MakeUseOf » Internet Explorer

Play Cut The Rope On Any Browser For Free, Courtesy Of Microsoft [News]

Yaara Lancet — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:31:55 +0000

Good news Cut the Rope fans! You are no longer limited to playing your favorite game on your mobile device. Microsoft, together with ZeptoLab and Pixel Lab, has created an HTML5 version of of the popular game, which you can play for free on any major browser.

The free game includes 27 levels, and you can play it right now simply by pointing your browser to CutTheRope.ie. As mentioned, the game was developed entirely in HTML5, no Flash in sight (ideally), and was made especially for playing on Microsoft’s flagship browser, Internet Explorer 9.

If pure HTML 5 sounds too good to be true, you’re probably right. As mentioned in a Behind the Scenes page made by the game’s developers, some media playback issues in Chrome and Firefox forced them to fall back on a Flash plugin for correct music and sound effects. I tried the game on Chrome, and while it worked well, even with Flash disabled (except for some minor audio bugs), it wouldn’t even load when all of my plugins were automatically blocked. This might be due to a bug in Chrome.

While the game works well in all browsers, some levels, which are unique to this version, can only be unlocked by pinning the game to the taskbar, an exclusive feature to Internet Explorer 9. So this might be a good a time as any to try IE9, if you haven’t done so yet.

Happy Om Nom Nomming!

Source: PCMag

How To Manage & Secure Your Internet with Windows’ Internet Options

Matt Smith — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:31:33 +0000

Many computers are owned by a single person, but many others are public or used by a family. It’d be nice to think everyone with access to a computer would follow the rules set up by the organization or family that owns it, but often, someone tries to tread where they shouldn’t. I mean, come on – It’s the Internet!

If you want to stop such shenanigans, one option is to manage access via Windows’ Internet Options menu. Here’s how.

The Privacy Tab

We’re going to be spending most of our time in the Internet Options menu, so if you don’t have that up already, do so and go to the privacy tab.

There’s not much here for blocking specific websites, but if you’re merely concerned about PC security rather than the sites people on the computer view, this section is helpful.

By default, privacy will be set to medium. My suggestion, if you don’t trust the users of the computer to exercise personal and computer security, is to elevate the privacy level to “Block All Cookies.” That will make logging into sites a hassle, but it also will prevent users from accidently leaving account information behind.

You might also want to check the “Never allow websites to request your physical location” box.

The Security Tab

In this tab you’ll find the bulk of the settings that actually block websites. The security tab has four different “zones” called Internet, Local intranet, Trusted sites and Restricted sites.

You can make site access more secure by disabling certain features. Here’s what I recommend if maximum security is your concern. These are in order from top-to-bottom. I’m assuming you’re starting at “Medium-High” security.

Disable XPS documents
Disable “Run components not signed with Authenticode”
Disable all the ActiveX controls
Disable file downloads
Disable font downloads
Disable “Allow webpages to use restricted protocols for active content”
Disable “Display mixed content”
Disable MIME sniffing
Disable “Submit non-encrypted form data”
Disable Userdata persistence
Disable all Scripting options except “Enable XSS filter”

Or alternatively, you could just switch it over to “High” settings, which are actually even more restrictive. The settings above are simply a custom selection that fit my personal preferences (a mix of functionality and security) so take your pick. The point is that, on a public PC, you want to disable likely sources of exploit – and that’s what the above settings / High settings do.

Using Trusted & Restricted Sites

Perhaps you want to have maximum security, so you’ve set the Internet to “High” security settings. However, you also want full functionality on a few sites that you visit frequently. That’s what Trusted Sites are for.

Open Trusted Sites by clicking on the green checkmark icon in the Security tab. There’s a slider here for security, just like Internet. If you really do trust the sites in question, you can throw security all the way to “Low” to minimize annoying prompts. To add sites, click the Sites button and add them via their URL. I recommend that you keep the “require server verification” option checked, even though it could cause sites to be flagged as untrusted from time to time (that’s the point – after all, it’s possible for hackers to fake a link to a website you trust).

Then we have Restricted Sites. Honestly, this is a hard feature to use effectively. If you know a site might harm your computer, you shouldn’t visit it, no matter what your settings are. So why would you place it in a specific zone? Still, if for some reason you have to access a potentially damaging site you can yet again use the Sites button to add URLs.

Disabling Site Access

The security restrictions are sufficient for most users, but what if you’re concerned someone might to try access illegal or pornographic content? Perhaps your kid just became a teenager, and you’d like to ward off curiosity so you can have “the talk?” You’ll find options for these sorts of restrictions in the Content tab. One is Parental Controls, and the other is Content Advisor.

I’ve already covered Window’s parental controls in another article. There’s another content control feature, however, called Content Advisor. This tool is found just below the Parental Controls button and lets you restrict sites based on their content rating by an organization called the ICRA. Just one small problem –ICRA recently stopped existing. All current ratings still work, but there will be no future updates.

It’s possible to add a third-party rating system by using the Rating Systems options under the General tab of Content Advisor. Reviewing these systems is a bit outside the scope of this article, however.

Even better is the “Approved Sites” tool that lets you create a list of websites that are never viewable. The way it works is simple. Just type in a URL, then click the “Always” or “Never” viewable option. All currently restricted/allowed sites will be viewable, and you can change their settings or delete them from management.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that Internet Options generally apply to Internet Explorer. Also keep in mind that they can be changed by administrators. That shouldn’t be a big deal, however. A public computer, or a family computer that can be used by young children, should have a password protected administrator account anyway.

If you’re interested in blocking all Internet access, you can do so by disabling Internet Options entirely. Or you could hide your router. Maybe you know of another method? If so, let us know in the comments.

Microsoft Announces Automatic Updates For Internet Explorer, Everyone Will (Finally) Have The Newest Version [News]

Yaara Lancet — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:01:34 +0000

Believe it or not, but IE6’s days might be numbered. Microsoft recently announced that starting January, Internet Explorer will be updated to the latest version automatically through Windows updates. IE has been updating through automatic updates for a while, but this always required some additional actions from the user, which sometimes prevented the user from actually updating. The process will now become much more automatic, with the hopeful result of most users gradually moving to IE9 and IE8 (on Windows XP).

So is this finally the end for IE6? Not entirely, but it certainly warrants a web-developer party. While big organizations, and even individual users, will have the ability to opt out of the update, the fact that it’s really automatic will surely bring the updated versions to multiple users who are still using older versions.

The change will roll out in Australia and Brazil in January, and will gradually be expanded to other countries. As usual, user preferences such as the home page and default search provider will not be changed. The update will simply install the latest version available for the user’s OS.

This certainly seems like excellent news, both for users and for Microsoft. While IE9 might be quite a good web browser, its name is constantly marred by older versions of IE which are constantly floating around, refusing to leave the scene. This should make life easier for everyone, including Microsoft itself, who has Google Chrome breathing down its neck.

What do you think? Will this change things for Internet Explorer, or is it too little too late?

Source: Geek.com

Avant Browser – A Free Internet Explorer Alternative

Matt Smith — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:30:42 +0000

Alternative browsers are not uncommon, but it’s rare to find one that is supported over a long period of time. Such is the case with Avant browser, an option that’s simultaneously under-the-radar and quite popular. It’s not often referred to in popular media, but is also more popular than options like Flock, LunaScape and SlimBrowser. It’s been downloaded over 26 million times from CNET.

But is it really a good alternative to mainstream options, such as Internet Explorer, which the browser is based on? Let’s take a closer look.

Interface

If you’ve ever used Internet Explorer, you should not have trouble becoming acquainted with what is offered by Avant. The basics interface is similar to IE9 and important interface features like the URL bar, tabs, search bar and menu options are located in similar places.

There are also differences, however. The history, back and home buttons are in a different place, and this browser still relies on a more traditional text-based drop-down menu system located in the upper right hand corner of the browser. It’s a reminder of why this sort of menu was abandoned to varying degrees by the major browsers, as the huge selection of options can be confusing and intimidating.

On the other hand, users who are more-detail oriented will probably like the fact that so many important browser options can be changed without opening a sub-menu window. Even themes can be changed directly from a drop-down, and new themes are loaded instantly, with no need to reboot the browser or even the slightest annoying flash or visual artifact.

Features

Avant is absolutely crammed to the brim with features. Perhaps the most interesting, at least to geeks, is the fact that the browser can currently be downloaded with compatibility for two different browsing engines – IE9 and Firefox. You will need to download the Ultimate version of Avant to use Firefox rendering, but don’t worry. It’s also free.

There are other handy extras, too. For example, you can split any browsing window into two, and view different websites in each at once. It’s not much different from using Windows Aero Snap, but it exists in your browser so you don’t have to open two browser windows.

Another cool feature is video downloads. If you visit a site with video content, a small notification will appear asking if you want to download it. There doesn’t seem to be much that the browser can’t download, including YouTube videos. Once a video has been downloaded, it can be opened in VLC Player from the download manager.

Speed

No review of a browser would be complete without looking at how fast it is.

Subjectively, Avant is very pleasing. There’s no delay when performing any action, and even with multiple YouTube and Flash game tabs open, there was no delay when switching between tabs. Users with less powerful system might have worse results, but this was on an older Core 2 Duo processor, so it’s not as if Avant was brought to its knees by sheer lack of hardware power.

The only complaint I have is that, when dragging the browser around in a window, the contents lag the browser window itself slightly. You won’t often have to deal with this issue, and it’s minor when it occurs, but it is notable since other browsers don’t exhibit the same behavior.

Of course, subjective tests can only get you so far. Let’s see how the browser performs in the Peacekeeper browser benchmark.

Here we can see that Avant comes in last, but doesn’t lose by much to Firefox 8. This result is what you’d expect considering that Avant uses the IE9 browser engine. Chrome, as usual, easily outruns both Avant and Firefox 8 by a large margin.

Conclusion

I’ve used a lot of alternative browsers in the past, but often found flaws in them that would prevent me from using them full-time. With Avant, I find no such issues.

This browser is reasonably quick, very stable, and offers a ton of features. This is a good choice for users who want to standardize around the Internet Explorer browser engine but don’t want to use Internet Explorer 9. In fact, I don’t see why anyone would use IE9 instead, as Avant offers the same web compatibility but also a ton of additional features.

Microsoft Is Offering Free Stuff Just For Installing IE9 [News]

Yaara Lancet — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:31:34 +0000

If you’ve been looking for a good reason to download IE9, Microsoft is trying to give you one. They’ve just launched a new campaign called “Where’s the love?“, and they’re offering to give you free stuff if you download and install IE9. You heard right. Microsoft will give you prizes if you go ahead and just get IE9 already.

So how does it work? First, you need to have Windows 7, otherwise you can’t even get IE9. You also need to be a US resident so you can enjoy the free stuff. If you’re all set with these, you can head over to the Where’s the love? holiday campaign site, download IE9 and get cracking.

The offerings include 3 months for free on Slacker and AOL Radio, one free month on Grooveshark, Hulu, Vimeo and Pandora, a free movie from Flixter and some discounts on tickets from Fandango and Ticketmaster. Some of there offers will only be available later this month or at the beginning of December. To get them, click on the prize of your choosing and follow the instructions. These include pinning the icon to the taskbar and sharing on Facebook or Twitter. Should be easy enough.

Will this convince you to download and install IE9? Will you actually continue to use it afterwards or immediately uninstall? Will this technique work for Microsoft?

Source: Geek.com

Microsoft Releases IE9 Security Update, Guards Against 8 Vulnerabilities [News]

Matt Smith — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:31:08 +0000

Still using Internet Explorer? If so, you should check your Windows Updates to make sure that you’ve received a new IE9 patch that has been rated as “critical” by Microsoft.

The patch is designed to protect against 8 specific vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft’s web browser. While the details of each are not revealed, the company did state on its Security TechCenter blog that the worst vulnerabilities allowed for remote code execution. If a user with administrative rights visited a site that takes advantage of this exploit, an attack could do significant damage before the user realizes something is wrong.

Solving this threat required that Microsoft modify “the way that Internet Explorer handles objects in memory and the way that Internet Explorer allocates and accesses memory.” Thus, the patch.

If your computer is set up for automatic updates, the patch should be downloaded and installed to your computer automatically. You can check to see if the update was installed by opening Windows Update and then clicking on “View Update History.” The update will likely be listed as a “Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 9.”

Users who have for some reason turned off automatic updates can install it by opening Windows Update and browsing to the Important Updates. Select the update related to this threat and then click the install button. This will install the IE9 related update only.

Source: CNET

How To Downgrade Firefox Or Internet Explorer To A Previous Version

Tina Sieber — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:31:51 +0000

Many people have been upset with recent browser upgrades. Especially Firefox which is causing serious issues on some machines, slowing it down to uselessness. While it’s not a good idea to downgrade software, sometimes it’s better than to abandon it altogether.

Before you proceed with downgrading your browser, you should be aware that this is a security liability. Older software versions receive limited support and security updates, making them vulnerable to malware from websites you visit. Please be sure to use sufficient security precautions to limit the potential damage on your computer.

Firefox

If your main beef with the latest version of Firefox is that your favorite add-ons are not working, don’t downgrade! Wait it out or make your add-ons compatible with any Firefox version. If, however, Firefox has become a snail or freezes or crashes regularly ever since you upgraded, downgrading may be your only option other than switching to a different browser.

Before you go ahead, back up your Firefox profile to be safe. A guide on the mozillaZine shows you how to locate your profile folder.

You do not have to uninstall Firefox to downgrade. Simply vist the Mozilla FTP Server using your browser, navigate to the Firefox version you want to downgrade to, e.g. > Firefox 4.0.1 > Win32 (for Windows 32-bit), > en-US (for US English version), download the > Firefox setup 4.0.1 exe file and run it to downgrade from Firefox 5 to Firefox 4. The downgrade procedure will leave your profile untouched. You can find Firefox 3.6.18 here.

To remain with Firefox 4 and not upgrade to Firefox 5 automatically, you need to disable automatic browser updates. Go to the > Firefox (Tools) > Options > Advanced > Update tab and either uncheck > Firefox or under > When updates to Firefox are found: select > Ask me what I want to do.

Internet Explorer 9 to 8

Rather than downgrading Internet Explorer to a previous version, I would recommend you upgrade to another browser. If you are so attached to it, however, I will show you how to do it. If you want to downgrade Internet Explorer 8 to 7, please refer to this Microsoft Support article.

Before you continue, I recommend you create a system restore point. Please refer to this article: How To Fix Your PC Using Windows Restore in XP, Vista & 7 This will serve as a backup in case sometimes goes wrong during the downgrade. You can also use this Internet Explorer Backup tool. Once you have created the restore point or backed up your IE profile, you can proceed.

Go to > Start > Control Panel and under > Programs select > Uninstall a program.

On the left-hand side switch to > View installed updates.

In the list on the right-hand side find > Windows Internet Explorer 9, highlight it and click > Uninstall. Note that this will not install all of Internet Explorer. It will only uninstall the upgrade to IE9 and hence downgrade you to IE8.

Once the uninstall procedure has completed restart your computer and you should have Internet Explorer 8 back.

Note that Windows will attempt to upgrade you to Internet Explorer 9 again via Windows Updates. To prevent this from happening, go to > Start and type > Windows Update in the search field. From the results under > Programs select > Windows Update. In the respective window that opens, switch to > Change settings on the left-hand side. Under > Recommended updates uncheck > Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates OR under > Important updates select > Download updates but let me choose whether to install them.

Chrome

If you were looking for a way to downgrade Chrome, I have to disappoint you. Other than switching between different developer channels, I am not aware of a way to downgrade to a previous stable version of Chrome.

So what is your reason for downgrading your browser? Which browser are you attempting to downgrade and which version do you want to go back to? Please share your experiences and reasons with us!

Image credits: Benjamin Haas

Firefox 4 vs Internet Explorer 9: The New Browser Showdown

Matt Smith — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:31:21 +0000

The battle between Firefox and Internet Explorer has been waged for years. For geeks, a web browser is like a jacket; it isn’t just something you use, but also something that identifies you. When I went to college, I was incredibly proud that my selected institution had almost immediately adopted Firefox as the default web browser on all lab computers. Their decision to use Firefox helped me feel at home.

Today, the battle continues. Both Internet Explorer and Firefox have had major new releases this month. Since its release, Firefox has chipped away at Internet Explorer’s popularity. Can IE9 turn things around for team Microsoft?

Looks & Interface

While this review is about Firefox 4 and IE9, it’s impossible not to briefly mention Chrome. When Chrome launched, its minimalist interface was a breath of fresh air, and both of these new browsers take design tips from Google.

Visually, IE9 wins the first impression. The icon-only interface looks more modern and takes up very little space. On small displays, it’s great. Firefox’s approach is more functional on larger displays, however, as tabs have their own space at the very top of the window.

Firefox has a much better bookmarks toolbar. While both browsers let you add bookmarks via drag-and-drop, Firefox feels smoother. IE9 does strike back with a better bookmark organizer, however. On Firefox it opens in a separate window, but IE9 opens it quickly as part of the browser interface when you click on the star icon.

Firefox steals the gold in this category with the Firefox button and its associated menu, which includes such wonderful features as the add-on browser. IE9 is still using the clunky “Internet Option” menu, which at this point feels like an artifact of Windows XP.

Winner: Firefox 4

Performance

To begin my performance testing, I threw both browsers into the Peacekeeper benchmark using a Sony Vaio Y series netbook with AMD’s new E-350 APU. In this matchup, Firefox 4 edged ahead slightly with a score of 1955 vs. IE9’s score of 1906.

However, IE9 nudged in front of Firefox 4 when I tested YouTube’s 720p playback on the same system. The same video ran at an average framerate of 30.34 on IE9, while Firefox 4 resulted in a framerate of 29.23.

The results on both of these tests are within the margin of error, however. I’m sure that, given a slightly different system, you could see the leads change slightly. Besides, a framerate difference of just over 1 frame per second isn’t noticeable without FRAPS running in the background.

Subjectively, I found Internet Explorer 9 was smoother at times. While Firefox 4 takes a few seconds to load on my system, IE9 appears instantly. I also felt some slight lag in Firefox 4 when opening new tabs, while IE9 opened them within the blink of an eye. However, I’m nit-picking a bit by noticing these minor delays – if you’re not paying very close attention to how each browser is loading pages, you’ll never know the difference.

Winner: Tie

Web Rendering & Standards Compliance

The first place I headed to test the capability of each browser in this arena was the infamous Acid 3 web standards test. Previous versions of Internet Explorer have bombed this in spectacular fashion. How would IE9 do?

Actually, it did well, rendering a score 95/100 within seconds. Firefox 4 scored just slightly better, rendering a score of 97/100 with similar speed. From this benchmark, the difference between these browsers is so small as to be nearly irrelevant.

In my subjective testing, this virtual tie was usually reinforced. Both browsers render text in near identical fashion, although I noticed that Firefox 4 sometimes managed to cram an extra word in while IE9 moved on to another line. I also noticed some difference in table sizes. For some reason, Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9 didn’t seem to render them the same size. Sometimes FireFox 4 was larger, while at other times IE9 exaggerated them.

Neither of these browsers should give you any problems while you browse the web.

Winner: Tie

Add-Ons

In the past, Internet Explorer has lagged significantly behind in this area. Microsoft seemed somehow blind-sided by the popularity of add-ons, but the hearts of developers were also certainly a factor. Firefox is David. Internet Explorer is Goliath. And geeks like to support the underdog.

The launch of a new browser version is the opportunity to hit the reset button, as many older add-ons end up broken or partially functional. Yet if anything, Firefox has increased its lead in this area. While Internet Explorer 9 still has clunky management and lacks focus, Mozilla’s add-on site is thriving, and the improved add-on manager built into the browser puts everyone’s other browser to shame.

Winner: Firefox 4

Conclusion

Having considered these new browsers from a number of different angles, there is really no doubt which browser emerges victorious. Firefox 4, long the browser of choice among geeks worldwide, continues to reign supreme.

Internet Explorer 9 does deserve a “most improved” achievement pin, because the difference between IE8 and IE9 is substantial, almost shocking. The new browser is an admission by Microsoft that it is behind the curve, and the company is doing everything it can to catch up.

Microsoft still has work to do. Internet Explorer 9 is a browser that I don’t mind using, but it’s not my first choice. Maybe Internet Explorer will claw its way back to my taskbar with IE10.

Internet Explorer 9 RC Version Available For Download [News]

Tim Brookes — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:00:47 +0000

Microsoft’s latest foray into the world of HTML5-compliant browsers got off to an energetic start yesterday with the release of Internet Explorer 9′s release candidate (RC).

Internet Explorer 9 attempts to cut back much of the dead wood featured in previous releases. Critics will be delighted to know that the crippled JavaScript engine and cluttered user interface have gone to make room for a much prettier, cleaner and (dare I say it) Apple-esque appearance.

Inspiration has clearly been taken from rival products, such as Google Chrome and its snappy one-stop address bar. Internet Explorer 9′s address bar will function similarly to Chrome’s (albeit without instant search results).

Microsoft have also spent some time improving on IE8′s oft-forgotten excellent security record.

There’s way too many changes, improvements and tweaks to fit into a news story. You can get the full low-down now at DownloadSquad. They have done an excellent review of the release.

Read: Internet Explorer 9 RC released: Everything you need to know

3 Useful Scripts To Modify Your Proxy Settings For Internet Explorer

Ryan Dube — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:31:43 +0000

Recently, I’ve become quite obsessed with computer automation. After writing a recent article about Windows Scripting with VB script (a programming language I love), I’ve started exploring different ways people can make their computer smarter through scripts.

One common thing many people do to protect their identity when visiting certain websites or while working on the Internet while away from home, is to make use of proxy servers. Anonymous proxy servers will hide your real IP, which is useful if you’ve been banned from certain forums or websites for any reason, but people also use proxy servers for business reasons as well.

When you’re at the office, you may want to use your company’s internal proxy servers to access the Internet, but while you’re roaming or at home you just want your computer to automatically detect proxy settings.

Where A Proxy Server Is Configured

Before we get into the ways that you can automate your computer through scripting, let’s take a quick look at the manual way people would have to do this. Most people know how to configure their LAN settings – it’s one of the first things you should check if you’re ever having Internet connection problems. Typically you want your proxy settings to be set to “Automatically detect settings” when you’re at home or at a public hotspot.

However, at work, you’ll need to set up a proxy server. You do this within “Internet Properties” in the control panel by clicking on the “LAN settings” button.

Inside your network settings dialog, you’ll see the two settings – you either have a proxy server enabled or you don’t. This is the setting that you want to toggle when you switch from your home network to a work network, or if you want to switch to running under a “cloaked” anonymous IP server.

You can also find these settings in your registry (click Run and type “regedit“), and this is what you want your scripts to edit. By changing the registry settings, you’re essentially changing those settings in the LAN Settings window.

What we really want to do is toggle those settings only when and where you really want to. There are three scenarios that I’m going to cover, and you can copy and paste the code to tweak it to your liking. You can put the script in your startup folder so that it launches whenever you boot your computer, or you can just run the scripts whenever you want your computer to automatically set the correct IP settings.

The three scenarios I’m going to provide scripts for include the following.

Prompt the user whether or not they want to use an anonymous proxy for Internet access.
Prompt the user to type in the name of the proxy server they want to use.
Automatically check whether you’re home or not, and set the appropriate proxy server settings.

The cool thing about Windows Scripting Host is that each of these options aren’t that hard to do.

Ask User To Enable A Proxy Server

This script will pop-up a message box asking whether or not the user wants to use a proxy server. If yes, then the script will enable proxy servers and fill in a hard-coded anonymous proxy server. You can tweak the script to use your favorite anonymous proxy.

Here’s what the script looks like.

When you run it, the user sees the following prompt.

A “Yes” loads the anonymous proxy as your proxy server and sets “ProxyEnable” to 1. A “No” sets the proxy to default all zeros, and disables the proxy setting.

Prompt User To Type Proxy

The other approach is to ask the user what exact server they want to use. This allows the flexibility of changing the proxy server constantly without the need to edit the script itself. You can do this by changing the “MsgBox” command to an “InputBox”.

When you save this as a .wsf file and run it, the following window will appear.

Just type in your preferred proxy server, click okay, and your Internet settings are automatically updated.

Set Proxy Settings Based On Location

This next script is a little bit more flexible, so it’s also a little longer. But what it can do is check your current IP address, and if it is within the range that you expect when you’re on your home ISP, it’ll disable using a proxy server. If it sees that you’re not on your typically home IP domain, it’ll automatically configure your Internet with a proxy server that you can hard code into the script.

Here’s what the script looks like.

You set set this up to run on startup, and the computer will automatically configure the Internet settings as needed. The program will show you your current IP each time – if you don’t want that, just remove the “WPScript.Echo” line. When I run it here at home, it recognizes I’m on my safe home ISP and disables the anonymous proxy.

If you were on a public hotspot, it would recognize the foreign IP address and enable the cloaked proxy instead.

These are just a few examples of the sort of automation you can build into your Windows PC with Windows Scripting Host. You don’t have to be an expert programmer – just learn a few of the commands in these scripts and you can really work some magic.

Did you try any of these scripts? Let me know what you think, and please offer any tweaks or improvements that could make them even better. Offer your insight in the comments section below.

Image credit: Mr. Gr4phic3r