"Offering free computer help, hints, and tips to the Internet populace." Now with over 3,820 tips!

Internet Explorer 7 Misc

Enable/Disable Access to Internet Options Menu

SUMMARY: Enable or Disable access to Internet Explorer 7's "Tools" - "Internet Options" menu.

The following tip involves modifying the Windows Registry and could cause problems with your machine. Standard disclaimers apply.

* Administering a machine containing Internet Explorer 7 and need to lock out access to the "Tools" - "Internet Options" menu?

* Has an anti-spyware application blocked access to the Internet Options feature and you need it back temporarily?

* Perhaps a previous spyware infection has disabled access to the Internet Options menu?

One way to toggle access to Internet Explorer 7's "Tools" - "Internet Options" menu is via the registry. You must be logged in as an Administrator to perform this edit.

If your machine is managed by a system administrator with policies enabled, you may not be able to make this change.

1. Open "regedit.exe" from the "Start" button (Windows XP users should choose choose "Start" - "Run", then run the registry editor).

2. Navigate to the following key: My Computer / HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Policies / Microsoft / Internet Explorer

3. Navigate to the Restrictions key, or create a key Restrictions.

4. To enable the "Internet Options" menu:

You should see a key "NoBrowserOptions" with a value of 1. Either delete the key or change its value to 0.

To disable the "Internet Options" menu:

Create a new DWORD value with the name "NoBrowserOptions". Give this a value of 1.

5. Restart Internet Explorer 7. Your changes should take effect.

Or, the following links are to files that will modify your Windows Registry. Right-click the desired file and save it to disk, then double-click the file and confirm importing the registry settings when prompted. After the registry settings are imported, you will need to restart Internet Explorer 7.

You may first wish to open the following files in a text editor such as Notepad if you are concerned about potential problems.

* Enable the "Tools" - "Internet Options" menu in Internet Explorer 7.

* Disable the "Tools" - "Internet Options" menu in Internet Explorer 7.

NOTE THAT THE ABOVE WILL NOT PREVENT ACCESS TO THE INTERNET OPTIONS CONTROL PANEL! One possibility is to prevent access to the %systemroot%/system32/inetcpl.cpl file (the Internet Options Control Panel).

1. Right-click the file in Explorer and choose "Properties".

2. When the "inetcpl.cpl Properties" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click the "Security" tab.

3. Restrict the permissions for particular users as needed.

4. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.