Click Start/Settings/Control Panel/Internet Options
Click Security Tab
Click Custom Level at bottom of dialog box
Disable all ActiveX control options
Set all cookies to prompt (there are some places on the 'net where you'll need them, so give yourself the option)
Disable active scripting (this includes Visual Basic scripts as well as all varieties of JavaScript)
Disable Java (optional - Java is actually fairly safe)
Disable Installation of Desktop Items (keeps not-so-ethical Web sites from writing shortcuts and such to your desktop)
Disable IFRAME and Navigate sub-frames
Disable userdata persistence
Click OK
For IE 6.x
These settings are pretty much the same as for 5.x except that cookie handling is somewhat different
Cookies have their own tab in Internet Options called Privacy which is where you set your cookie handling options
Click the Advanced button middle right
Check Override automatic cookie handling
Prompt for First-party Cookies (from the site you're visiting)
Block for Third-party Cookies (from sites other than the one
you're currently visiting - should stop most ad cookies)
Always allow session cookies
Click OK until you're all the way back out
These cookie settings should allow you to get around the 'net without hitting too many cookie prompts, while simultaneously blocking most ad cookies
I am generous in my assumption (since M$ took all cookie settings and placed them on one tab, then only allowed adjustments for the Internet zone) that all cookies are blocked by default in Restricted and all allowed in Trusted zones - I could very well be wrong :)
To continue with general settings for all versions:
Select Restricted Sites icon at top
Click Custom Level
Disable EVERYTHING
Click OK until you're all the way back out
Set Trusted as wide open as you are comfortable with (pretty much the opposite of Restricted) then add sites that you visit frequently as needed
Select the Trusted icon at the top
Adjust all your settings
Click OK
Click Sites
Type or paste the addresses of your favorite places into the dialog and click Add
When finished, click OK until you're all the way back out
This might seem like a PITA at first, but after your initial run adding all your favorite sites, you'll likely make very few adjustments to this
I recently downloaded and installed IE 7.x and
I am still investigating its controls and configurations
I will provide an update as soon as I complete my research
For Outlook 97/98/2000 and Outlook Express
Click Tools/Options/Security tab
Select Restricted Sites zone
Click OK
Turn off your preview pane in Outlook Express.
In your Folder View, on the left side of the Outlook Express window, select Local Folders
Click View/Layout, and uncheck "Show
preview pane"
You may have to do this for every email folder you have
This will stop OE from "auto-opening" any HTML email you receive
Turn off your preview pane in Outlook 97/98/2000
Click View/Preview Pane
This will stop Outlook from "auto-opening" any HTML email you receive
To read such email safely in Outlook Express (yeah right), after turning off the preview pane, *right*-click on the email, select Properties from the drop-down menu, click Details, then click Message Source
You'll be able to see the headers and the body of the message (including the HTML and its tags) without it doing anything else
The end result here is the same as "View Source" when dealing with web pages
It is, as far as I am currently able to determine, not possible to view
the message source in Outlook 97/98/2000
I am still looking to see if this can be done
Therefore, if you are concerned about HTML spam, I suggest not using Outlook 97/98/2000 at all
If you must use Outlook 97/98/2000, Dave Denny (thanks Dave!!)
thoughtfully provided this: http://www.xintercept.com/pkpeek.htm
It's a COM add-in for Outlook 2000/2002, which allows you to view the email
source code, amongst other things
I have not tested it, as I only have
Outlook 98, I don't know if it will work with any
Outlook versions other than what the author claims,
and I refuse to pay Micro$oft's exorbitant license fees for
the purpose of testing freeware
