CertiGuide to A+ (A+ 4 Real)  9  Chapter 14: Networks       9  The Internet            9  Configuring Internet Explorer

Configuring Internet Explorer Security Zones 1 2 3 Spyware and Internet Explorer

The next task is to configure the method by which Internet Explorer connects to the Internet and retrieves web pages. This is controlled by settings on the Connections tab.

There are 3 primary options, represented by the 3 radio buttons in the center of the dialog, used to control the method by which Internet Explorer starts working. . They are self-explanatory, the only point to be aware of is that you should select “Never dial a connection” if the machine is connected to a network, or if you do not want Internet Explorer to persistently attempt to dial out, which can get annoying if you browse many local web pages. If you do want Internet Explorer to dial for you, simply select your preferred connection from the list of Dial Up Networking connections. In the above screenshot the machine is connected to a network and does not have any Dial Up Networking connections, which has caused Internet Explorer to disable the Dial Up options.

Once the manner in which Internet Explorer will connect to the Internet has been set, you may need to configure a proxy server. A proxy server is an application running on a gateway machine sitting between internal machines on a network, and the Internet. The internal machines send all their requests for resources (in this case, web pages) to the proxy server, which retrieves the resource on their behalf. This allows network administrators to have only one machine with access to the Internet, allowing for better security, easier administration and centralized logging of access. There are many different forms of proxy server however in this case we are only concerned with the type that can proxy access to web sites, called an HTTP Proxy²²³.

Configuring Internet Explorer Security Zones 1 2 3 Spyware and Internet Explorer