Configuring Microsoft products for safety, security and privacy

Internet Explorer - ADVANCED - also see Internet Zone & Outlook Express

Just to re-iterate why this is so important - these are (some of the) SECURITY SETTINGS FOR ALL SITES. If a Spam e-mail fools you into clicking on a 'dodgy' link these settings can be just as disasterous as the Internet (default) Zone. The easiest exploit being that they make the link text appear legitimate but the real destination simply doesn't match or more subtley - a character or two different!

These are some of the Advanced settings for MS IE - they apply across all zones and are therefore almost as important as the Internet Zone settings (See Brief IE Internet Zone Config). To get to these settings from Internet Explorer simply click on "Tools" then "Internet Options" then "Advanced" (top Tab) The six images to the right are what you want to achieve: Disable all forms of "Install on Demand" - as the name implies this is a serious exposure. Disable 3rd-party extensions - YOU MIGHT NOT WANT to do this IF you use a Toolbar - the Google TOOLBAR is an example. Note that if you experience pop-ups when browsing and any unusual or spontaneous behaviour of the browser then it is worth turning this off just to see if your browser has been 'hijacked' using this MS 'extensibility option'! Disable any 'Active Content' on your hard drive - just in case you downloaded something and launched it later. Warn you if your input to a form is being re-directed to a web site which differs from where it came from.

I hope that has been useful. Any Comments, suggestions or corrections to: Contact us please. This would be especially useful if the software environment you have is different to mine and the headings, text or prompts are different.