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E Previous MSIE Page  | Bo's Browser Wars | MSIE News Front | Security | Updated 08/07/04
Got a Problem not found here? Email Me HereF.

Are you a contributor to SPAM? If you answer allot of bulk mail, or chain mail, you just might be. Here are 12 steps you might want to consider before punching that Reply or Forward button.

Mike Boyer  sends along this 12-Step program for people who reflexively forward every hoax mail or chain letter they receive...

1) I will NOT get bad luck, lose my friends, or lose my mailing lists if I DON'T forward an email!

2) I will NOT hear any music or see a taco dog, if I do forward an e-mail.

3) Bill Gates is NOT going to send me money, Victoria Secret doesn't know anything about a gift certificate they're supposed to send me.

4) Ford will NOT give me a 50% discount even if I forward my e-mail to more than 50 people!

5) I will NEVER receive gift certificates, coupons, or freebies from Coca Cola, Cracker Barrel, Old Navy, or anyone else if I send an e-mail to 10 people.

6) I will NEVER see a pop-up window if I forward an e-mail . NEVER-- EVER!!

7) There is NO SUCH THING as an e-mail tracking program, and I am not STUPID enough to think that someone will send me $100 for forwarding an e-mail to 10 or more people!

8) There is NO kid with cancer through the Make-a-Wish program in England or anywhere else collecting anything!

9) The government does not have an email postage bill in Congress called 901B (or whatever they named it this week) that, if passed, will enable them to charge us 5 cents for every e-mail we send.

10) There will be NO cool dancing, singing, waving, colorful flowers, characters, or program that I will receive immediately after I forward an e-mail. NONE, ZIP, ZERO,NADA!!

11) The American Red Cross will NOT donate 50 cents to certain individual dying of some never-heard-of disease for every e-mail address I send this to. The American Red Cross RECEIVES donations.

12) And finally, I WILL NOT let others guilt me into sending things by telling me I am not their friend or that I don't believe in the right religion. If God wants to send me a message, I believe the bushes in my yard will burn before He picks up a PC to pass it on!

Now, repeat this to yourself until you have it memorized, and send it along to at least 5 of your friends before the next full moon or you will surely be constipated for the next three months and all of your hair will fall out!

Bugged by those script debugging errors in Internet Explorer? Here is a good dose of bug-be-gone.

They can drive you mad ... you're surfing away when you get a message saying there's an error on the web page and what Script Debugger do you want to use.   Here's how to get rid of it.

These web page bugs don't effect your use of the page, usually, some might but that is rare. The intrusive 'script debugging' errors are a maddening.  It is made worse as many of these bugs are generated by pop-up web ads.  Who the heck wants web page adds anyway? Not me, and I am reasonably sure not you either. Sometimes the same message comes up again and again for the same web page (one for each separate error). Ugh!

To stop the script debugging dialog in Internet Explorer:

1. In Internet Explorer choose Tools | Internet Options | Advanced
2. Near the top of the long list is the Browsing section.
3. In that section are two items:
   1. Disable Script Debugging - should be ON
   2. Display a notification about every script error - should be OFF
4. Click OK to finish.

It's that simple!

So try this bug-be-gone fix and say good bye to web bug error reports.

AOL's Instant Messenger attached itself to your Outlook Express program....Make it STOP!

• Another approach from reader Leslie

Send To - Mail Recipient not working? Check out this Lockergnome Q&A

Question: Whenever I use a program that has a "Send To - Mail Recipient" option if I try to use it I get a popup error message that says it can't find the mail client. I have Windows Me and I use MSN as my ISP, can you help me?

Answer: Of course we can help you, and we are more than glad to do so. The "Send To - Mail Recipient" option is based off what e-mail client you have configured in your Internet Options. If you click Start | Control Panel, then you can double-click Internet Options. Switch to the Programs tab and you will be able to see what program is configured as your default e-mail program. For the "Send To - Mail Recipient" option to work, you normally need a local e-mail client (such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Eudora) set up on your computer. MSN uses a Web-based e-mail system, as does AOL (in a way). You can, however, set up Outlook Express or Outlook XP to handle your MSN e-mail. If you try to use Outlook 2000 or older, though, this won't work with MSN 8. I'm going to explain the steps for Outlook Express but the steps for Outlook XP are similar; just search through the help system for the exact steps.

If this is the first time you have opened Outlook Express, then you will be prompted to set up an account. If this isn't the first time you opened Outlook Express, then you need to click Tools, then Accounts, click Add and choose Mail. On "display name," just type your name and then click "Next.: Now that you are on the e-mail address windows you need to type in your MSN or Hotmail account and then click next. You need to change your incoming mail server to HTTP at which time you will have to choice to choose a preconfigured HTTP mail service. In this drop-down list just choose MSN or Hotmail depending one which e-mail account you have and then click next. Enter your username and password and put a check in the checkbox next to Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) and then click next. Now just click finish. Using the steps above you can switch your default e-mail client in Internet Options to be either Outlook or Outlook Express depending on which one you just setup. Now you should be able to send files such as Word documents using the "Send To - Mail Recipient" option with no more errors messages. Happy e-mailing! [Brian]

OETool v1.10 [18k] W98/2k/XP FREE

{Enhance Outlook Express} Want more toolbar options in Outlook Express? OETool adds more options to the Views toolbar with the following: use plain text mode for other messages, use plain text mode for this and other messages, view replies to my messages for newsgroups, group messages by conversation to manage threads, switch identities (now, now, no smart ideas here), run the OEBackup program (requires separate download from the same Web site), and run DBXtract (extracts all mail and news messages from individual DBX files) or DBXtend (more capabilities than DBXtract, but not free) if they're installed and both are on the same Web site. You can run OETool in the system tray and stop it by right-clicking the system tray icon.

OE Backup maintains Outlook Express message archives and registry entries. The developer acknowledges that its appearance isn't pretty, but it does the job--and the price is right.

Get this tool here: http://www.oehelp.com/OETool/Default.aspx

Internet Explorer Windows appears off screen
Here is the fix

The reason a new Internet Explorer window opens off the screen is because the registry values for Internet Explorer are either damaged or incorrect. Now, I am going to tell you how to fix the problem, but it will require you to edit the registry and I recommend that you back it up first. For steps on how to backup your Windows registry, refer to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 322755.

When you're ready to edit the registry, do the following:

1. To get to the registry, click Start | Run, then type REGEDIT and click OK.
2. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Internet Explorer \ Main.
3. Once there, you need to delete the registry value called "windows_placement"
4. Then, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Internet Explorer \ Desktop \ Old WorkArea, and delete the registry value named "OldWorkAreaRects"
5. All that is left is to restart your computer. From now on your Internet Explorer's new window will open on the screen. Good luck!

Emailing image files like JPG takes forever to download
This is a lockergnome instruction.

Question: I have tried to send my daughter JPG pictures. When she gets them they are too large to view. I have tried this from Windows 98 and XP.

Answer: When people e-mail photos to friends and family without adjusting the pictures, the photos are much larger than our monitors and we have to scroll around to see the rest of it, but not with it entirely fitting on our screen. Those on slow connections have to wait a long time for such files to download into their Inboxes. As a courtesy and to make the photo viewable without scrolling, resizing the image is the way to go.

Microsoft Photo Editor comes with Windows XP, and you can use it to resize a photo in the following manner:

1. Click Start | Programs | Microsoft Office Tools | Microsoft Photo Editor. (If you can't find Microsoft Photo Editor, load your XP CD and install it.)
2. Open the photo(s) you want to send by clicking File | Open and browsing for the photo.
3. Select Image | Resize.
4. Adjust the height and width values or percentages to change the size. Leave the "Allow Distortion" box unchecked to ensure the resized image retains its original proportions, otherwise the photo will look warped or funky.
5. Save your resized image; you may want to change the file name so you don't copy over the original. Now, you're ready to e-mail the newly resized photo to your daughter.

Configure OE to Open Links in a New Browser Window

"When you receive an e-mail message in Outlook Express that contains shortcuts to Web pages or other Internet resources (using URLs such as microsoft.com), the URL is opened in a new Microsoft Internet Explorer window the first time, but any other URLs in the e-mail message are opened in the same Internet Explorer window when you click them. This behavior occurs whether or not you have enabled the 'Reuse windows for launching shortcuts' option in Internet Explorer properties." Then, there is some mumbo-jumbo about having third-party software and how that could cause this behavior. Regardless, this knowledgebase article provides workarounds for Win9x/2k. | http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=256953

Cannot Open Attachments in Outlook Express After Installing SP1b

{Outlook Express attachment solution} "After you install Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows XP SP1 (both of which include Outlook Express 6 SP1), access to some of your e-mail attachments in Outlook Express may be removed. This problem appears when clicking on paper clip in the Preview pane indicates that Save Attachments and file_name commands aren't available or when opening an e-mail message, the Save Attachments command is unavailable on the file menu and the Attach field is missing from the email message." No big surprise seeing that installing SP1 breaks something else, but at least MS provides the workaround. Oh, and this behavior happens "by design."
Check out this Microsoft Knowledgebase article for clarification: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329570

If your a cyber-packrat, like me, you'll appreciate this OE speed up tip

Q. When it comes to e-mail, I'm a real pack rat. I never delete anything (except spam, of course) because I never know when I'll need it again. But now every time I launch Outlook Express, it takes forever to load the thousands of messages in my in-box. How can I keep my messages and make OE run faster?

A. As a Cyber-Pakrat myself, I feel your pain. But I have a quick-and-dirty workaround for you: save your old e-mail messages in a "dormant" account, and start up a new one. First, set up a new account in Outlook (Tools | Accounts | Add | Mail) using the same settings as your current mail account. Inside the same dialog box, select your current account, click Properties, and rename it something like "My Old Mailbox." Click OK, then Close. Next, go into File | Identities | Manage Identities, select your new account, click "use this identity when starting a program," and click Close. The next time you launch OE, it will bring up your new, empty in-box--and mighty quickly, too. If you ever need to fish out an old e-mail, just go in and switch to that old account (File | Switch Identity).

Q. What files in Outlook Express can I use for backups? Or, is this even possible?

A. Yes, this is possible. In answer to your question, the files you want can be found in:
"C:\Windows\Application Data\Identities\"{Your Identity number or Class ID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express\All files with a DBX extension.

However, this is only a small part of the answer. You can also quickly backup the entire Outlook Express folders by doing the following:

1. Open Outlook Express
2. Click on Tools | Options | Maintenance tab
3. Click on the Store folder button
4. Type in a location, other than the default, in which you want to store these files
5. Click Change
6. Close out Outlook Express
7. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the location in which you just told OE to store your files
8. Verify that they are there.
9. Open OE again
10. Follow step 2-3 above
11. Change the folder back to it's default location

Now you have all of your OE files backed up and all settings you prefer in place.

Fix Outlook's slow load time without editing registry

There has already been one suggestion for fixing Outlook's load time after uninstalling Messenger, however if you don’t feel comfortable editing the registry simply open OE, click on the Tools menu, then Options, then go to the 'Other' tab, then un-check the box at the bottom that reads "Enable instant messaging in Microsoft Outlook".

Patching IE 6 and 5.5
            One Important Last Step
            If you are using MsOffice XP with Service Pack 2

If you're using Windows XP, you have Internet Explorer 6, and patching IE 6 seems to be relatively painless. Internet Explorer 5.5 SP1 and SP2 appear to update well, too. I've seen very few complaints about the process, as long as you remember to turn off your antivirus program while running the update, and disable any pop-up ad zappers. If you still have problems, take a look at the Internet Explorer MVP site and go through the steps outlined there.

If you're using IE 6 and you start getting scripting errors ("Run Time Error. Line xx. Object doesn't support this property or method: MsTsc.server") after you apply the patch, or if you get a blank page while trying to run a Web-based Terminal Services client, check out this Knowledge Base article.

Patching IE 5.01

Alas, the security patch for IE 5.01 requires you to be running Windows 2000. Microsoft doesn't support IE 5.01 on any other versions of Windows. So if you have a Windows 98 or ME system running IE 5.01, you have to ask yourself (with the appropriate Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry snarl), are you feeling lucky, punk? You have two choices: pray that you never bump into one of these security holes; or upgrade to Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6.  

A more cynical soul than I would no doubt note that Windows 2000 originally shipped with Internet Explorer 5.01, and the only reason why MS continues to support that combination is because a lot of big corporate customers would get downright surly if they learned that the folks in Redmond had orphaned a whole bunch of their machines.

One Important Last Step
If you are using MsOffice XP with Service Pack 2

There’s an important – crucial – detail about the Office Web Components security patch that Microsoft buried in its MS02-044 Security Bulletin. When you install Office XP Service Pack 2, or the Office Web Components update, the installer replaces the old version of the Office Web Components – the one with a bunch of huge security holes – with a new, improved version. 

Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn’t have any way to declare the old version of the Office Web Components null and void. (There’s something called a “kill bit” that the installer can’t set – see the FAQ section of the MS02-044 Security Bulletin for details.) That means you could potentially be duped into re-installing the old, insecure version of the Office Web Components. If you’ve ever told Internet Explorer to “Always trust content from Microsoft Corporation” in response to a request to install a program on your computer, it’s possible for the old version of the Office Web Components to be installed without your knowledge or consent.

The solution? Tell Internet Explorer that it can’t trust Microsoft any more. 

In Internet Explorer, click Tools | Internet Options | Content. In the Certificates section, click Publishers | Trusted Publishers. If you see Microsoft Corporation listed, click on it and click Remove.

Heckuva note, ain't it?

Scrolling In Microsoft Internet Explorer
Although there are a number of ways to scroll through a Web page in Microsoft Internet Explorer (Page Down, Page Up, use the mouse, etc.), one of the easiest is to simply press the Spacebar. Pressing the Spacebar scrolls down a page. If you need to scroll up a page, press Shift + Spacebar

Disable Image Bar in IE
In Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, any time you move your mouse over an image, a little toolbar pops up asking if you want to save, open, mail, or print the image. This is okay (we suppose), but it gets annoying after a while.
To eliminate the image toolbar, run IE 6 and choose Tools|Internet Options. When the dialog box opens, click the Advanced tab. Now, scroll down to the Multimedia section and deselect the "Enable Image toolbar" radio button

Q. Do you know of any way to stop the [Klez] e-mails from coming?

A. Unfortunately, I do not. I, too, sift through dozens of Klez-spawned e-mail  Although there are a few hundred possibilities, I've seen many with the same subject lines. So, instead of spending time every morning deleting these messages, I set an Outlook Express filter to do the chore by blocking e-mails with the following subject lines:

A special new game
A special humour game
A funny game
Meeting notice
W32.Klez.E removal tools
W32.Elkern removal tools

To create a filter in Outlook Express 6.0, go to Message | Create Rule from message..

• In Rule 1: Click on, Where the subject line contain specific words, so that it has a checkmark in it.
• In rule 2 : Select, Move it to the specified folder - You may want to create a new folder called, virus or junk. It is better to move the message to a folder rather than simply deleting it as you may get a real message from someone.
• In Rule 3: Click on contains specific words
• Copy and paste the above subject phrases into the add dialog by presseing the Add button (after inputing each phrase) or create your own.
• From now on, these subject lines will be automatically moved to the folder yo specified.
• One more note: Be sure that your virus protection is up-to-date.

Make an Applicationn Button On the Links Toolbar
To make a Google.COM button:

There are times when you simply wish that you could pop up a program while still in your browser. With Windows Explorer there is a simple way. For this exercise we will use Notepad.exe, but, you can use any program you wish as long as you know where it is located on your folder tree. (The links tool bar is generally right next to your addressbar.)

To create the shortcut, open Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Windows Explorer. Navigate to your program folder, in this case it is C:\Windows\BNotepad.exe. Left click on the program file and drag it to your links bar (Bo Note: If your browser window is hidden by the Windows Explorer window, simply drag the file to the taskbar at the bottom of the page and hover over the MSIE button. The MSIE browser windows will open). When the cursor is over the links bar you may notice your cursor changing to I. This indicates the insertion point. Slide the I to the right or left of any button on the bar to which  you want your app shortcut next to then release the mouse button. Now, right click on the file and choose rename. Now name it to your desired application. Now, every time you want the file to load, simply click on the button on the links bar.

You say that you want to have more applications then will fit on the available linksbar real-estate? No problem. Drag your mouse slowly down over the links bar. The cursor will change to a vertical double headed arrow. Click on the left mouse button and drag slowly downward. The links toolbar will now grow across your screen below your addressbar.

To make a Google.COM button:

1. Go to the site, http://www.google.com
2. Once there, click Favorites | Add to Favorites
3. Now click View | Toolbars | Unlock Toolbar
4. Click Favorites
5. Locate the Google site we just saved and drag it to the Links toolbar and let it go.
6. Bada Bin Bada Boom you now have a new toolbar button called Google complete with the Google Icon.
7. Position the button where you want it on the Links bar and once it is set, click View | Toolbars | Lock Toolbar

You can use this same technique for any other site you use often. This way, your search engine is always at your finger tips.

You do not want to disconnect from the Internet when closing Internet programs

For dial-up connections, you may be prompted to disconnect from the Internet when all Internet programs, such as Outlook Express and Internet Explorer, are closed. You can change this setting on a per-connection basis. For example, you could specify that a RAS connection does not disconnect while an ISP connection prompts you to disconnect.

To change whether or not you are prompted to disconnect from the Internet when closing Internet programs

1. On the Internet Explorer Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Connections tab.
2. Under Dial-up Settings, select the connection that you want to change.
3. Click Settings, and then under Dial-up Settings, click Advanced.
4. Clear the Disconnect when connection may no longer be needed check box.

Why Won't That Page Open?

• More on Blocked Pages

Q. There are some Web sites I just can't access. I've checked with friends, and they can access these sites. Any idea why I can't?

A. First, be patient. Many browser problems are temporary. Wait a few minutes and try accessing the site again. If you're the patient type, wait an hour and try again. If you're really patient, wait a day.

And you were right to ask your friends. If they couldn't open the site either, you know that the problem is with the site (unless you and your friends have the same ISP). Try accessing the site through your ISP on another computer. This is often easier to do with a dial-up account than with a cable, DSL, or other broadband connection. With dial-up, you just manually enter your ISP's local access number in the log-on box. With an always-on connection, you may have to reconfigure the PC's network settings. Of course, if your broadband ISP also offers a dial-up number, you can use that.

If you can't access the site through your ISP on the second PC, the fault lies with your service provider. If you can access the site, the problem is with your computer--or more likely, your browser.

Your security settings may be too high. In Internet Explorer, select Tools, Internet Options. Click the Security tab and make sure 'Internet' is selected under the Web content zones. Click the Default Level button, set the slider under 'Security level for this zone' down one level, and try accessing the site again. If your browser is set to the High security leve,l try setting it to Medium, Medium-low, or even Low, despite your browser's warnings of impending doom. Click Custom Level to bring up the Security Settings dialog box. Scroll down to the Scripting section and make sure Java is enabled.

Some sites require 128-bit encryption, and not all browsers have it. Luckily, it's a free upgrade. To check the encryption level of your copy of Internet Explorer, select Help, About Internet Explorer and look under 'Cipher Strength'. If it's not 128-bit, click Update Information to go to Microsoft's update page.

Some sites conflict with firewalls. Disable your firewall and then see if you can access the site. Don't forget to enable it again after you leave the site. (If the firewall is the problem, adjust its settings and then try to reach the site again.)

Something in your cache could be causing the conflict. To clear the cache in Internet Explorer, select Tools, Internet Options. Under 'Temporary Internet files' on the General tab, click the Delete Files button, then click OK. For a thorough browser cleaning, give Wizard Systems' $15 TweakIE shareware a try.

Parental controls may be the culprit. In Internet Explorer, select Tools, Internet Options and click the Content tab. Choose the Disable button under Content Advisor (if no such button exists, the source of your problem lies elsewhere). You'll need the password you originally used to enable these controls. For more on disabling parental controls.

Of course, you may have good reasons for high security settings or banning objectionable material from your browser. In that case, consider whether accessing a particular Web site is worth the risk.

More on Blocked Pages
A file in your Windows folder called 'hosts' (no extension) may have an incorrect IP address for the page. To find out, open Windows Explorer, select your C:\Windows folder, and look in the right pane for a hosts file. If you can't find it in your Windows folder, this isn't your problem. If you do find a hosts file, open it in Notepad and look for a line referring to the page that's giving you trouble. If it's there, enter # at the beginning of the line. Save and exit the file.

Can I delete IE's Links folder?
Q. Why does Internet Explorer (any version) insist on putting a folder called Links in my Favourites list? Every time I delete it, it somehow comes back. How can I delete Links without it coming back? I'm using IE 6 with XP.

A. These procedures are based on info about earlier versions of Internet Explorer, but IE 6 seems to have the same issues. You can't delete Links from Favorites because Microsoft designed the folder so that it cannot be deleted. That may actually be a good thing, because IE uses this folder to hold the links in your Links toolbar, which lives at the top of your browser window. According to Microsoft's Knowledge Base, however, you can hide this folder so that it won't show up in Favorites. To do this, just open Favorites, right-click the Links folder, and click Properties. Select the Hidden check box and click OK. For more permanent changes, you must edit the Registry, which I wouldn't recommend.

Obnoxious Home Page Arrives, and Won't Go Away.
porn sites are getting more and more pushy everyday. A reader writes:

See also...Microsoft Bulletin (MS99-032)
See also....Remove a porn site from the right-click MSIE context menu
See also....All you Ever Wanted To Know About Web3000 - At the site, look at and download and use the freeware program known as AdAware by Lavasoft.z
See also....But What Do I do for all of   those porn site windows poping up Bo? - This assumes that the file has been downloaded and is running an app like a dll.

1. Open MSIE and change the default home address to your desired choice
2. Close out all instance of MSIE
3. Open Windows Explorer (Explorer.exe)
4. Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\Cookies
5. In the right hand pane, highlight a *.TXT* file and press Ctrl+A
6. All files in the right hand pane will be highlighted along with the index.dat file
7. Hit your delete key
8. The folder should now be empty
9. MSIE will recreate the *.DAT* files it needs when it restarts.
10. Though in most instances you do not need to do so, I prefer to restart the computer to lock changes into the system registry and it does no harm if it doesn't do any good.
11. Reboot

1. Back it up!
2. Back it up!!
3. Back it up!!!

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Navigate to C:\Windows
3. Right click on Windows and select Find from the context menu
4. In the Find what box type the following exactly or copy and paste it into the search box:
   SYSTEM.DAT,USER.DAT
5. Once found, highlight both of these files and select copy Ctrl+C
6. Move to a neutral folder, or create one and paste Ctrl+V

1. Click Start | Run
2. Type:
   REGEDIT
3. Hit enter or click okay
4. The Registry editor will open
5. Click File | Export Registry file
6. Choose a name for the export (Something like RegBeforeEDit) and save it to a temporary neutral folder or create one like C:\RegEdits
7. Click save

1. Click start | Run
2. Type:
   REGEDIT
3. Hit enter or click okay
4. The system Registry Editor opens
5. Click Edit | Find
6. In the search box type in the full address name of the porn site you wish to remove including the HTTP://
7. Once the site has been found, be sure it is highlighted in the right hand pane and hit the delete key and choose yes to delete the file setting.
8. Now press F3 which will begin another search deleting each reference to the offensive file
9. Continue pressing F3 and deleting the results as discribed, until the registry tells you that it has searched the entire file.
10. Reboot
11. Try your browser's home page again. If the file is still there, choose Blank.htm for your home page and follow steps 1-10 above but this time be sure that MSIE is open.

If the offensive address is still there, then you should Clear your browsers cache folder as the site is being referenced there. Here is how:

1. Open MSIE
2. Click Tools | Internet Options
3. On the General Tab
4. Click the Delete Files button on the header section that says, Temporary Internet Files.
5. Reboot
6. Try your browser once again, this should have cleared the problem.

Remove a porn site from the right-click MSIE context menu

Reader Travis writes:

Porn sites are getting real pushy aren't they?
I am pleased you like the site and hope that you find it useful.

This problem seems to be coming up a lot lately. Trust me, you aren't the only one that has been bitten by this.

The items on a context menu come from one of two places: shell commands stored within the system Registry, or context menu handlers.

Here in lies a problem. The script that created this context menu item is, no doubt, a Class Identifier. What this means, to you and to me, is that the binary codec used isn't known to us. In short, there is no simple registry edit to remove this turkey. I have listed a few suggestions below but don't expect miracles.

Before giving up on the registry completely, we should see if the script that loaded the site is there.

Warning!!
You are about to be instructed to edit your system registry. The system registry is the command line interpreters for all of your Windows operating systems. An incorrect edit may lead to loss of data. It could also make it impossible for you to load your GUI (General User Interface=Windows). BLCOW, Bohunky0, nor any of it's affiliates can or will take any responsibility for registry edits. You...the end user....assumes any and all risks.

There are only three rules to editing the system registry and they are:

1. Back it up!
2. Back it up!!
3. Back it up!!!

See above for instructions on how to backup the system registry. There are two methods. Method I and Method II

1. Run Regedit by clicking on the start button, then Run and type RegEdit then hit enter or click okay. RegEdit allows you to edit your registry. Be careful when using RegEdit as editing the wrong values can cause problems running windows or other programs.
2. Navigate to the following key (keys are the labels inside of the tree list):

     HKEY_CURRENT_USER
       Software
         Microsoft
           Internet Explorer
    

3. You should see a key inside of Internet Explorer called MenuExt. If no such key exists then it is reasonable to assume that the writer of the script has loaded the menu item in the class identifiers. In which case, without knowing the codec vale we can not delete the site through the system registry.
4. Expand MenuExt - if it exists, if it doesn't, do not follow any more of the instructions.
5. A key with the name "&URL...followed by the name that appears on your context menu should be there". This string will be displayed in the context menu of the browser.
6. In the right hand pane, highlight the name of the URL and right click on it.
7. Choose Delete from the context menu that will appear.
8. Quit regedit and all instances of Internet Explorer
9. Run Internet Explorer and navigate to a web page
10. Right click on the page and see if the context menu item still appears.

1. Be sure to close MSIE and all other running apps.
2. Once the registry is open
3. Click edit
4. Click Find
5. In the find what box, type in the name that appears on the context menu
   1. If you find the item, in the right hand pane, highlight it and press delete
   2. Once you have deleted this instance, Press F3 to continue searching and deleting each occurace that the system registry search finds.
6. If that returns nothing, you will need to go to that website again and acquire the URL for that site. Once you have it, copy and paste it into the find what box and do another search.
7. If either of these two items produce a hit, delete it from the right hand pane in the system registry and press F3 to continue searching.
8. Keep deleting and searching until the registry says that it can not find another instance of the search criteria.

• Look for the class ID's for Microsoft Internet Explorer under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Be sure to backup the key you plan to delete in the event that you need to restore it. Place it in a temporary folder and if the context menu disappears over time you can safely delete the backup. Just be sure everything is working before you do.
• In the sample shown, deleting "gvim" will remove the right-click options for the GNU Vim program I installed. If you don't find the correct ContextMenuHandlers item under "*" you could try looking under specific file extensions. You could also try searching the registry for the text that appears on the menu. When searching, don't forget to preface any character that is underlined in the menu with an "&". The ampersand is typically used to identify the character to underline when a menu entry's text is saved in the registry.
• Non-standard items can be removed from the MenuExt registry key. This can usually be found here:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MenuExt
• A good interfaced program you may want to try is X-Setup. This will give you a pretty face to use to make registry tweaks. Be careful however, it is a non forgiving powerful tool. Get it here Xteq X-Setup, or take a look at Bo's Windows Add-Ons & Tools From A-Z

One thing that is difficult for most folks to deal with is the enormous amount of security bulletin which Microsoft puts out on an almost day to day basis. It is important that you get the security fixes that apply to you. In that light, please see this bulletin from Microsoft:

Microsoft Security Program: Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-032)

But What Do I do for all of  those porn site windows poping up Bo?

For Windows XP

To find out if the New.Net software is the culprit, follow the instructions in this section. New.Net places a reference in Windows' Add/Remove Programs dialogue. It is recommended that you use this to remove the program. Do not simply delete the DLL, as it tampers with the default Winsock settings and manual removal may cause you to lose the ability to connect to the Internet. The Add/Remove icon is available by clicking Start | Settings | Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs. Select New.Net from the list and click Add/Remove. Rebooting the computer will complete the removal.

The above steps will fully remove the New.Net plug-in. However, the Windows operating system will retain a record that the New.net plug-in previously had been installed on your computer in "C:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files." This file is harmless, but can be removed by following the steps below:

• Within Internet Explorer, click on the Tools menu/Internet Options
• Within the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click on the Settings button
• Within the Settings dialog, click on the View Objects button
• This brings up the Downloaded Program Files window, locate the file called Tldctl2c Class
• Highlight Tldctl2c Class and delete it
• Close the Downloaded Program Files window
• Click on the OK button within the Settings dialog
• Click on the OK button within the Internet Options window

Snoop Proof Your Browser
Caught in your own web
Enter websites without being followed. Navigator and Internet Explorer keep a record of every Web address you type into your browser. Take a look: Enter a URL in the location window below the toolbar; the browsers record the URL in their drop-down menus until other entries replace it. Here's a way to visit a site undetected: In either browser, press Ctrl-O to bring up a dialog box, then type the URL into it.

Your browser is the next area to safeguard. Both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator keep lists of all the places you've been, including the specific pages you've visited, searches you've done, and data you've entered. To view your Web history in Navigator, press Ctrl-H; in Explorer, choose "View, Explorer Bar, History." To delete Navigator's history items, highlight the desired items and press the "Del" key, or delete them all at once by choosing "Select All" on the Edit menu, then press the "Del" key. Internet Explorer stores your Web history in weekly folders or by website. You can delete individual URLs by right clicking on them and choosing "Delete", but the quickest way is to delete entire folders. To clear out your whole history, select "Internet Options" from the Edit menu, choose the "General" tab, and click on the "Clear History" button.

Clean out your cache. Both Explorer and Navigator keep caches of recently visited Web pages on your hard drive. This speeds up Web access when you revisit the pages, but it also leaves you open to snoops. To clear your cache in Navigator, choose "Preferences" from the Edit menu, click on the + sign next to the Advanced selection, then click on "Cache." Now click on the button labeled "Clear Disk Cache." In Explorer, select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu and click on the "General" tab. Click on the button labeled "Delete Files." You can also set your browser so it doesn't use a cache at all--yes, this slows surfing. In Navigator, select "Edit, Preferences, Advanced." Click on "Cache" and set the Disk Cache box to 0. In Internet Explorer, select "Tools, General, and Settings." Then move the slider all the way to the left.

Microsoft Outlook Express Not Showing In Tools | Programs

If you can't reset OE as your default mail/news program: Try re-registering OE as your default mail program. Go to Start | Run and type the following:

"C:\PROGRAM FILES\OUTLOOK EXPRESS\MSIMN.EXE" /reg (Check the path to msimn.exe to make sure that is correct)

Make certain to include the quotations marks and the space between the ending quotation mark and the slash.

Then open Internet Explorer and go to Tools\Internet Options\Programs and set OE as the default mail (and news) program.

View Installed ActiveX Controls

When you visit a website you are often asked to install ActiveX Controls. But how do you check which ones are installed on your machine? Simply click on Tools\Internet Options. In the General tab click on the Settings button, then click on View Objects. This will bring up a list of all the Controls installed in IE, and by right clicking on a control you should be able to either look at its properties or remove it. While you are in the Internet Options screen it may be worth going into Security, clicking on Custom, and making sure "Download signed ActiveX controls" is set to prompt and "Download unsigned ActiveX controls" is set to Disabled.

Internet Explorer Switches

Click on Start\Run then try the following -

iexplore -e (gives you the best of both worlds Windows Explorer on the left and Internet Explorer on the right)

iexplore -slf (loads you home page from IE's cache, if it is stored there)

iexplore -channelband (launches your favourites as a desktop item).

Context Menu Key Clicks

Don't you just hate them when you go to a site and for some reason they decide to stop people from using the right-click menu (aka: Context Menu) or display the page in a popup window without toolbars, thus hiding the URL? To get round this simply press CTRL + N. It will open the page in a new window, allowing you to see the URL and use the context menu.

Clearing the Content Advisor Password

We all know about Internet Explorer's Content Advisor (Tools | Internet Options | Content). This feature may have been turned on inadvertently, or you may have forgotten the password to access those "restricted" sites. Heck, you may have never even set a password, and it may have started asking you for one. There are 3 ways of clearing this -

1. Download X-Setup from XTEQ.COM and navigate to Internet \ Internet Explorer \ Other \ Internet Filters and press the "Delete Internet Filter Password" button.

2. if you don't have access to this tweaking tool, fire up your Registry editor and find your way to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Ratings. If you find either a "Key" or ".default" entry, you'll want to remove them.

3. If either of these solutions do not help, you may consider searching for and removing the "RATINGS.POL" file that's sitting somewhere in your Windows folder hierarchy.

Cannot Reinstall Macromedia Flash

When you go to a Macromedia Flash enabled website it gives you an error saying you need to install Flash (despite the fact you've already installed it). So you go to Macromedia's website to install it, but it tells you Flash is installed properly and everything is working fine. The solution is to search your hard drive for a file called "swflash.ocx", normally in the C:\ Windows \ System \ Macromed \ Flash folder, and delete it. You should be able to then return to Macromedia's site and install the latest version of Flash with no problem.

Closing Multiple Windows

Ever been to a website only to sit there and watch as 20 windows automatically open? There's a keyboard shortcut to kill those annoying browser intrusions in Internet Explorer. CTRL+W is what you'll want to use instead of the normal ALT+F4. Why? Well, imagine if your screen is flooded with too many browser instances. You run the risk of getting trigger happy with a shortcut that will kill everything in sight. CTRL+W seems to work with IE... making it safe to tap repeatedly without inadvertently shutting down another program.

For those who browse full screen, understand that sometimes your Back button won't retain its history if a completely new instance of IE is laid atop your "original" session. If you suddenly notice that your Back button has lost its memory, perhaps there's another IE window open. Check your taskbar before getting too upset.

Blocking Unwanted E-Mail

Q. I get a lot of unsolicited ads via e-mail from something called Digital Lifestyle. Is there a way to block e-mail from that source?

A. Most e-mail programs let you define rules for handling incoming messages. Here's how you'd block those messages in Outlook Express. Select Tools | Message Rules | Mail.... Click the New button. In the Conditions panel, check the Where the From line contains people box. In the Actions panel, check Delete it from server. In the Description panel, click the underlined words contains people. Fill in the name of the sender you want to block, click Add, and click OK. Give the rule a name and click OK. From now on, any mail from that name will be deleted from the server before it ever reaches your computer.

Restoring Old Mail in Outlook Express

Q. A while back, my PC was suffering one problem after another, so I reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows. Now Outlook Express doesn't see the e-mail messages I restored from a backup disk. How do I read my old mail?

A. The trick here is knowing which files to restore and where to restore them. The files you want are folders.nch and all your .mdx and *.idx files. Where to put them is more complicated.

When you first launch Outlook Express, it asks where you want your mail stored. I'll assume that you picked the default, C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express (early versions of Outlook Express used C:\Program Files\Outlook Express).

But Outlook Express looks for your mail in a Mail folder inside the one you selected for mail storage. In other words, the true default is C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express\Mail, and that's where you want to copy your backed-up files.

Can IE 6 users revert to IE 5.x?
Q. I've been having lots of difficulties with Internet Explorer 6. I can't download any files--not even from Microsoft itself. What do I do or where do I go to download IE 5.x? Or would you recommend a different browser?

A. Apparently, the inability to download has cropped up in previous IE versions, too. The Microsoft Knowledge Base attributes the problem to incompatibility with the GoZilla download manager and offers a solution on the page below. If you've never downloaded GoZilla or you simply want to change your browser, you can download IE 5.5 at CNET Download.com. The IE 5.x install file may not work, however, if you try to install it over version 6. If you run into this problem, try uninstalling IE 6 first. (Microsoft provides directions--see below.) Or just try a different browser, such as Netscape 6.2 or Opera 6.0.

MS Knowledge Base: Cannot Download with Internet Explorer
Download Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 (SP2)
Browser Death Match: Netscape 6.x vs. IE 6
CNET reviews Opera 6.0
MS Knowledge Base: How to Uninstall Internet Explorer 6

C|Net.com Has Had Some Nightmares with MSIE 6.0.
We bet you have too. Here are some ways to tame the IE giant

Do you love chocolate but wish it came with fewer calories? That's how we feel about Internet Explorer 6: its raft of extras is nothing but trouble. We and many of our readers have encountered plenty of bugs and a lot of problematic behavior in the new browser--everything from the way IE 6 plays multimedia files to security holes bigger than the Grand Canyon.

But, for better or worse, IE is still the most popular and widely supported browser on the Web. So, rather than throw out the baby with the bathwater, we've fished around and found fixes to some of IE 6's most common and creepy problems. We can't guarantee these will exorcise all of your IE 6 demons, but they're a start.

FThe attack of the shrinking JPEG
Tired of all those big Pamela Lee images magically shrinking, thanks to IE's auto-resize "feature"? Not to worry, there's an easy way to stop it.

FMurder on the Java express
Microsoft isn't exactly playing nice with Sun's Java language, but we can show you how to patch IE 6's Java holes.

FThe silence of the sound card
Bummed because IE 6 doesn't play your favorite multimedia files? With a bit of elbow grease, you can have it humming any tune you want.

FThe telltale shopping cart
IE 6 sometimes won't let you surf secure Web pages, which makes online shopping kind of tough. We have tips on how to restore secure surfing.

FThe invasion of the hackers from hell
Worried about the constant stream of press detailing one IE security hole after another? Here's how to dam the flow.

Red X appears in place of some pictures using Windows ME with Internet Explorer 6.0

Q: I have a Dell Dimension L1000r with a Pentium III 1 Ghz, 512Mb Ram, and Windows ME. I have been having problems with Internet Explorer. On some web pages I get a red X in the pictures area. Sometimes when I reload the page some of the pics will show up but not all, and that sometimes even doesn't work.

I have made sure that in the internet options, I have checked the boxes for pictures to show. I have upgraded to 5.5 and 6.0. I have reinstalled my entire system, and have even reformated the hard drive. Nothing works. The problem is very similar with the Opera browser. I don't have the problem with Netscape Navigator or any other of the Netscape family of browsers.

What do you think this could be due to? I have checked the Microsoft Knowledge base and have found nothing.

A: Wow. When you go after a problem you really go after it.

Lets see if we can come up with something here. Never heard this one before, great question.

The real puzzler here is that you say on some pages you get a red X but not all right? This presents us with a whole set of confusing possibilities.

I know that you said that you checked all of the options which pointed to pictures in the advanced tab, but better check them again just to be sure. The Show Pictures check box might not be selected.

Also you may want to check the language specifications. Here is how:

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. On the View menu, point to Encoding , and then click Western European (Windows) .
   
   Most Web pages contain information that tells the browser which language encoding (the language and character set) to use. This is normally done by using something similar to "charset=" in the Web page code.
   
   If the Web page does not include that information, and you have the Language Encoding Auto-Select feature enabled, Internet Explorer can usually determine the appropriate language encoding.
3. Verify that Show Pictures has not been disabled:
4. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options .
5. Click the Advanced tab, and then verify that the Show Pictures check box is selected under Multimedia .
   
   Some have said that if the show image download place holder is checked that the picture won't show. I doubt that this is your problem but after checking the Encoding and the Show pictures give it a try just for the heck of it if the other two do not take care of the problem.
6. Click Apply
7. Click OK

Check your cache size

Another problem is that the browsers cache is bloated. In an ideal world MSIE would purge older cached items in favor of newer ones. Of course that is in an ideal world. To test this theory, make the cache size a little larger. Here is how:

Open Internet Explorer or click Start | Settings | Control Panel | Internet options

1. With the Internet options dialog box open, in either of the options above, select the general tab
2. Under the header, " Temporary Internet Files", Select the settings button
3. Under amount of disk space to use move the slider slightly to the right or type in a new larger storage size in the space provided to the right of that. Try adding another 10 or 15 MB to start.
4. Click okay
5. Click okay
6. Restart the browser making sure that all instances are shut down
7. Try your webpage again.

This should solve the problem.

Printing Favorites

Q: I want to organize my favorites folder as it's getting hard to handle. Is there a way to alphabetize and print it out?

A: The one thing you don't want to do is to use IE's built-in Organize Favorites tool. What a piece of rubbish that is - slow, unwieldy, limited. Whenever I'm organising my Favorites - creating new folders, deleting old ones, moving links between folders - I jump into Windows Explorer and do it by hand from there (in Win 9x/Me go to C:\Windows\Favorites). It's not the perfect solution, but it's far easier than messing with IE's built-in Favorites tool.

It is possible, though, to create a single list of all your Favorites from Internet Explorer, one which you can print out:

1. From the File Menu, choose Import And Export.
2. In the Import/Export Wizard, click Next then select Export Favorites and click Next once more.
3. Select the Favorites folder to export all your Favorites, or select a sub-folder to export only the Favorites within that folder, and click Next.
4. Select a destination file for the exported Favorites and click Next.
5. Open the file you just created to view a complete list of your Favorites.
6. To print your Favorites, select Print from the File Menu and, in the Print dialog box, enable the Print Table Of Links option, then click Print.

Also, if all you want is a neatly alphabeticised list of your Favorites, give Alphabetical Bookmark Collector a try. It's a little freeware utility which produces a clickable list of your IE Favorites, separated into alphabetical listings. Not ideal, but certainly handy.

Eliminating Temporary Internet Files

Q: In my Windows directory there is a Temporary Internet File Folder that I understand and have no trouble with. What I don't understand is the Content IE5 sub-folder that has a Content IE5 sub-folder! And therein lies the rub. This last IE5 sub-folder has four sub-folders as follows:

• AQH3M4KL with 6,862 files.
• KHELMN4V with 3,442 files
• KYHQ2J8Y with 3,220 files
• XAPJ9OY1 with 2,487 files

That's a lot of files!

First question: Since these are sub-folders to the Temporary Internet Files Folder, why are the files not deleted when I close my browser (Internet Explorer 6)?

Second question: Are they cache files, and may I safely delete them and recover the space used on my hard drive?

A: The Temporary Internet Files (TIF) folder and its sub-folders is where Internet Explorer stores its cache files, offline browser content and cookies. While some files are removed when you close your browser, many of these files stick around for a long while. Even if you set IE to empty the cache when you close the browser (via the Tools Menu, Internet Options, Advanced tab, Security section), you'll still find files littering the so-called temporary folders.

Funky things happen with the TIF folders. IE and Windows Explorer get tangled up over their management and it's pretty easy to confuse them over the real contents of the folders. For example, if your system crashes or you otherwise shut down IE unexpectedly, IE will no longer recognise many files in the TIF folders. Even under ordinary circumstances, it refuses to delete some files in the folders, whether you have the Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder When Browser Is Closed option enabled or not. And deleting your TIF folders using Windows Explorer can give IE the hiccups.

Some of this is by design. For instance, IE keeps your cookie files (the little files used by sites to recognise you upon return visits) intact unless you explicitly tell it to get rid of them.

Can you safely delete these files? Sure thing, but make sure you do it methodically:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. From the Tools Menu choose Internet Options.
3. On the General tab click the Delete Files button.
4. Make sure the Delete All Offline Content option is enabled, then click OK.
5. If you also want to get rid of your cookies, click the Delete Cookies button.

You'll still have a Content.IE5 sub-folder with a pile of files (some of them may be invisible to Windows Explorer) lurking in those sub-folders.  To get rid of these remaining files, manually delete the Content.IE5 sub-folder using Windows Explorer, after you've completed the steps above. When you next launch IE, it will rebuild the sub-folders, but this time they'll be empty, at least to start with.

Note, that while you can safely delete the entire contents of Temporary Internet Files, by doing so you'll eliminate all your cookies. With your cookies gone, the next time you visit any site requiring password entry or which normally stores information about you, you'll have to re-enter it. No big deal, but certainly a consideration.

Choose Your Auto-Search Provider

To choose your AutoSearch provider, in the Customize Search Settings dialog, you can check Use one search service for all searches and then choose your favorite from a list. You can get even better results, however, by checking Use the Search Assistant for smart searching and then customizing the Search Assistant. You can specify which services will be used for specific search types (Web, e-mail, business) and in what order. Be warned: Your favorite search service may not be present. For example, Northern Light is there but disabled by default, and HotBot isn't available at all.

Along the auto-search feature I recieved this email from reader David:

Make an Internet Phone Call

You can make free calls to anywhere in the world if you have IE, a soundcard, a microphone, speakers and an internet service provider. To use NetMeeting (free software bundled with IE), choose New from the File menu, then click Internet Call. A wizard will walk you through setting up your software.

Get an SET Cardholder Certificate

Visa and MasterCard developed the Secure Electronic Transaction(tm) (SET) protocol as a method to secure payments over a network. It uses encryption to secure your information when its sent across the Internet so that your account and payment information are safe and can be viewed only by the intended recipient. Merchants use SET to verify that you are authorized to use a credit card without needing to know your account number or expiration date. However, to use SET with a credit card, you must obtain a cardholder certificate from your credit card provider. Your browser then sends this certificate to the merchant during the purchasing process in order to authorize the credit card transaction. To get an SET certificate, from the Tools menu, click Internet Options, then click the Content tab. Click Wallet, and then click Payments. Click the card you want for the SET certificate, and then click Edit. Click Configure, and then click SET protocol compatible. Make sure the card you want to get a certificate for is selected, and then click New Certificate. Follow the instructions you are given. Details of the transaction are specific to the card. If you are viewing a Web page that displays the Wallet Payment selector, click the down arrow below the Payment selector, and then click Wallet Options.

Problem: When you try to right click a link in Internet Explorer and select Open in a new window, only a blank page appears using Windows XP.

Solution: The behavior likely relates to the URLMON.DLL file. I suggest you perform the following steps to re-register this DLL file to isolate the problem:

1. Click Start, click Run, type the following command in the Open box:

Regsvr32 URLMON.DLL

Note: There is a space letter between Regsvr32 and URLMON.DLL.

2. Click OK.

After the "DllRegisterServer in URLMON.DLL succeeded" message pops up, we then check to see if the problem exists in IE.

If issue still occurs, based on my experience, it might be caused by some corrupt Internet Explorer system files. Let's reinstall Internet Explorer to reload all its components and the corresponding registry keys by performing the following steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, and type the following command in the Open box:

rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 C:\windows\inf\ie.inf

Note: You may copy this command line and paste it into the Open box, and then run it.

2. Click OK.

3. Restart the computer

Problem provided by P. N.
Solution Provided by:
Peter Yang
Microsoft Support Professional

Use Quick Links

IE's Quick Link buttons give you one-click access to your favorite Web sites. To add a Quick Link button to your Links toolbar, simply drag a hyperlink (either text or graphic) from a Web page onto the toolbar, either at the end of the row of Quick Links or between two existing buttons. You can also drag and drop links from the Favorites menu, Favorites Bar or History Bar to create new Quick Links. Once you've added a few Quick Links to your Links toolbar, they won't all fit on the screen at the same time. Just click the tiny arrow buttons at the ends of the toolbar to scroll through the Quick Links. To remove QuickLink buttons, just right-click, and select Delete from the pop-up menu.

Awhhhh, did that nice spammer send you an email cookie? How sweet!
How to block cookies in e-mail

It used to be that yo only needed to worry about the number of spam email you get every day. No longer, advertisers have discovered a new and lucrative way to target you, dispite what their privacy statement says.

Taking advantage of the technology, marketers can track how and when people respond to e-mail, note where they click, and trace follow-up actions on their Web pages. They do this by embedding cookies or clear GIF images known as Web beacons, an action that isn't possible in a simple text message.

On the simplest level, marketers may embed a numeric tracking code in the "from" line. This code is sent back to the Web site's service when the recipient visits the site from the e-mail. More sophisticated tracking can involve cookies so that the Web site can detect whether the consumer visits the site days later. Cookies can also help determine how much revenue was booked on a Web site as a result of an e-mail campaign by following the recipient throughout a visit.

The monitoring technology can be planted on consumer hard drives at various stages in the process of delivering and reading an e-mail. In many cases, cookies or Web beacons are set the moment the recipient opens the message or views it in the preview window of the e-mail program. In other cases, cookies are set only when the person clicks on an embedded link that leads to a Web site--an action some argue is part of the Web experience and is the purview of Web privacy policies.

Gerardo Capiel, chief technology officer and co-founder of Digital Impact, said that while about 70 percent of the e-mail the company sends for customers is HTML, less than 30 percent of HTML e-mail includes tracking technology. "We don't set a cookie when you open the e-mail, but you might get one when you click through," he said. "It's really a question of how aggressive the marketer wants to get to track revenue." Said Capiel

Don't accept cookies from strangers. With MSIE 6.0 it is easy. Here is how:
If you use Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 to surf the Web, new privacy settings allow you to accept or reject cookies from sites based on their data-collection standards. The settings also help block cookies set through e-mail programs such as Outlook and Outlook Express. Here's how to use the privacy settings:

1. Select "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu at the top of IE 6.

2. Click "Privacy" from the file-selection menu.

3. Choose from advanced or custom settings to control cookie placement from first-party or third-party sites.

Download Problems:

Q. I can't download some ZIP files. The download works fine until the end, when I get the message: Error copying file - Cannot copy file. File system err(1026). I can download other Zip files with no problem.

A. The problem relates to the file's size and the location of your temporary Internet files. The drive containing the Temporary Internet Files folder is too full. Try emptying that folder by launching Internet Options from IE or from the Control Panel and clicking the Delete Files button on the General tab.

For more information, see Microsoft's Knowledge Base article Q180680 titled "Error Message: Cannot Copy File: File System Error (1026)". Microsoft notes that this error can occur when the server has problems sending the file, too. That your problem occurs at the end of a seemingly successful download suggests this is not the cause.

How do I clear cookies? Got Milk?
Q. Is there a way to clear all of my browser's cookies, temporary Internet files, and history files from my computer?

A. Here's how to clear cookies in the most recent versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer. But be warned, if you clear all of your cookies, you'll no longer have instant access to sites for which you've registered.

In the Netscape 6.x menu, select Edit | Preferences | Privacy And Security | Cookies. Click the "View stored cookies button," then choose Remove All Cookies. You'll find the Clear History option under Preferences | Navigator | History. It's also a good idea to clear your cache (Preferences | Advanced | Cache), which stores copies of sites that you have visited.

Will !0000 in my Outlook contact list stop viruses?
Q. I've heard that adding !0000 to my Outlook contact list will stop viruses from sending mass mailing to everyone I know. Any truth to this?

A. There's no truth to it at all. Like many hoaxes, the idea at first seems to make sense, but here's where it falls apart: Adding !0000 as a contact in Outlook makes it the first entry on most lists. Since it is not a real entry, the mass-mailing virus would supposedly trip over it and would not be able to send mail to the other legitimate entries on your contact list. Unfortunately, viruses will simply skip over !0000 and continue sending out viral copies. If anything, you'll see the bounced e-mail as undeliverable and know that you've just sent out a virus, but the fact remains: you just sent out a virus. Nothing beats a good antivirus product to stop this from happening.

“Smart leaders believe only half of what they hear. Discerning leaders know which half to believe.” - John C. Maxwell

Attention Telemarketers:

I do not allow organizations to use my name or to contact me to make solicitations other than as permitted in my Junkbusters Declaration.

Version Dec 7 Copyright © 2001 Larry Blaisdell