How to Customize Internet Explorer

You are a unique individual with particular tastes and preferences that make you who you are. Your Internet browsing experience can be made to reflect your personality and style in ways you may not have previously considered. Users of Internet Explorer are able to customize all the features in their browser. From the size and color of text and links to the type of font you see when you read a Web page, you can change it all to suit you. When you customize Internet Explorer, you customize the Web just for you.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Internet Explorer version 7
• Computer
• Working Internet connection

Design an Internet Explorer Experience Just for You

1. Start up Internet Explorer on your computer. If it isn't already installed, visit the Microsoft Web site to download the latest version (see Resources below).
2. Go to 'Tools.'
3. Click on 'Internet Options.'
4. Select the 'Colors' tab.
5. Change the text and background colors on the Web pages you see by clicking in the box labeled 'Use Windows Colors.' This will take away the check mark and allow you to select your own color preferences. To pick a color, click on the 'Text' color box, select the color you want to use for text, then click 'OK.' Do the same thing to background colors by clicking the 'Background' color box and selecting a color.
6. Get different link colors by clicking on the color boxes beside 'Visited' and 'Unvisited' in the 'Links' field. Click on the color you want for your visited and unvisited links and hit 'OK.' If you want a hover color, click the box beside 'Use Hover Color', then hit the color box and choose a color.
7. Click the overall 'OK' button once you have chosen all of your colors.
8. Put new fonts into your Internet experience. Click 'Tools,' then 'Internet Options.' Select the 'Fonts' button under the 'General' tab.
9. Look through the options of fonts for Web pages and regular text, then click on your selections and hit 'OK.'
10. Click on the next 'OK' button to set your font selections.

Tips & Warnings

• If you need further assistance with how to customize Internet Explorer, check out their FAQs page (see Resources below).
• Internet Explorer 7 will run on computers using Windows XP, Vista or Server 2003 with a 233MHz processor or higher.
• If you are using a Windows-based computer, go to your control panel and activate the 'Security' icon. This will tell Windows to look into the security features already installed on your computer to see if they are working. It will also instruct Windows to tell you if it feels you have any gaps in your security that need to be filled. Run this security check as often as you can remember to do it to ensure you always have the maximum amount of protection available to you online.
• Customizing Internet Explorer, as described by this guide, is done using Internet Explorer version 7. If you are running a prior version, you may need to upgrade your browser.