How to reset the content advisor Password in Internet Explorer

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 14, 2007
Updated • Jun 10, 2013
Internet Explorer
|
17

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 Microsoft Internet Explorer again.

There is however an easy method to disable the content advisor password and it is a typical 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 remove the supervisor password and disable the Content Advisor in Internet Explorer

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.

delete content advisor password

Update: The easiest way to get there is the following. Use the keyboard shortcut Windows-R to bring up the run box of the system. Enter regedit in the box and tap on the return key to load the Windows Registry Editor. You may see an UAC prompt that you need to accept before the editor appears on your screen.

All that is left to do now is to navigate to the structure using the sidebar folders. Once there, right-click each of the keys and select the delete option from the context menu. Just delete both keys and restart Internet Explorer to remove the password protection from the Content Advisor.

Update 2: If you do not like editing the Registry manually, you can try and run the Content Advisor Password Remover application instead to remove the password from the feature.

Additional information about the feature are available on Microsoft's Technet website.

Update 3: Please note that Content Advisor is not included in Internet Explorer 10 anymore.

Advertisement

Previous Post: «
Next Post: «

Comments

  1. Jen said on November 9, 2016 at 10:32 pm
    Reply

    Thanks. My computer is old and this might give me a few more months out of her. Worked great and was simple.

  2. Martin Brinkmann said on June 11, 2013 at 8:06 am
    Reply

    You only need to delete Key and Hint as shown above on the screenshot. Try this program instead it may work for you; http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/conadvpass.html

  3. Anonymous said on July 13, 2012 at 8:49 pm
    Reply

    anyone who does not know how to get there already, should probably not be doing this, accidentally deleting the wrong key in the registry can put you into a world of hurt

  4. Anonymous said on July 8, 2012 at 4:10 am
    Reply

    my password hint will be white cat

  5. Matt said on June 26, 2012 at 3:42 pm
    Reply

    I followed all of the steps and found the registry key but when I deleted it I got an error message saying that it could not be deleted

  6. blurb said on July 6, 2010 at 11:56 pm
    Reply

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

  7. fiyas ahamed said on November 15, 2009 at 8:30 pm
    Reply

    Thanks a lot man.. very useful information.

  8. adric said on June 13, 2009 at 7:42 am
    Reply

    thanks i can finaly sort my otha com out

  9. Samson said on April 15, 2009 at 3:27 am
    Reply

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

  10. Helped me said on June 3, 2008 at 8:06 pm
    Reply

    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.

  11. Martin said on February 4, 2008 at 2:01 pm
    Reply

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

    1. Anonymous said on June 11, 2013 at 7:58 am
      Reply

      i’ve got a message when i try to delete telling me that it’S impossible to delete all.

  12. rowena said on February 4, 2008 at 1:54 pm
    Reply

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

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

  13. dawn said on January 17, 2008 at 3:17 am
    Reply

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

  14. srinman said on July 13, 2007 at 4:23 am
    Reply

    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??

  15. Martin said on May 3, 2007 at 7:47 am
    Reply

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

  16. Douglas Nelson said on May 3, 2007 at 12:33 am
    Reply

    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?

Leave a Reply

Check the box to consent to your data being stored in line with the guidelines set out in our privacy policy

We love comments and welcome thoughtful and civilized discussion. Rudeness and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please stay on-topic.
Please note that your comment may not appear immediately after you post it.