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As a companion to this week's TechTalk, we have put together here some tips to help speed-up Internet Explorer. Some of these shortcuts are common ones. Others are special to this supplement.

Fast Launch 1
To launch IE instantly, use Start|Run and type a Web address (URL) into the Run field. You can reuse this shortcut to OE moving too. Substitute the typed URL with mailto: followed by the e-mail address (e.g. mailto:[email protected]).

Fast Launch 2
If IE loading makes for a frustrating wait, start it from a shortcut. The target should be "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" -nohome (including the quotes).

URLy shortcuts
IE lets you suffix http://www.andprefix.com domain to a site name. Now you don't need to type out http://www.careermosaicindia.com. Instead type careermosaicindia, and then hit Ctrl+Enter. If you have installed NetCaptor, you can extend this feature to .net (Shift+Enter) and .org (Ctrl+Shift+Enter) domain names.

Strip Slow
Crawling connects often mean that Web pages take a lifetime to load. And all those images, blinking text, sound effects and animations make loading even slower. Today's pages are designed for text and images. Use our tip to control what you see. Select Tools|Internet Options|Advanced and scroll down to Multimedia. Here un-check the options you want to block.

Strip Faster
From the Microsoft's Internet Explorer site (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/) download Web Accessories for IE 5. This includes Image Toggler that adds an icon to the IE toolbar. Click to select (and turn off images). Click again to enable images and hit F5 to refresh (and load) the missing pictures.

Reduce Clutter
If you don't use the Links or Radio toolbars, why not hide them. This releases system resources and reduces clutter. Right-click the toolbar and de-select these two items. You can also customize the Standard toolbar to include the icons you need regularly. You can also drag the Standard toolbar onto the same line as the File bar or the Address bar.

Auto completely
You've probably found that IE like's second-guessing you. And pops-up the best match it can find to characters you've just typed into the Address Bar. You will also see a drop-down list of the closest matches. Use the mouse or the down arrow key to select the URL and Hit Enter or click the Go button for the site to load.

Win Some Lose Some
AutoComplete is generally helpful, but can also be annoying. To reduce the list, consider saving fewer pages in History. Select Tools|Internet Options|General and adjust the number next to "Days to keep pages in history" to no more than a month. Less is better. It's better to add an interesting address to your Favorites than lose it to History.

No Trespass
With cookies and AutoComplete your privacy is at risk. AutoComplete is usually enabled by default. If you use a shared PC (e.g. Cyber Cafe) anyone sharing the system can access your personal sites and services as you. Don't completely disable AutoComplete; just put it on a leash. From Tools|Internet Options|Content click the AutoComplete button. From the options - Web addresses, Forms, User names and passwords - uncheck the last three. Then for added safety click Clear Passwords and Clear Forms buttons to erase all traces of you.

Extend Domain Search
By default IE compares incomplete URLs typed into the Address Bar for known .com, .org, and .edu extensions. It then proceeds to the MSN search page to usually present you with a load of irrelevant addresses. No longer. With some careful Registry hacking, you can extend the domains to .co.in or any other of your choice. BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY before proceeding.

In Regedit go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\UrlTemplate. Here's you'll find six strings: 1 "www.%s.com" 2 "www.%s.edu" 3 "www.%s.org" 4 "%s.com" 5 "%s.edu" 6 "%s.org." Now select Edit/New/String Value and add the following values and data: 7 "www.%s.co.in" 8 "www.%s.<choice>" 9 "%s.co.in" 10 "%s.<choice>"

Compiled by G Menon
[email protected]

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