of the websites again if they require that. The extension becomes available in the Tools menu of Internet Explorer after installation where the sessions can be stored or loaded.

The Internet Explorer sessions are stored in the program directory by default. The extension provides the option to store them at the Amazon S3 Service instead which costs $0.150 per GB but has the advantage that the sessions are available online and can therefor be loaded from any computer with Internet connection.

Another option would be to send the session per email or upload it manually to the Internet to access it from a second computer.

One interesting aspect of the session manager for Internet Explorer is the ability to manage the stored urls of each session. Single urls can be loaded in the browser. It is also possible to delete urls from the session.

IE Sessions supports Internet Explorer 6 or on Windows XP or Windows 2000. Windows Vista users should read the information posted on the website about Vista compatibility first before they install the extension.

Tags: ie sessions, internet explorer 6, internet explorer 7, internet explorer add-on, internet explorer sessions, internet-explorer, Microsoft internet explorer

Export Internet Explorer Security Zone Information

Martin — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:40:19 +0000

Internet Explorer assigns a security zone to any website that the user is visiting. Next to the two generic zones Internet (all that are not in another zone), Local Intranet (local sites) are Trusted sites and Restricted Sites. Trusted sites will usually have a lower security level than restricted sites. One could for instance move financial sites or sites from companies like eBay or Amazon into the Trusted sites list. Restricted sites are those that should be accessed with lower permissions. Good for websites that need to be accessed but are not that trusted.

If a user accesses the Internet with multiple computers he might want to use the same security zone settings on all of them. The easiest way to do that would be to export the security zones on one computer and export them to all others instead of adding sites to the zones manually on all computers.

Internet Explorer is storing the security zone information in the Windows Registry. To export the settings of the currently logged in user one would have to open the Registry with [Windows R], typing [regedit] and hitting [Enter].

The Registry key is located at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains

A left click on Domains will select that key. The next step would be to open the File Menu and select Export. Enter a name and save the data as a file on the computer.

The newly created file has to be transferred to another computer. A right-click on the file at the new computer will open a context menu. The entry Merge will add the data to the correct Registry key so that the zone information of the first computer will be added to it as well.

Tags: ie, internet explorer security, internet explorer tips, internet-explorer, registry tips, security zone, windows registry

Moving The Firefox Disk Cache To Another Drive

Martin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:37:00 +0000

The Firefox disk cache is usually located on the same drive that Firefox got installed. In Windows it is located in the Documents and Settings folder. It usually is a good idea to have temporary directories located on a fast hard drive. In this case the hard drive that Firefox was running on was a Solid State Disk which is usually not the best choice for lots of write operations since those drives read data fast but write them rather slowly.

The main reason for moving the Firefox disk cache is therefor performance. Security could be another reason. The disk cache could for instance be moved to an encrypted part of the hard drive, a removable drive or ram disk.

The location of the the Firefox disk cache cannot be changed in the Firefox settings. The only way is to add a new parameter in the about:config dialog to change the location of the Firefox disk cache.

Type about:config in the Firefox address bar:

Right-click and select New > String from the menu. Enter browser.cache.disk.parent_directory as the preference name and the new path to the cache location, for example d:\temp

Opera users can practically do the same by typing in opera:config#UserPrefs|CacheDirectory4 and changing the preference there.

Internet Explorer users can simply change the location in the Tools > Internet Options by clicking on the Settings button under Browsing History.

Tags: disk cache, firefox cache, firefox disk cache, firefox tips, internet explorer disk cache, mozilla-firefox, opera disk cache, web browser

Install Greasemonkey Scripts In Internet Explorer

Martin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:41:58 +0000

Greasemonkey is a browser extension for Mozilla Firefox which can run so called userscripts that can change elements and information on websites in real-time. Some prime examples include link checkers, removing elements on a website or embedding price comparison information on shopping pages.

Since then Greasemonkey has been expanded and – at least – been partially supported by other browsers such as Greasemonkey Opera or Google Chrome Greasemonkey.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer on the other hand has seen some efforts in the past to include Greasemonkey support but most tries (Greasemonkey for IE, IE7 PRO..) fell short of delivering compatibility with the vast resources that the Greasemonkey repository at Userscripts.org offered.

The Internet Explorer plugin that came closest to supporting userscripts was Trixie. Trixie has not been updated in the last three years but it still works surprisingly well. There are however a few restrictions in place that make some scripts incompatible with Internet Explorer; This unfortunately means a trial and error approach to test if a script is working.

The only reliable method would be to install the script and see if it does what it says. Trixie requires the Microsoft .net Framework. It adds an entry in the Tools menu of Internet Explorer after installation which can be used to activate and deactivate scripts.

Scripts have to be downloaded and moved into the Trixie home directory on the hard drive. All scripts need to be placed in the scripts subdirectory of Trixie. Internet Explorer has to be restarted before the newly added script will be displayed in the Tools menu.

Tags: greasemonkey, greasemonkey ie, internet explorer greasemonkey, internet-explorer, trixie, trixie internet explorer, userscripts

Extract Web Snippets With Internet Explorer To Build A Personal Startpage

Martin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:02:32 +0000

Most users have their favorite websites that they visit everyday. The weather report, tv program, world news, a forum or a blog with daily technology news. What if it would be possible to extract the important bits of those websites and combine them into one new site that would update itself automatically and present the information in compact form?

That is basically what Ecletic for Internet Explorer does. The add-on installs itself to the right-click context menu of Internet Explorer and as a toolbar button which when pressed changes the cursor into a tool that can be used to draw a rectangle around the desired information.

The snippet that has been marked that way will be shown in a preview window where the user has to make the decision if he wants to add it to an existing page or a new one. That page opens afterwards and all elements on that page can be moved around and resized to fit the screen.

It works similar to tools like MWSnap that can take a screenshot from part of the computer monitor by drawing an rectangle around the part that should be included.

The first custom page that is created by the user will be the homepage of that user. Additional pages like weather, news or sports are available by default that have been created by the developers of the application. New pages can be created in the preview window and are afterwards accessible by clicking on the white paper sheet in the main menu.

Each element that has been added gets updated automatically be the service. The user has the option to press the Refresh button manually to update the snippet immediately. The service lagged a bit during tests, it usually took a few seconds before a new snippet got updated and shown on the pages. Pages can be bookmarked like usual websites and opened at a later time again.

The application contains a link entitled Upgrade to Professional which leads to the homepage. The homepage however does not contain any information about upgrading or buying the Internet Explorer plugin.

Tags: ecletic, homepage, ie plugin, internet explorer plugin, internet-explorer, startpage

Log Into Multiple Accounts Simultaneously

Martin — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:19:21 +0000

Many users maintain multiple accounts on various websites, for example two Gmail accounts one for business and one for private contacts or multiple Facebook or MySpace accounts. Using multiple accounts is usually privacy related but it could also be used for other purposes. The main problem that most web browsers have with multiple accounts on the same domain is that they cannot maintain more than one cookie for that site.

If a user logs into the first account, opens a new tab and logs into the second the cookie for the first account will be overwritten by the cookie for the second account effectively logging off the user account in the first tab.

Google Chrome is the only browser that supports – most likely unintentionally – simultaneous account usage. Users can make use of the so called Incognito Mode which makes use of its own cookie storage. Incognito Mode is a privacy mode that deletes any traces of the session after closing it.

Google Chrome’s Incognito Mode can be used to login twice into any web service. The user would login normally at first and press [CTRL Shift N] afterwards which would open a new browser window in Incognito Mode. The new browser window could then be used to log into the service a second time.

Firefox users can install the Firefox add-on Cookie Pie which maintains separate cookie storages in tabs and windows if activated. It basically has the same effect that the Incognito Mode of Google Chrome has with the difference that the browsing history will not be deleted after closing the session.

Opera users who want to use Opera and nothing but could make use of different profiles to achieve the same results although it would probably be easier to start a second browser and use this for the second login. There is a Gmail Widget for Opera that provides access to two Gmail accounts.

Does anyone know how Internet Explorer 8 and Safari handle that issue?

Tags: cookie storage, firefox, gmail, google chrome, multiple accounts, Multiple Accounts Simultaneously, multiple logins, opera

gHacks technology news » ie

Protect your privacy from Google AdSense’s new behavioral ads

Related posts

Internet Explorer 8 Can Be Uninstalled In Latest Windows 7 Build

Related posts

10 Useful Internet Explorer 8 Accelerators

Related posts

Microsoft February Security Updates

Related posts

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 Download

Related posts

Teleprompter Software

Related posts

Internet Explorer Toolbar Customization

Related posts

Internet Explorer Favorites Search

Related posts

Internet Explorer Backup

Related posts

Ghacks Christmas Giveaway: RoboForm

Related posts

Internet Explorer Runonce Loop

Related posts

Web Browser Benchmark Comparison

Related posts

Effective Secure Cookie Management

Related posts

Copy Selected Links Internet Explorer

Related posts

Internet Explorer Sessions

Related posts

Export Internet Explorer Security Zone Information

Related posts

Moving The Firefox Disk Cache To Another Drive

Related posts

Install Greasemonkey Scripts In Internet Explorer

Related posts

Extract Web Snippets With Internet Explorer To Build A Personal Startpage

Related posts

Log Into Multiple Accounts Simultaneously

Related posts