Alexander’s Blog

In Windows XP and earlier operating systems it was easy to add or remove Windows components. In Window Vista the feature is rather hidden. To add or remove a built-in Windows Vista program, for example Internet Information Services (IIS) or Windows Fax and Scan, you need to go to Control Panel, Programs, and under Programs and Features click Turn Windows features on or off.

In Windows Vista, by default IE runs with limited privileges even when you are logged on as an administrator. This is a great feature and keeps your computer safe. I recently ran into this issue where the Internet Explorer (IE) would not start (I was logged on as administrator). I got the following error whenever I tried to start the browser.

This error indicates that my default page was set to “blank.” If I changed the default page to a Web site, such as yahoo.com, the name of the file changed to yahoo.com.

Starting IE without add-ons didn’t help either, neither did setting the default page to blank. I started IE as an administrator and it started fine. Obviously, for security reasons I didn’t want to configure IE to run as Administrator automatically.

After some troubleshooting, I realized that somehow the Protected Mode was turned on for the Trusted sites zone. I turned it off only for the Trusted sites zone and it allowed me to start my browser normally. I added “about:blank” to the Trusted sites zone and now everything seems to be working fine. Several users, including Microsoft MVPs, are reporting that the latest cumulative security update KB931768 from Microsoft is the cause of this problem. However, I have not been able to confirm that.

In summary, make sure the Protected Mode is disabled (unchecked) for Trusted sites zone and whatever page you want to set as your homepage, it must be added to the Trusted sites zone. If you want a blank homepage, add about:blank to your Trusted sites zone. If IE prompts to start a new page and that page is not in your Trusted sites then you may have to disable Protested Mode for the Internet zone too. Not a good thing but until there is a solution, I am forced to use this workaround. I will update this post when I find out more about this issue.

In earlier Windows operating systems you can remove IE 7. However, in Windows Vista IE is integral part of the operating system and cannot be removed. IE is not my default browser, and due to countless problems with IE, I use Mozilla Firefox as my default and primary browser.

The following is a screen shot from Windows Server 2003 x64 Enterprise Edition. Your challenge is to duplicate this screen shot. No, Photoshop tricks are not allowed. This is an actual screen shot in Active Directory Users and Computers that can be duplicated.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 allows you to easily add RSS feeds. Here’s the step-by-step procedure.

1. Start Outlook 2007.
2. Go to Tools, Account Settings, and click on RSS Feeds tab.
3. Click New, and enter the address of the feed. For example, to add this blog, type in the address: http://www.techgalaxy.net/blog/rss.xml as shown below.

4. The RSS feed is added to the RSS folder in Outlook as a subfolder.
5. You can further tweak the settings, such as automatically download enclosures for the feed or download the full article as an .html attachment to each item.

Looking for a free anti-virus for Windows Vista? Check out Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic. It protects against viruses, worms, Trojans, dialers and phishing. It can also detect and delete root kits.

There is also a premium version of the product that also offers protection against spyware and adware and costs 20 euros. Five euro from every online sale of AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium is donated to the Auerbach Foundation. This foundation supports social, scientific and cultural projects with these donations. For 39.95 euros you can purchase the security suite which includes a firewall.

The free version of anti-virus runs on Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista 32Bit, and for Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris. You can download the product here.