IE9 unhelpful feature
July 2, 2011 12:03 AM Subscribe
I recently upgraded from IE8 to IE9, and Microsoft has introduced a new "feature" I don't like. Anyone know how to make it go away?
I keep a folder on my desktop where I store links to things I suspect I'll want to find again. Mostly it's links to news articles about various subjects.
In Firefox, and in IE up to IE8, I could drag the browser icon out of the address bar into the folder, and it would create a browser shortcut there with the correct URL in it.
As of IE9, that still happens, but IE also closes the tab and opens the page in a new window in a strange mode where there's no "home" button any longer.
If you hover your mouse over the IE icon in the address bar, it pops up "drag to task bar to pin site". That's the feature I want to have go away. I can't see any obvious choice anywhere in the options that overrides this. Anyone know a way to make it cease and desist?
(Please note: "switch to Firefox" is not a helpful answer.)
I keep a folder on my desktop where I store links to things I suspect I'll want to find again. Mostly it's links to news articles about various subjects.
In Firefox, and in IE up to IE8, I could drag the browser icon out of the address bar into the folder, and it would create a browser shortcut there with the correct URL in it.
As of IE9, that still happens, but IE also closes the tab and opens the page in a new window in a strange mode where there's no "home" button any longer.
If you hover your mouse over the IE icon in the address bar, it pops up "drag to task bar to pin site". That's the feature I want to have go away. I can't see any obvious choice anywhere in the options that overrides this. Anyone know a way to make it cease and desist?
(Please note: "switch to Firefox" is not a helpful answer.)
Best answer: You didn't mention what your underlying OS version is, and it appears to be important.
According to some information I found, you should be able to avoid this behavior by holding down the Shift key as you drag the URL to your folder. This does not seem to work under Windows 7 at all, so maybe it's only applicable through Vista. Try this first anyway, as it's the least intrusive option.
You can right click on an inactive part of the current web page and select the "Create shortcut" option in the contextual menu, but that always drops the thing on the desktop which may or may not be an acceptable compromise.
The reg file method(option one) on this page works for me, under Windows 7 64bit. Option Two didn't(for me), but I'd still recommend trying it first and reverting the edit if it fails, as I just don't generally like hacking the registry unless I have to.
posted by Su at 3:44 AM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
According to some information I found, you should be able to avoid this behavior by holding down the Shift key as you drag the URL to your folder. This does not seem to work under Windows 7 at all, so maybe it's only applicable through Vista. Try this first anyway, as it's the least intrusive option.
You can right click on an inactive part of the current web page and select the "Create shortcut" option in the contextual menu, but that always drops the thing on the desktop which may or may not be an acceptable compromise.
The reg file method(option one) on this page works for me, under Windows 7 64bit. Option Two didn't(for me), but I'd still recommend trying it first and reverting the edit if it fails, as I just don't generally like hacking the registry unless I have to.
posted by Su at 3:44 AM on July 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: The registry changed worked beautifully. Thank you.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:14 AM on July 2, 2011
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:14 AM on July 2, 2011
Response by poster: Sorry, Win7-64. (grumble typo grumble) Anyway, it worked.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:18 PM on July 2, 2011
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:18 PM on July 2, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mr_silver at 2:26 AM on July 2, 2011