Internet Explorer is the most used search engine, and it’s no wonder it’s so popular when you stop to consider all of the various things IE can do. In fact, you can even boost the performance of Internet Explorer to make it more impressive than it already is using a few quick tricks for optimization.

Enjoying Internet Explorer

If you’ve barely scratched the surface of Internet Explorer, you’re missing out on many of its best features. The new IE includes plenty of bells and whistles, but these are the best kinds of features. They are the ones you can actually put to use to make your online life simpler.

IE is fast. The search and response speed is boosted over previous versions of Internet Explorer. Videos play faster, slideshows load almost instantly. Programs download with amazing speed. You can make your search engine even faster, however, by fully optimizing it.

IE is simple. With a new design for simplicity, you can find the buttons you need quickly and easily. You can also find your favorite websites easily by pinning them to your desktop or saving the site as a favorite. A One Box feature allows you to go directly to a website or to search the web from the same place. Just start typing in the box and IE will automatically know what to do – no more searching for the right place to type requests or typing in a website url just to get something to do the search for you. The tabbed browsing makes it easier to keep up with your various websites as well by clicking between tabs as you work, read or play.

IE is safe(r). Internet Explorer now comes with safety features designed to make your browsing safer and less troublesome. ActiveX filtering puts you in control of which websites you use as it blocks the potentially risky software and gives you the option to download it. You also have the option to block ActiveX files which speeds up the search engine performance as well.

InPrivate Browsing lets you work on the internet without leaving a trace of your browsing or search history. Simply press Ctrl, Shift and P at the same time to keep IE from saving cookies, form data and temporary internet files. Other safety features like Cross-site scripting filters and Tracking protection help keep your private information private and safe.

Optimizing Internet Explorer

To really maximize what IE can do, you can optimize your browser to speed things up even more. Optimizing Internet Explorer is much easier than you might think.

Minimize Toolbars

The fewer toolbars you have, the faster your internet will work through the browser. Minimize as many toolbars as you can. In a perfect setting you’d have no extra toolbars at all, but many people prefer their Menu Toolbar for one thing and the Favorites toolbar for another. Choose just one toolbar to leave open if you must and minimize the rest.

To minimize toolbars in IE, open your browser. The toolbars you have open will be visible at the top of the screen. To minimize the toolbars, simply right-click on the task bar. A list of toolbars will open. Those with a check are open on the screen.



The toolbars that have checked can be simply unchecked to minimize. To minimize the toolbars, click on a name next to a check and the check will disappear. So will the toolbar. Repeat this until all of the toolbars are closed (or all but one of them is closed.)

Manage ActiveX Controls and Other Plug-ins

The more plug-ins you have running on your Internet Explorer, the slower it will become. Control how many plug-ins, including ActiveX, you have running through IE easily. Open a browser, and then click on the gear in the top right corner. In the Tools menu that appears, click on Safety.

The Safety menu will appear and you’ll click on ActiveX Filtering. Once the ActiveX Filtering is checked, you’ll be blocking all ActiveX plug-ins.

Manage Cookies and Internet History

You can also speed up your internet by dumping some of the many saved files all browsers like to collect as you work online. You can control the amount of information saved through Internet Explorer easily, fortunately, by making a few selections in the Tool menu.

Open a browser and click on the gear in the upper right corner. This opens the Tools menu. Then, click on Internet Options in the Tools menu.



In the menu that opens, click on Privacy. Then click on Advanced in the Privacy tab.


You’ll see a smaller menu box that allows you to override the settings currently allowed for cookies.

Check the Override automatic cookie handling box.

Then, you may choose to block cookies from third parties and perhaps even from first party sites. Third party sites are those watching what you do on the sites you actually go to. First party sites you intentionally visit and work with.



Hit OK and OK to finish in both menus and you’ll have optimized your browsing just a bit more.

To protect yourself and speed things up just a bit more, you can also clear your history and current cookies in the system by clicking on the gear to open the Tool menu. Then, click on Safety. You’ll have the option to Delete Browsing History, to search the internet InPrivate (which blocks any tracking or temporary internet files) and you can set up Tracking Protection settings as well to enhance safety and optimize speed.

Changing the Aesthetics of Internet Explorer

While perhaps not a way to speed up the system, you can optimize Internet Explorer for your own use by customizing the look and behavior of Internet Explorer to match your personal preferences. Among the many ways you can customize IE, you can improve your experience by changing the buttons on the various menus you’ve left open to have only the buttons you use.

To change what you see in a toolbar, right-click on the toolbar and move to Customize. Then select Add or remove commands.


You’ll then have many options for which buttons to include and which to remove. Include only the buttons or functions that you use on a particular toolbar as the fewer things you have, the easier and faster it is to use the particular commands.



You can further customize your browser by looking through the many THEMES, BUTTONS and OPTIONS available for IE through the Windows website. Buttons for your favorite sites can speed up your typical internet tasks and help you feel at home every time you open a new Internet Explorer window.