Configuring Microsoft Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 7 is the current version of Microsoft's web browser that is included with the Windows operating system.  IE 7 has a new Windows Vista-like user interface, with tabbed browsing; supports RSS feeds; and has enhanced security features. Internet Explorer 7 runs on Windows XP (and Windows Vista); it is not available for Windows 2000 and earlier versions of Windows.

Internet Explorer is the recommended browser for use with Peoplesoft and other administrative applications for Windows users on the CUA campus network.  CPIT has tested Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP with these applications to ensure that functions work as expected.

Take the Tour

Microsoft has made available a quick web-based tour of IE 7 features. By taking this tour, you will learn what is new in Internet Explorer 7. The tour answers such questions as where are my Favorites? Where is the Refresh button? What is tabbed browsing? Most people should be able to complete the tour in about ten minutes.

Taking the web-based tour of IE 7 features is highly recommended!

Windows XP computers on main campus will be updated automatically

Once your computer has received the update, you will notice that Internet Explorer has a new look. The Home and Print buttons are on the right side. The Stop and Refresh buttons are next to the Address text box. The familiar menu bar is hidden, as is the Links toolbar. There is a new search box next to the Address box. Each web page opened within the same instance of IE 7 has a tab at the top to enable quick switching between the pages.

You may want to modify some of these settings to suit your personal preferences. This document describes how to make some of the most common changes.

Making the Menu Bar and Links Toolbar Visible

In order to make more room to view the web pages that you visit, both the menu bar and Links toolbar are not visible by default in Internet Explorer 7.

Viewing the Menu Bar

To make the menu bar visible,

1. Click the Tools button.
2. Select Menu Bar from the list so that it is checked.

Viewing the Links Toolbar

The Links toolbar provides a place for you to put shortcuts to your favorite sites, similar to the Bookmarks Toolbar in the Mozilla Firefox browser. To make the Links toolbar visible,

1. Click the Tools button.
2. Select Toolbars from the list.
3. Select Links from the Toolbars list so that it is checked.

With both the menu bar and the Links toolbar made visible, the top of the Internet Explorer window looks something like the image to the right.

Changing the Default Search Provider

Internet Explorer 7 allows you to search the Web by typing text into the Search box that is located next to the Address box. By default, Internet Explorer uses Microsoft Live Search as the search provider. To change the search provider to something else (e.g., Google),

1. Click the small down arrow next to the magnifying glass icon to the right of the Search box.
2. Select Find more providers... from the list.
3. Select a provider of your choice from the Web Search column on the resulting "Add Search Providers to Internet Explorer 7" page by clicking its link.
4. In the dialog box, check the "Make this my default search provider" box.

Turning Off Tabbed Browsing

Opening multiple web pages within a single instance of the browser can make your web browsing experience much more efficient since a whole new instance of Internet Explorer does not need to start every time you visit a new page, and all your pages are nicely organized with tabs.

If you are not used to tabbed browsing, however, and you decide you do not want to use it, you can turn it off as follows.

1. Click the Tools button.
2. Select Internet Options.
3. On the General tab within the Options window, under the Tabs section, click Settings.
4. Uncheck the box next to "Enable Tabbed Browsing (requires restarting Internet Explorer)"
5. Click OK.
6. Click OK.
7. Close and restart Internet Explorer.

Note that even with tabbed browsing enabled, you can always start another instance of Internet Explorer simply by running it again while your current instance is still open.