Customization Options

Overview

You can customize the appearance and behavior of the browsing software to create a standard corporate desktop that is easier to manage, including:

• Add your organization’s name or other text to the title bar. For example, you could have the title bar state "Windows Internet Explorer provided by Woodgrove Bank".

• Preset the following webpages and links:

  • Corporate support page.

  • User's home pages.

  • Users' search providers.

  • Links on the Favorites menu.

  • Links in the Links folder.

  • Add-on Components page (for optional components).

  • RSS feeds.

Creating custom versions using Internet Explorer Administration Kit 10 (IEAK 10)

IEAK 10 contains programs and tools to help you customize, deploy, and administer Internet Explorer 10 within your organization or for your customers. In addition, IEAK 10 can be used in network environments with or without Active Directory®. The typical Internet Explorer 10 planning and deployment checklist for organizations using IEAK 10 includes:

• Assessing your user’s needs.

• Analyzing your organization's needs.

• Developing a customization and deployment strategy.

• Establishing a deployment lab where you can test your deployment strategy.

• Gathering the URLs, components, and other information you’ll need.

• Creating a custom Internet Explorer deployment package.

• Digitally signing the custom cabinet (.cab) files that you create with IEAK 10, and the custom programs that you include (if your users will download your custom browser packages over the Internet).

• Establishing a pilot group to validate your deployment plan and configurations.

Creating custom versions by operating system or language

If you support more than one version of Windows® in your organization, you must create a custom package of Internet Explorer for each version. Similarly, if you support more than one language in your organization, you must create a custom package of Internet Explorer for each language. You may also find it useful to create versions of Internet Explorer 10 that share many of the same settings, but, for example, contain different telephone numbers for Internet sign-up. It is therefore important to know how to create multiple versions of the browser.

When you run the Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 10 subsequent times after the first time, it displays the settings you specified for the original version of your custom browser, storing the settings in the Install.ins file. By renaming this file, you can quickly create multiple custom browser packages with similar settings.

Creating custom versions using .inf files

In addition to using the Internet Explorer Administration Kit 10 (IEAK 10), batch files, command-line switches, and third-party applications to customize Setup, you can create custom setup solutions by using Setup information (.inf) files. The .inf files enable you to use the built-in Microsoft® Windows Setup Engine to automate setup tasks.