# I forgot the password to IE Content Advisor **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forgot-the-password-to-ie-content-advisor/424829 "2007-11-01T03:40:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forgot-the-password-to-ie-content-advisor/424829/1 "2007-11-01T03:40:41Z")
In a fit of frustration with my teenage daughter, I enabled Content Advisor in Internet Explorer 7 to prevent her from using a popular networking website that rhymes with “HiSpace”. In doing this, I created a password that I thought would be obvious to me and not to her. In fact, I was so confident, I did not even create a password hint. Stupid. Content Advisor did not block the website I wanted to block. I typically use Firefox, so I don’t really care what IE is doing. The problem is, I forgot the password. This matters to me because Quicken uses IE to download my banking information. Apparently, my bank does not use a certificate that IE CA likes. I can use Firefox, but it’s a bit more cumbersome. So, I did not inconvenience my daughter in the slightest, but I screwed up my banking. Does anyone know how to recover the password? Microsoft’s website and KB articles have been no help so far. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forgot-the-password-to-ie-content-advisor/424829/2 "2007-11-01T03:42:14Z")
[QUOTE=Drum God] In a fit of frustration with my teenage daughter, I enabled Content Advisor in Internet Explorer 7 to prevent her from using a popular networking website that rhymes with “HiSpace”. In doing this, I created a password that I thought would be obvious to me and not to her. In fact, I was so confident, I did not even create a password hint. Stupid. Content Advisor did not block the website I wanted to block. I typically use Firefox, so I don’t really care what IE is doing. The problem is, I forgot the password. This matters to me because Quicken uses IE to download my banking information. Apparently, my bank does not use a certificate that IE CA likes. I can use Firefox, but it’s a bit more cumbersome. So, I did not inconvenience my daughter in the slightest, but I screwed up my banking. Does anyone know how to recover the password? Microsoft’s website and KB articles have been no help so far. [/QUOTE] > **[PC Hell: How to Remove Content Advisor Password in Internet Explorer](http://www.pchell.com/support/contentadvisor.shtml)** ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forgot-the-password-to-ie-content-advisor/424829/3 "2007-11-01T13:34:50Z")
[QUOTE=drachillix] > **[PC Hell: How to Remove Content Advisor Password in Internet Explorer](http://www.pchell.com/support/contentadvisor.shtml)** [/QUOTE] Thanks. I’ll have to check that when I get home. My work has categorized that site as an anonymizer and hacking. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forgot-the-password-to-ie-content-advisor/424829/4 "2007-11-01T14:13:31Z")
Browsing around on “content advisor password”, I did find [this](http://www.ieinfosite.co.uk/tip_view.asp?id=16), which says: > [@](#): > > Deleting a forgotten Content Advisor password > > If you have forgotten the Content Advisor password, you can delete it by browsing to this folder in Regedit (remember to backup your registry first): > HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows > CurrentVersion\Policies\Ratings > > Select the icon called Key in the right-hand pane and press delete. Close Regedit. > > You can now start Internet Explorer and goto Tools, Internet Options… Select the Content tab, and click on Disable. When asked for a password, don’t enter anything, just click on OK. This will disable Content Advisor, since there’s no longer a password. You can enable it again as soon as you think up a more memorable password. > Last updated 08/05/2002 And [this.](http://www.computing.net/faq/content9x/content.html) > [@](#): > > Question: > I set a password for Content Advisor, and now I can’t remember it, so I can’t browse the Internet. How can I get rid of this? > > Answer: > To do this, click start, run, type in REGEDIT, click ok, this opens registry editor. Click + in front of HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE, + in front of SOFTWARE, + in front of Microsoft, + in front of Windows, + in front of Current Version, + in front of Policies, Click Ratings, look to right, Click line below Default, press delete, enter. Leave default line only in right pane. Close registry editor. Next click start, find, files and folders, type “ratings.pol” in top line, C: in bottom, find now. When this file is found, delete it. This will remove password set, and leave content advisor fully operable. Next time, chose a password you can remember. However, note that none of these involve recovering the password, only deleting it. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forgot-the-password-to-ie-content-advisor/424829/5 "2007-11-01T14:19:04Z")
[QUOTE=Drum God] Thanks. I’ll have to check that when I get home. My work has categorized that site as an anonymizer and hacking. [/QUOTE] Right, because your employer does not want you stripping content restrictions they put in place. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forgot-the-password-to-ie-content-advisor/424829/6 "2007-11-01T17:09:21Z")
[QUOTE=drachillix] Right, because your employer does not want you stripping content restrictions they put in place. [/QUOTE] I don’t know about your employer, but mine has their restrictions active on the proxy server. Setting them locally would be, as you may have noticed, much too easy to bypass. Which is why these things don’t work well on teenagers, BTW. I wouldn’t be surprised if **Drum God** can’t figure out what password she used because her daughter cleared it in the registry & then went back in and set one of _her_ devising. (My sons are ten and twelve. I fear the next ten years or so …) ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forgot-the-password-to-ie-content-advisor/424829/7 "2007-11-01T17:33:35Z")
[QUOTE=SCSimmons] I don’t know about your employer, but mine has their restrictions active on the proxy server. Setting them locally would be, as you may have noticed, much too easy to bypass. Which is why these things don’t work well on teenagers, BTW. I wouldn’t be surprised if **Drum God** can’t figure out what password she used because her daughter cleared it in the registry & then went back in and set one of _her_ devising. (My sons are ten and twelve. I fear the next ten years or so …) [/QUOTE] The restrictions at work are through the server. If I go to a forbidden site, I get screen that tells me it is forbidden and why. I think it may log the hit for our IT people, too. It’s not a problem unless they see my trying to go to some sites often. The problem at home is that I simply forgot the password. The Content Advisor never bothered my daughter at all. Apparently, the offending site’s RASC rating isn’t sufficient to trip the blocker’s settings. If I restricted it more, then sites she needs for school may not work. Basically, IE’s CA is a piece of c\*\*p. You won’t have such trouble with your boys. If my experience is typical, boys are MUCH easier than girls. I’ll try the registry edit and see if that doesn’t get it fixed. Is there a way to get Quicken to use the default browser (Firefox) rather than IE? ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-forgot-the-password-to-ie-content-advisor/424829/8 "2007-11-05T04:50:42Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] Browsing around on “content advisor password”, I did find [this](http://www.ieinfosite.co.uk/tip_view.asp?id=16), which says: [/QUOTE] Thanks. Your first suggestion fixed it, except that it would not accept a blank password. I made up a new one and that disabled the content advisor, even though it’s not the password I started with. Thanks for your help.