Easy Customization of Internet Explorer

by Michael Cottier

Internet Explorer is the most popular browser that is used for surfing the net today. Just about every computer user has it, and even some people who use other browsers still keep it around. There is something that everyone missed though, and that is the Internet Explorer options. IE has so many options and customization preferences that it can be overwhelming to anyone, whether you're a computer expert or computer illiterate.

I will take you step by step through the different settings and explain to you what they will actually do to help you and increase your surfing productivity. So, please open up Internet Explorer if you don't already have it open, and just follow my steps to change these options. First, at the top of IE click on "Tools" and then "Internet options".

The very first tab is the general tab, and this is the most important as it covers the most general options that people like to customize. The first option you will see is the ability to make your home page whatever you want it to be. For those of you who don't already know, your home page is the first web site that comes up when you open Internet Explorer and start your surfing.

I like mine set to Google since they are the best search engine on the net, but ultimately I recommend you set it to any site that you like to visit a lot, or one that you use for your business. Also, whenever you hit the "Home" button at the top of IE, it will send you to this page.

The next option is "Delete Cookies". Cookies are little pieces of information that your browser stores about certain websites, information like if you have ever been to that site before or if an affiliate referred you to it. Also, cookies store whether you want to stay logged into a website, or login each time you visit it. Either way, cookies are not a security threat nor do they take up much memory, so in my opinion you should leave them. But of course if you want to delete them, then you do have that option like you just seen. Just hit "Delete Cookies" and they will be gone, but as you surf the internet more, they will slowly come back.

There is also a "Delete Files" button, which gives you the option of deleting temporary internet files that have been stored on your computer. These temporary internet files are usually web pages and images that you have seen before, so that when they show up again, you will not have to download them again. Now these files can range from very small file sizes to enormous amounts of data being taken up, so I do suggest you do this at least once a year to free up some space.

The next button you will see says "Settings", and this allows you to change the settings concerning temporary internet files like cookies and web pages. You can do things like choose the amount of disk space that can be used for temporary internet files and other stuff like that. All of your options in the settings are pretty straightforward, so they require no further explanation.

Last but not least is your history, which means a text record of every website that you have ever visited is stored in there. Some people like to keep the history recording, since they have kids or a spouse they need to watch over, but others find it scary and just plain don't like the fact that it is keeping track of them. Whatever way you feel, Internet Explorer let's you have control. As you will see, it allows you to choose how many days of history you want it to keep, and it gives you the option of wiping out your entire history by just clicking the "Clear History" button.

My recommendation is to keep your history for a maximum of 10 days, and clear it once a year just to make sure.

Below your history settings, you will see four buttons that read "Colors", "Fonts", "Languages" and "Accessibility". "Colors" is exactly that, what colors you want your text and links to read. "Fonts" allow you to control what font web pages you visit will show, no matter what font the site was designed at! This is especially useful for people that have poor eyesight or just want to spruce up their browsing.

"Languages" let's you add and remove different languages to your computer. Whatever country the computer or Windows disc was bought in, that is most likely the language that will be preinstalled. If you have one that only has English installed, but prefer to have the websites you visit display in a different language, then this is where you can control that.

"Accessibility" is mainly for people who want to control formatting of the websites they visit. You really don't have to mess with this, unless it is a necessity that you do it.

That is it for the most important options of Internet Explorer. If you browse through the rest of the tabs you will see you have many, many more options that you can control. I do not suggest you mess with these since they are really for people who are more advanced and understand what they are doing. If you needed to read this article to learn about those general options, then you definitely would not understand the advanced ones.

About the author:
If you want to customize your computer more, then check out Michael's computer customizing site. Get updated computer news at his blog, called The Computer Nerd.