Configure Updates of Internet Explorer

You can use Windows® Internet Explorer® Administration Kit (IEAK) Profile Manager to notify your users automatically when a new version of Internet Explorer 8 is available. You can control whether Internet Explorer checks for this updated information, and, if it does, how often it checks.

When a new version of Internet Explorer is detected, the user's home page is temporarily replaced by an update notification page. From this page, users can upgrade their browser, add the page to their Favorites list, or cancel the update.

By default, the Internet Explorer page for the Microsoft Updates Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=284) is used as the update notification page. Or, you can display a custom Web page instead that provides product update information or company news. For example, you could create a Web page to notify users of new Internet Explorer releases, new server paths, and company news. The update notification page enables you to distribute information periodically to users in .htm format. The next time the user starts Internet Explorer, the user's default home page is displayed.

This capability could have also been built into the custom package that you created using the Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8, on the Important URLs - Home Page and Support page.

If you decide to create a custom update page for your organization, see the sample file Ieupdate.htm in the <systemdrive>:\Program Files\Windows IEAK 8\toolkit folder.

To update these settings after deployment, do the following:

To configure Internet Explorer updates using IEAK Profile Manager

  1. Click Start, click Programs, click Windows IEAK 8, and then click IEAK Profile Manager.

  2. In IEAK Profile Manager, click File, click Open, and then browse to the settings (.ins) file that you want to update for your users.

  3. In the left pane, double-click Additional Settings, double-click Internet Settings, and then click Advanced settings.

  4. In the right pane, under Browsing, select the Automatically check for Internet Explorer updates check box.

  5. In the left pane, click Component Updates.

  6. In the right pane, do the following:

    • In the URL to be displayed for updates box, if you do not want to use the default Microsoft Updates page, type a new URL.

    • Under Update check interval, specify the number of days between intervals to check for updated information.

Additional references