The program displays three tabs in the main interface on startup that lead to Repair, Cleaning And Security related settings.

IE care

Both the repair and cleaning section display various items with checkboxes for easy selection. The repair options for instance include fixing the Internet Explorer homepage, restoring the IE search engine, restoring the context menu in the Windows Shell or repairing the source option under the view menu.

Each option can be selected separately, and IE Care will furthermore auto check entries that it believes are in need of repair.

The cleaning module is basic. It offers to clean the temporary Internet files, cookies, addresses and history. All of which can also be deleted in Internet Explorer directly.

Security finally offers to install protection for the Windows Hosts file, so that changes to it are automatically blocked.

IE Care is without doubt not the most sophisticated tool to repair or clean Internet Explorer. It is on the other hand easy to use, and offers to resolve some popular issues that IE users may experience from time to time.

IE Care is available for download at the developer website. Some Windows users may need to install the program with elevated rights. This was for instance the case on our Windows 7 Pro 64-bit system.

PC users who work with Internet Explorer might experience a situation where they need to repair Internet Explorer. The browser might feel sluggish, display error messages, crash outright or may not start at all.

The following tips may help users who want to repair Internet Explorer. The article concentrates on Internet Explorer 8 but most tips are also valid for previous versions of the web browser.

The first thing you want to do is to take note of the problem. Is the browser starting up? Is it crashing? Does it display an error message? Is it slow?

Malicious Software

You may want to start with a thorough scan of the computer system for malicious software. Suggested security software for this job are Dr. Web, Avast or AVG.

Make sure you perform a full system scan and clean any viruses, trojans and other malicious software from the system. Improperly configured security programs may slow down Internet Explorer, block it from accessing web contents or may be the cause for error messages that are displayed to the user. You may want to do something that is usually not suggested: Turn off the security software and test Internet Explorer afterwards. If the problems go away it is the software that is the culprit. You then need to configure the software to make it compatible with IE.

Internet Explorer toolbars and add-ons.

If you can open Internet Explorer you might want to check the installed add-ons and toolbars. Microsoft found out that Internet Explorer users run five to six add-ons on average. This can be attributed to software installations who often offer to install toolbars and browser plugins.

To manage the Internet Explorer add-ons open Tools > Manage Add-ons in Internet Explorer. This displays a new program window that lists all the installed add-ons in the browser.

The add-ons are categorized by type in the left sidebar. Toolbars and extensions is the category that is displayed by default. Take a look at the add-ons in the list. You can disable add-ons by right-clicking on them and selecting disable from the context menu or selecting them and clicking on the Disable button in the lower right corner of the screen.

You may want to start to disable add-ons that you do not recognize. A direct approach would be to disable all add-ons and see if that helped solve the problem. If it did you may return to that window and gradually activate add-ons again one by one until you find out which add-ons have been responsible for the issues.

You can also start Internet Explorer with all add-ons disabled:

Click the Start button Picture of the Start button, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Internet Explorer (No Add-ons).

Update Internet Explorer

Chance is you may be running an old version of Internet Explorer. If you are running Internet Explorer 6 or Internet Explorer 7 you may consider upgrading to Internet Explorer 8 to see if this resolves the issues. Internet Explorer 8 can be downloaded directly from Microsoft.

Reset Internet Explorer settings

Resetting Internet Explorer’s settings may work to fix the issue as well. You do not need IE open for this. In Windows 7 open the Control Panel by clicking on the start orb in the lower left corner and selecting Control Panel in the start menu. Now click on Network and Internet and then Internet Options to open them. This menu can also be used to manage the browser add-ons of Internet Explorer.

Clicking on Internet Options opens a new window. Switch to the Advanced tab and press the Reset button at the bottom of the screen to reset all Internet Explorer settings to their default condition.

Microsoft Support Links

If the tips above did not solve the issue you are having with Internet Explorer you may want to follow the links below to Microsoft support pages that contain further information on how to repair Internet Explorer to resolve issues one has with the web browser.

• You receive a “Microsoft Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close (Pdm.dll)” error message [link]
• Fix Runtime Errors in Internet Explorer [link]
• You receive an error message in Internet Explorer: “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage” [link]
• Why is my Internet connection so slow? [link]
• Internet Explorer stops responding, stops working, or restarts [link]
• You cannot view, access, or load some Web pages when you use Internet Explorer 8 [link]
• You cannot view a secure Web site in Internet Explorer 8 [link]
• When you use Internet Explorer 8, you cannot access your Webmail [link]
• Video freezes or crashes in Internet Explorer or Windows programs [link]
• Internet Explorer freezes or crashes [link]

Are you currently experiencing problems when working with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer? Or have you experienced problems in the past and managed to resolve them? Let us know in the comments.

Repair IE is a portable application for Windows operating systems that provides access to the five tabs Appearance, Browser Features, Network and Connections, Search Features and Security. Each tab contains so called items that enable or disable certain functions and features in Internet Explorer. The current value column gives information if the item is currently set to its default value or a custom value set by the user.

Most custom values are shown as Yes (True) or No (False) values with the occasional string for values that require path information. A double-click on an item changes the value of it. A Yes or No value would be inverted. If the inverted value is the default value the field would be cleared.

A path can be changed in a small popup window instead. A confirmation dialog is always shown before changing values.

Repair IE is an excellent Internet Explorer tweaking utility that can be used to change a lot of settings in Internet Explorer. The software developer designed the tool to fix malicious software leftovers after cleaning a computer system. An option to set everything to its default value would make the software program easier to handle.