Internet Explorer 4.0 Tips & Tricks

Helpful tips, tricks, and techniques for getting the most out of Microsoft's latest version of Internet Explorer

Continue An Interrupted Download

Dropouts during a long download can be frustrating. Normally, it means starting over from the beginning. IE4 lets you pick up a download at the point it stopped. Keep the download page in the browser window and re-connect to your ISP. Internet Explorer 4 automatically picks up the download from where it dropped out.

Use this keyboard shortcut to switch to your inbox folder in Outlook Express

While working in Microsoft Outlook Express, press CTRL+I to immediately switch to your Inbox.

Create new folder for e-mail

You can quickly create folders to organize your e-mail messages in Outlook Express. For example, you might want a folder for business, friends, relatives, mailing lists, etc. Anyway you want to sort your mail. To create a new folder:

1. Right-click the folder you want the new folder to appear under, and choose New Folder from the pop-up menu.
2. In the Create Folder dialog box, type the name of the new folder and click OK.

You now you have a new folder under the main folder you chose. See the next tip to place messages in the new folder.

Drag-n-drop e-mail organization

Organize your e-mail messages after you've read them by placing them in a folder you created. To place a message in its appropriate folder, you can use this quick drag-and-drop method:

1. Click and drag the message from the Message List to the Folders List.
2. Position the message over the "+" sign next to Inbox. This will open the list of folders under Inbox.
3. Drag down to the folder where you want to insert the message and release. The message now appears in the new folder. 

Import messages and address easily

Outlook Express lets you import messages and email addresses from other mail programs. Here's how to do it:

1. From the File menu, choose Import.
2. Select either Address Book or Messages.
3. When the Outlook Express Import wizard appears, follow the instructions to import your previous program's messages and/or address book.

Drag-N-Drop file attachments

With Outlook Express, you can quickly attach a file from your desktop or any folder to an outgoing message. Simply click on the file name into the message area of your e-mail. Outlook Express automatically inserts it as a file attachment.

Toolbar hide and expand

Internet Explorer 4.0 lets you hide or expand the toolbars by double-clicking in the gray area outside the actual toolbar buttons. (The best way is to double-click right around the title of the toolbar.)

Revisit Web sites in order

If you click the small arrow next to the Back button on the Internet Explorer taskbar, you get a drop-down list containing the titles of the 6 previous sites you visited. Click the arrow on the right end of the Address toolbar and you'll get a drop-down list of the previous 15 Web sites by address.

Save or print links

You can save or print the information from linked Web pages without displaying the page on your screen by  right-clicking on the link. Choose either Print Target to print the information or Save Target As to save the link's contents to your hard disk.

Share pages with a friend

Internet Explorer makes it easy to send Web pages using Outlook Express. Follow these steps while visiting a Web site you wish to e-mail to someone:

1. From the File menu, choose Send.
2. Choose either Page By Email or Link By Email.

Both operations will launch the Compose Message dialog box in Outlook Express. Page By Email places the Web page contents as your message. There is room at the top of the message area for a short typed message from you. (No more than one line or it flows into the graphics of the Web page.) Link By Email places the URL for the page in your message area and a shortcut to the Web page as an attachment.

Online email alert

Outlook Express provides a simple procedure for letting you know you have mail when you're connected to your ISP. Follow these steps:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Options.
2. Click the General tab, and select Check for new messages every [blank] minutes.
3. Fill in the blank with the time interval that works best for you.
4. Click OK.

Outlook Express will now alert you at the selected interval with a beep then display updated information that includes whether you have new messages.

Never lose an interesting site

If you remember visiting a site a week or two ago that you forgot to add to your Favorites list, you can still find it. The History folder in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 keeps a list of all the sites that you visited for any number of days you want. To set the number of days:

1. Click View and then Internet Options.
2. On the General tab, select History and Days to Keep Pages in History.
3. Enter any number of days from 1 to 999.

To access the History folder, click the History button on the Internet Explorer toolbar. A day-by-day list will appear on the left side of the screen.

Create quicklinks

The QuickLink buttons on the Links toolbar in IE4.0 allow you to access your favorite sites with one click. Add a new QuickLink button by dragging any hyperlink from a Web page or other source onto the Links toolbar. You can add a button to the end of the row or between two existing buttons on the toolbar. When the arrow on the object you're dragging points to a vertical line on the toolbar, you can drop the new button into place. To remove a QuickLink button, right-click it and choose Delete from the pop-up menu.

Browse your quicklinks

Only a few QuickLink buttons will fit on the Links toolbar so that they show on screen, but you can add more and browse through them by clicking the scroll arrow buttons at each end of the toolbar.

Choose a new icon for a QuickLink button

You can easily change the icon for any QuickLink button to make it more meaningful to you or just to brighten up the Links toolbar

1. Right-click the QuickLink button you want to change and choose Properties in the pop-up menu.
2. Click the Internet Shortcut tab and click the Change Icon button.
3. Select one of the icons offered in the open window, or click the Browse button to search for more icon choices from other sources.
4. After you've selected the icon you want, click the OK button in the Change Icon window and then click OK on the Properties sheet. Your new QuickLink icon should appear on the Links toolbar.

Find Sites With Autocomplete

Whenever you begin typing a URL in the IE4 address box, it tries to find a recently visited page that matches what you are typing. If IE finds a match it automatically fills in the rest of the address for you.

Full Screen Pages

IE4's toolbar adds a new button that lets you view more of a Web page on your screen. Simple click the Fullscreen button to have IE fill your whole screen without the interface framing the page's content. Click the Fullscreen button again to return to the normal view.

Increase Your Cache

If you subscribe to lots of sites and channels, especially those with storage-hogging graphics, sounds, ActiveX Controls, and multimedia files -- you might benefit from increasing your cache. Select View, Internet Options. In the dialog box select the General tab and click the settings button under Temporary Internet Files. In the Settings dialog box, drag the slider to set the amount of disk space. As a general rule, you can set the amount of disk space reserved for your cache between 1 and 4 percent of your total hard disk capacity.