[AG-TECH] IE as default browser in AGSetup1-0-1

[Jay Beavers]

There's a setting in IE called "Reuse windows for launching shortcuts"
that is probably one of the worst ideas I've seen in a while and happens
to be selected by default ;-).  When you 'open' a URL in any non-IE
window/app while IE is already running in a separate window, this sends
the navigate request to one of the already running IE windows.  In this
case, it sounds like it's sending it to the IE instance holding the
venue.

You can turn off this behavior using Internet Options -> Advanced ->
Settings -> Browsing -> Reuse windows for launching shortcuts.  I've
also attached a registry file that will make this change for you if you
open it and let it modify your registry (your mileage may vary, works
just fine in my Windows XP / IE 6 box, but otherwise untested).

Once you unselect this, each URL navigate outside of IE will open up a
new IE window to display the page.

 - jcb

-----Original Message-----
From: Allan Spale [mailto:aspale at evl.uic.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2001 9:43 AM
To: Randy Groves
Cc: ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
Subject: Re: [AG-TECH] IE as default browser in AGSetup1-0-1

Randy,

My quick check of this proves the same at EVL.  A simple fix would be to
have another Internet Explorer browser window open at all times when you
think you might need to click on a URL in the MUD.  It seems that the
hyperlink goes to the latest instance browser window instance.  So, if
you
had three IE browsers going, and you clicked on the URL in the MUD, the
link would appear in the third instance of IE.  So, it seems like this
workaround would solve your problem (and my implicit problem I never
noticed before).

Anyone can correct me if I should not be generalizing a solution in this
manner.


Allan
evl at uic
node-op

On Thu, 20 Sep 2001, Randy Groves wrote:

> I don't know if this is common or not.  I installed the Release
Candidate 
> on my display machine, and notice that it uses IE as the default
browser 
> for starting up the venues now.  Not a problem initially, but I notice
a 
> behavior that didn't exist in the previous setup.
> 
> I was participating in the Production Institute today, and clicked on
the 
> URL that was in the MUD for the Dist. Powerpoint presentation.  Since
IE 
> was set up as my default browser now, the URL showed up there.  Not a 
> problem.  But when I hit the 'back' button to go back to the venues
page, 
> IE restarted my connection to the venue, thereby restarting the vic,
and 
> blowing away all the images that I'd placed on the screen.  (I've yet
to 
> master the autoplace - that's on my todo list ...).
> 
> The same thing happens if I try to open a second IE window.  I'm
guessing 
> that one of the problems is that IE has as it's default page the AG
venue 
> page, so I'm going to play around with that - and also probably make 
> Netscape the default browser to avoid the 'restart' action of I need
to 
> look at another site.
> 
> Anybody else encountered this?  Or is my setup unique?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> -randy
> 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: IE Settings No Reuse.reg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 278 bytes
Desc: IE Settings No Reuse.reg
URL: <http://lists.mcs.anl.gov/pipermail/ag-tech/attachments/20010921/6c95425d/attachment.obj>