Windows Registry Hacks/Internet Explorer

This chapter deals with tweaks related to visual enhancement, performance and miscellaneous factors related to Internet Explorer

Custom Information pages
There are 10 information pages in total which include "navigation failure", "web page unavailable", "about:tabs" etc. The pages along with their default paths are:

Note: "res://" in above paths stands for "resource".

The Key and data type are: System Key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\AboutURLs Data type : REG_SZ

TIP: * In case of a browser hijack, the values will be changed to reflect a particular URL. Putting back the default values can help in counter measures.
 * All the default pages can bee seen by copy-pasting the path to Run dialog box (e.g. pasting "res://shdoclc.dll/offcancl.htm" in Run dialog box will open up the "web page unavailable offline" page.
 * Or they can be seen by typing in the Run Dialog box OR IE address bar the following:
 * about:
 * replacing with one of the values from table above as below
 * about:OfflineInformation
 * about:Tabs

Background bitmap for explorer toolbars
Description: Internet explorer can be customized to use a bitmap image as a background for toolbars.

Note: Only images with bmp as extension will work.

Custom loading icon and animation
Description: Internet Explorer uses static and dynamic icons which can be seen at top-right. 4 Values are needed for customization which are:

Custom title bar text
Description: The title-bar in Internet Explorer can be customized to show personalized text.

Change hyperlink colors
Description: Hyperlink and visited hyperlink colors are shown in blue (0,0,255) and purple (128,0,128) respectively. Changing the hover text color requires the setting to be enabled first. It can be done by using the following registry:

The format for colors is RRR,GGG,BBB (in decimal)