Whenever I use MSIE, at the very top of the window, it says, (website name here)-Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by America Online
provided by America Online? WTF??? It says this always, even when I am using a different ISP. How do I change or stop it from saying “provided by America Online” when I am not using AOL and make it show the correct ISP?
There’s a registry key for that. You could use RegEdit to eliminate the offending entry. If that’s Greek to you, let me know and I’ll try and be more specific.
(I had MSIE 5.0 on my system, then I subscribed to Mibdspring’s ISP, and when I installed the Mindspring software (turned out to be a waste) it actually set the key so that my browser now says “MindSpring Internet Explorer” !!!. And IE was already on my system before the install!!!)
This sort of thing is known as ‘branding’. Alot of ISPs do it, along with some corporations, for use on employee’s computers. You can do it with the Internet Explorer Administration Kit. The IEAK also let’s you make all kinds of other adjustments to IE, then package it for distribution.
I just use this quirk to advertise how cool i am.Actually its fun and people do get impressed.There’s a neat trick i discovered:
1)Open regedit by typing regedit in the run menu.
2)click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder and click on the folder that says software,choose microsoft and then choose internet explorer.Now all you do is go to the folder that says main and choose EDIT,NEW,STRING VALUE from the menu.name the entry Window Title and click it and enter whatever you want it to display.All the computers in the college lab and all my friends computers now say :Zeeshan Samdani Rules!!! which people think is quite cool 'cos they can’t figure it out.
Bye
Zeeshan
I have changed ISPs a number of times but NEVER install any of their software. I just create a DUN icon to connect with them. I do not want them screwing my software.
Hi,
No need to panic.Its only a feature that internet explorer comes shipped with.The title is carried in a string variable in the registry though its not defined by default,though you can change it by the method in your previous post.I did it with a software i created.No hacking involved.You can even change the microsoft logo on the upper right corner which runs when a site is being downloaded.That is totally cool and i don’t think anyone does it,though i did discpver it when i was messing with the registry.
P.S stop being paranoid.
Bye
Zeeshan
My secondary machine has a little tag line about me running after the MSIE part (where it would normally say PROVIDED BY SHATTMONKEY ISP) but my favorite part is the little picture of me where the IE symbol usually is.
Stop being paranoid? Since mine is the only post I have to think you are referring to me but I cannot see how I am being paranoid. I just tell you that I have my computer configured the way I like it and I am not going to install an older version of IE over it or let it change my file associations or anything of the sort. Especially since there is no need to. Recently I changed over to Earthlink and all I had to do is create a new DUN (which took me all of 5 minutes). Why would I want to mess with the rest of the software?
BTW. I have messed with the register more than you would know so I am quite familiar with it and how it works.
How the hell do you change that thing?
If there is any consolation, you can change the name of your Internet Explorer. That’s right. I have mine say “Quest for the Good Sh–”. Using your favorite registry editor, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Window Title. Click on that, and enter what you wish.
If you don’t want to do all that, there are programs such as Tweaki for Power Users that allows you to change the name without going through the Registry manually.
Oops, didn’t see that post above.
Sorry sailor.I just got the paranoid impression thats all.I don’t claim to be a technical wizard and this stuff is pretty simple but i wasn’t referring to you alone.I just got the impression that you guys were thinking “EVIL ISP CONSPIRACY”.Kinda like the time where i told everybody i knew that Y2K would be totally harmless and its all paranoia.Nobody believed me 'cos they didn’t think the fuss was for nothing.I have argued with loads of techies on this and it wasn’t until Y2K proved me right.
So i guess i am still in the anti-paranoia mindset,no offence to anyone but i myself,the great computer programmer only discovered the Title after i got “provided by MSN” on mine with The MSN logo instead of the usual one.SO i got to discovering the hidden truths behind this conspiracy.
Bye dudes
Zeeshan