By now, I'm sure most everyone is aware of the release of Microsoft's new operating system and the accompanying new web browser, Internet Explorer 7.0. There has been a bit of a problem reported with IE7, at least for those individuals electing to download and install IE7 and continue using their present computer and operating system. It seems that after installing the new browser it automatically goes to http://runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx and continues to do so each time IE7 is opened.
This problem surfaces for those that have made changes to the security settings in the "Internet Zone". Recommended fixes vary by site and range from registry edits to enabling or disabling add-ons. If the page you end up on when opening IE7 looks similar to this screenshot then here is another fix. I'll let you decide which of the fixes is easiest.
Use your favorite method to open the Internet Properties dialog. Being highly indolent my favorite method is to right click the IE icon on the "Start Menu" then click "Internet Properties" on the pop up menu. Whichever method you prefer is fine just as long as the "Internet Properties" dialog gets opened.
When the dialog box has opened click the "Security" tab at the top.
Make sure the "Internet Zone" has been selected. Instead of the slider control shown here you may see something stating that custom security levels are in affect. Either way simply click the button labeled "Default level" at which time the "Apply" button becomes enabled and the slider control will appear with a setting "Medium-high". Next click the "Apply" button then click the "OK" button.
Now open IE7 and when the Runonce page has finished loading make your setting selections in the upper part of the screen (arrow 1). There aren't as many selections listed here because I've run through this procedure a time or two to be sure the information being passed along here is correct. The selections are made via radio buttons and are hard to see since the screen shot has been reduced in size. Arrow 2 is indicating the "Save settings" button which you need to click once you have made all your other selections on this screen. After you have clicked the "Save" button a page will load informing you of having saved your settings successfully. Close IE7 then reopen it to double check.
Since there is usually more than one way to accomplish a task in windows, it should come as no surprise that there is an alternate method for this task too. While on the "Runonce" site, click IE7's "Tool Button" and click on "Internet Options". Yes, this is the same screen as "Internet Properties" and as before click the "Security" tab at the top.
This time click on the "Trusted Sites" zone icon. The "Sites" button becomes enabled. This button is disabled for the "Internet" zone because all sites are automatically included in the "Internet" zone where security settings are at a higher level. Next click the "Sites" button.
On the "Trusted Sites" dialog box, the first thing to do is make sure the check box labeled "Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone" is cleared (No check mark). Clearing this box is accomplished by clicking it. Next in the text box toward the top, the URL for this site is already entered, a very good improvement over IE6 which required manual entry of the site URL. All that you need to do now is click the "Add" button then click the "Close" button at the bottom. Also, click the "Close" button on the bottom of your "Internet Options" dialog box leaving you with one more step to complete this task.
Simply click the "Reload Page" button located at the end of IE7's address bar, as indicated by the big red arrow. Theoretically, the page will reload, providing you with the "Required Settings" selection page on which you make your selections and click the "Save Settings" button. With this page in the "Trusted Sites" zone it will be able to make the changes to your registry that the higher security settings of the "Internet Zone" were preventing.
Of all the registry settings the "http://runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx" web page writes to your windows registry only 2 are required to stop IE7 from automatically loading this page. This involves adding two (2) DWORD values to a registry key. Since editing the registry can be devastating to your operating system, the following is not a procedure to undertake lightly. This means that after editing your registry you might reboot your computer to find that it has transformed into an expensive oversized paper weight if you happen to have changed the wrong thing.
Hopefully, you used one of the previous procedures to cure your IE7 problem and you are only continuing to read this out of curiosity. If you haven't because you just like doing things the hard way, then keep in mind the paper weight warning while performing the procedure that is about to be described.
As mentioned, values need to be added to the registry. The built in windows registry editor will be adequate for this purpose. To access this tool click your "Start" button. On the "Start Menu" click on "Run".
When the "Run" dialog box opens type "regedit" into the text box labeled "Open" then click the "OK" button at the bottom.
Shown here is the upper left corner of the Registry Editor utility. Hopefully, your registry editor has all the folders closed as this makes it easier to get to the key that needs to have the values added. Here is the typical shorthand for finding or describing registry keys : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main. If you click the "plus" next to the folder as indicated by the arrow, the folder will expand.
With a full length view of the left hand pane and HKEY_CURRENT_USER expanded, you can see the next step already selected. Notice the "Status Bar" at the bottom. Although it isn't apparent at this stage, the status bar comes in handy when you have forgotten or aren't sure what the registry editor is displaying
This feature can be toggled on and off via the "View" menu by clicking the menu item "Status Bar". When working in the right hand pane you may find it helpful to view the editor in full screen mode. This, of course, is accomplished by clicking on the middle button in the upper right hand corner of the editor or by double clicking the title bar at the top of the editor window. With that said we'll continue by expanding the "Software" folder.
To keep the graphics to a manageable size, I've kept the registry editor in a regular sized window rather than full screen. For use in a web page tutorial smaller graphics are best in order to maintain coherence of what is being viewed and minimize download time. Here the Microsoft folder has already been expanded and serves to emphasize the benefits of full screen mode. The size of the scroll bar is also a good indicator, as it is now down to the size of a button. To continue, scroll to the "Internet Explorer" folder.
Now expand the "Internet Explorer" folder and open the "Main" folder by clicking on the folder and not the "plus" sign next to the folder. This reveals the folder contents which are considerable, as you can see. At this point we switch to the right hand pane. The entries are in alphabetic order so scroll down looking for "RunOnceComplete" and "RunOnceHasShown". If they aren't there we will have to add them and set their values to one (1). If they are already present we just have to change their values to the number 1.
If the DWORDs in question are already present this step can be skipped. If not there then click "Edit" then click the edit menu item "New". On the submenu click "DWORD value". Curious about what a DWORD is? The smallest unit of information is a bit which is either a one(1) or a zero(0). A group of 8 bits is called a byte. Two(2) bytes is a word or 16 bits. That brings us to the DWORD, short for double word, which is 2 words in size or 32 bits. For what it's worth, that is what I remember from my time spent dabbling in machine language programming. Already off the main subject delving any deeper into this is beyond the scope of this tutorial.
After clicking the "DWORD Value" selection a box will appear at the bottom of the right hand pane. Enter either "RunOnceHasShown" or "RunOnceComplete" here, replacing "New Value #1". Enter the letters as shown and omit the quotation marks then on your keyboard hit the "Enter" key. Repeat this process to enter the remaining DWORD.
If the DWORDs were already present in your registry, you need to perform this next step to cure the "Runonce" problem. Scroll the right hand pane until you find the new values and click on one of them to select it for modification. Next click on "Edit" and this time click the "Modify" menu item.
The "Edit DWORD Value" dialog box opens. In the text box labeled "Value data" type the number one(1) as shown then click the "OK" button. Repeat the process for the other DWORD. When both have been entered and modified check them to make sure they match the picture below. If you haven't made any mistakes you can close the registry editor and open IE7 to check that it goes to your home page. If you want the registry editor to open with all the keys closed then you'll need to close all the folders that were expanded during this procedure then highlight "My Computer" at the top of the list before closing the editor. Otherwise it will open at the last folder you opened or selected.
Here is what you will see in the right hand pane when this procedure is completed correctly. Due to the possibility of rendering your computer inoperative, this is not a recommended method and is only included for those that want to know more about the inner workings of their computer.
Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Windows, Windows XP and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other names have been included in the above text that are trademarks of the respective companies.
