IE 7 Reset Quick Tip

admin — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:50:00 GMT

Anyone who supports people using computers pretty quickly realizes why the PC is so popular - it accommodates so many different types of uses, people and profiles, or the combination of human user and PC configurations - the variations are nearly endless. Supporting so many choices can be fun, but it can be challenging, too. Just as quickly support engineers come to understand that if a PC can be borked by a user it will be (that has to be on some kind of list some where...), and in ways that can be very creative.

There are days and then there are days...

Some days are easy - some are very hard and we've seen our share of both. We've seen unmanaged users contort a PC into such a mess that it almost appears that there is no way it couldn't have been done intentionally. Some home and SOHO PC's we come across are so jacked that as we scratch our heads we imagine teams of NASA engineers working overtime to create some kind of uber-final doomsday scenario as part of an advanced simulation designed to test system engineers. "How in the.... <trying not to shake one's head>" is a common reaction.

As fun as it is to imagine how some systems end up in the messy state we find them, it is even more fun to fix them and restore them and their users to full productivity. In most cases we run across, the cause behind a poorly running PC are many third-party applications plug-ins. Windows is very reliable and predictable and has been for a long time and so are many non-Microsoft applications people buy. I say, most...

When good applications go bad...

Increasingly, we run across what we like to call, irreverent software - software that assumes things on behalf of users - who may not know what the software assumes is okay for it to suddenly take control of, or add to a user's computer. Irreverent software used to be largely restricted to down loadable free and or shareware titles - the ubiquitous Google tool bar is a prime example - it seems to be bundled with everything under the sun and enabled by default. These days irreverent software is everywhere - buy about any product and one is likely to see its default installation add a wad of undesired bits that were not clearly identified to the user blowing the application into their system. Google's not alone and it may not be the worst offender, but it is the most pervasive. Others include Yahoo, Real, iTunes stuffed into Quick-time installers and of course Microsoft - who often has to include and bundle irreverence in order to comply with one court or another.

Seasoned systems engineers have seen enough baked systems to know where to look and what to reverse in order to resolve PC issues. They know that the Other TAB in Outlook 2003 options is where to go to find and clear Apple's iTune's plug-in [if you have the ITMS plugged into Outlook, you need help... just say'in]. They know which .DLL to register in order to fix an MS Office install on a system that can't upload multiple files to a Share-point document library. They've learned to reboot into Safe Mode with Networking before attempting to update DRM security components on a Vista PC [ http://drmlicense.one.microsoft.com/Indivsite/en/indivit.asp?force=1 ] as a solution to a cantankerous Zune, reflecting the nearly infamous 10114 error code. Sometimes however, even the saltiest of systems and support engineers get their backsides handed to them by a PC borked over by irreverent software.

Sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution...

When we come across a system that is running poorly and we can't quickly find the underlying reason, we reset Internet Explorer back to its defaults. We've noted that by doing this we can solve a large percentage of PC performance issues that touch on a very wide range of applications and systems components - everything from mail programs to media players can be affected. Fortunately, Internet Explorer 7 features as easy "RESET" button under the advanced TAB in IE's Properties. By pressing reset, all temp files and plug-ins are disabled - but... not in IE alone - they are also removed from programs like Outlook 2002/2003, etc...

Internet Explorer 7 Reset button

While one will have to add back the behaviors and plug-ins they do want, clicking IE 7's Reset is a good way to restore a great many things that may be too hard to find for less seasoned users and support engineers.

Search results matching tags 'Outlook' and 'IE 7'

IE 7 Reset Quick Tip