How to Fix the Navigation Bar in Internet Explorer

The navigation bar in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser lies on the top of every Explorer window. This bar contains the navigational buttons to move forward and backward through your browsing history, as well as visit new website addresses. When the navigation bar malfunctions, your Web browsing capabilities may be limited. For example, the area in the navigation bar in which you enter website URLs sometimes disappears or freezes. Learn how to fix the navigation bar in Internet Explorer so you can quickly return to surfing the Web instead of having to call your computer technician.

Instructions

Operating System Registry

1. Understand the importance of the registry. The Windows registry is the portion of the operating system that catalogs and organizes data that makes different software run. Sometimes this catalog of data becomes corrupt or disorganized, resulting in buggy software and slow programs. Internet Explorer uses the registry, and problems in the latter may adversely affect the former.

2. Click the "Start" button in the bottom bar of the Windows operating system.

3. Select "Run" from the pop-up menu. In the resulting screen, go to entry box entitled "Open." Type "scanregw.exe" and click "OK." This will begin an automated scanning process of the registry. If any problems are found, Windows will fix it. Alternatively, you can click "Run" in the start menu and type "scanreg."

Navigation Settings

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Click "Tools" in the top row of buttons.

3. Scroll down to "Toolbars" and check that no non-native toolbars are selected. Some non-Microsoft programs modify the displayed toolbars in Internet Explorer and add their own navigation buttons. These may conflict with the browser and cause problems. Disable any non-native toolbars.

4. Scroll up to "Menu Bar" and select it.

5. Check that all of the navigation buttons are selected to be displayed in the navigation bar. One of the major problems with the navigation bar is that these buttons are disabled or deselected, effectively crippling the browser. In this menu, you can select which navigation buttons will be displayed in Internet Explorer, as well as move them around so they are displayed in a different order.

6. Click "Apply," then close the window. Close Internet Explorer and restart the computer. This will clear your computer's internal cache. Open Internet Explorer and check that your navigation bar menu changes are still in effect. If you disabled any extra toolbars in Step 3, re-add each one and repeat Step 6 to check if any of these toolbars were causing your original problem.