Control Panel and 3rd party browser extensions?

[Paul R]

What does disabling 3rd party browser extensions in IE6 have to do with
the functionality of XP's Control Panel??

I've had a long-running problem using Sonic DLA (drive letter
assignment) v4.60 with my XP so that my cd/dvd writer drive can be used
as a "save to:" or "backup to:" drive. The DLA patch worked fine for
this purpose but it corrupted my Control Panel so that it was useless
(blank screens, missing graphics, unworkable links, etc.).

I eventually found a fix that worked: Disabling 3rd party browser
extensions in IE6. Now Control Panel is back to normal and am able to
continue using this DLA version without problems.

So, what's the relationship between the extensions being disabled and
the functionality of the Panel?

 

[Ramesh [MVP]]

Paul,

DLA may have added a browser add-on, in the form of a Browser Helper Object. Browser Helper Objects are extensions to the browser (Internet Explorer and the browsers based on Internet Explorer). Both iexplore.exe and explorer.exe loads the Browser Helper Object (explorer loads the BHOs when you open a folder, control panel etc).

More about Browser Helper Objects:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwebgen/html/bho.asp

To view the BHO and enable/disable it, you may use my utility ToolbarCop:
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/toolbarcop.htm

BTW, disabling 3rd party browser extensions will disable *all* the browser add-ons, toolbars etc. You lose your favorite toolbars (Google Toolbar, for example) also.

--
Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Shell/User
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k

Windows 2000 Group Policy Registry Table:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/gp/gpref.asp

What does disabling 3rd party browser extensions in IE6 have to do with
the functionality of XP's Control Panel??

I've had a long-running problem using Sonic DLA (drive letter
assignment) v4.60 with my XP so that my cd/dvd writer drive can be used
as a "save to:" or "backup to:" drive. The DLA patch worked fine for
this purpose but it corrupted my Control Panel so that it was useless
(blank screens, missing graphics, unworkable links, etc.).

I eventually found a fix that worked: Disabling 3rd party browser
extensions in IE6. Now Control Panel is back to normal and am able to
continue using this DLA version without problems.

So, what's the relationship between the extensions being disabled and
the functionality of the Panel?