Internet Explorer Content Advisor makes use of two main methods to restrict and allow access to websites. The first makes use of The ICRA System which is basically an external content rating system. The computer administrator has the option to use a slider to allow or prevent access to sites that have been rated a specific way.

The whitelist is the second method, it can be used to allow access to specific websites. Those websites are then accessible even if one of the Content Advisor filters would disallow them otherwise.

Each url that is accessed is checked against the content advisor filters. If the check fails the user is presented with a popup window that explains why access to this website has been disabled and that a supervisor can enable access by entering his master password.

Every web based filter system is only as good as its protection from circumventing it. I’m going to show two methods of reseting Internet Explorer’s Content Advisor Password. It does not help children because parents will obviously know that the password has been reset when they check it out. It does help parents who have forgotten the Content Advisor Password though.

Internet Explorer Content Adviser Disabler is a tiny software that can remove the Content Advisor Password. It just has to be executed. My guess is that it only does what the second manual method of removing the Content Advisor Password does. It removes a key in the Registry.

Open the Registry with the shortcut Windows R and typing Regedit. Now navigate to the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \policies \Ratings and delete the entry Key from it. After restarting or logging out logging in the password should be gone. You could also export and import the Registry key which would have the effect that the system administrator would not know that the key has been removed during the browsing session.

On the other hand, a system administrator that sets a key but gives a user access to the Registry has a more serious problem at hand than the Content Advisor filter.

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.