Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies®

Chapter 18. Web Weirdness with Internet Explorer

Don't be so quick to point the fatal finger of blame at Internet Explorer. Often times, it's not the bad guy. You see, Internet Explorer is a Web browser. As such, it's merely a window through which you can view information on the World Wide Web. If a Web page screws up — which happens often — you really have to blame the Web page itself and not Internet Explorer for merely passing on the bad news. Still, Internet Explorer has enough quirks and oddities that warrant its own chapter in this troubleshooting book.

• Throughout this chapter, I use the abbreviation IE to refer to Internet Explorer.

• Though the information here is about IE (Internet Explorer — just checking to see whether you're reading all the bullet points), much of it applies to other Web browsers as well.

Internet Explorer Can Be Tamed

Internet Explorer is a relatively easy program to use and configure. It has only a few areas where it tends to frustrate people. I have listed the more popular frustrations and solutions in this section.

Changing the home page

The home page can be anything you want to see when you first start Internet Explorer. Here's how to set the home page to something special or to nothing at all:

1. Start IE.

   That's Internet Explorer, in case you were silly and skipped reading this chapter's introduction. The IE icon is often found on the Quick Launch bar or directly on the main Start menu.

2. If IE opens several home pages on multiple tabs, close all but one of the ...