The title of this article could have also been "I Had to Stop IE from Annoying Me" or "To Help Protect Your Sanity." Are you friggin' sick and tired of Internet Explorer's Information Bar popping up when you are working on a Web page on your local computer? You know the one I'm talking about — "To help project your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content ..."

I appreciate the fact that Microsoft is attempting to prevent malicious code from running locally on my computer. I do, really. But I'm not convinced this is really necessary. Personally, I have other ways to project my computer: hardware firewall, anti-virus software, and plain 'ole not-doing-stupid-things like opening email attachments promising to increase my manhood.

If you're not sure what I'm ranting about, here's a screenshot of the Internet Explorer Information Bar alerting me to the fact that I am running active content, ie, JavaScript, ActiveX controls, etc., in my Web page.

Come on, Microsoft. Don't you think I know that? I've got code to write and pages to test, and I don't need Internet Explorer getting in my way.

Getting Around the Information Bar When Testing Web Pages

There are three ways to deal with preventing the information bar from popping up on a page with active content.

• NOT running the file locally. Copy the file to a Web server directory and open it via a URL.
• Adding a comment URL to the Web page source code that tells IE the file is safe to run locally.
• Setting an option in IE to allow active content to run locally

NOT Running the File Locally

Just upload/copy it to a Web server and preview it in your browsing using a URL. There is no security risk to you, supposedly, if the file is not running on your computer.

Adding a Comment URL

I found this trick on Adobe's site in this article, Unable to preview active content in Internet Explorer in Windows XP SP 2 (GoLive). And I quote:

Setting an Option in IE

I looked and looked for this in Tools»Internet Options»Security (since it is a security feature) but it's actually in Tools»Internet Options»Advanced under the Security sub-section there. Why are not ALL security options under the Security tab? Anyway. Select, if you want to permanently allow it, select Allow active content to run in files on My Computer

Conclusion

The only time I see that annoying information bar is on my pages. It's never once stopped a hacker. So I've permanently disabled it. Now you can, too.

Ahhhhhh, peace. Now I can code and test in peace.