Internet Explorer 7 that comes with Windows Vista automatically defaults to using MSN as the search provider. Many users will want to use an alternative search engine such as Google or Yahoo.

You can easily change providers by loading IE7 and clicking on the small arrow to the right of the search box, then clicking “Find More Providers“:

This will load a list of other large search engines, from which you can choose to make the default option (simply click on your choice):

This will bring up a dialog box asking you to confirm your selection. Tick the “Make this my default search provider” box and then click Replace Provider. This will make the search engine you have selected the default search engine for any queries performed in the IE7 search box.

Clearing your search history has never been easier when using IE7 in Windows Vista. Simply load up Internet Explorer and then click on the Tools menu, then select “Delete Browsing History“:

Then, click the buttons next to the items you wish to remove from your PC (you can delete all by clicking the button at the bottom of the window). Most people would want to remove the History and Form Data (which keeps a record of what you type in to forms). To do this, click Delete History and Delete Forms:

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1) More screen space. Make your icons small. Go to View - Toolbars - Customize and check the “Use small icons” box.

2) Smart keywords. If there’s a search you use a lot (let’s say IMDB.com’s people search), this is an awesome tool that not many people use. Right-click on the search box, select “Add a Keyword for this search”, give the keyword a name and an easy-to-type and easy-to-remember shortcut name (let’s say “actor”) and save it. Now, when you want to do an actor search, go to Firefox’s address bar, type “actor” and the name of the actor and press return. Instant search! You can do this with any search box.

3) Keyboard shortcuts. This is where you become a real Jedi. It just takes a little while to learn these, but once you do, your browsing will be super fast. Here are some of the most common (and my personal favs):
• Spacebar (page down)
• Shift-Spacebar (page up)
• Ctrl+F (find) Read the rest of this entry »