IE security settings - confused

[Guest]

I just bought a PC for my high school kids who have been using a Mac. Where
can I find an explanation of EACH of the security settings for IE on the
Microsoft site? What I'm talking about are the settings for ActiveX, Java,
downloads, etc, etc. There are probably about 20-30 of those settings. I
don't want to simply set things to high, medium, low.

Even though I'm not a techie, I'd like to find out what settings to best
use, without impacting my kid's ability to surf legitimate sites.

 

[PA Bear]

Before getting into security settings, see these two pages:

Before You Connect a New Computer to the Internet
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/before_you_plug_in.html

Protect Your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/default.asp

Once you have that squared away, then see:

Use Security and Privacy Features in Internet Explorer 6 (WinXP)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/security/ie6.asp

Working with Internet Explorer 6 Security Settings
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/using/howto/security/settings.asp

Setting Up Security Zones
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/using/howto/security/setup.asp

Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2: Browsing
Security Enhancements
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2brows.mspx

 

[Guest]

Thanks a bunch! All the links that you provided were very helpful,
particularly this one:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/using/howto/security/setup.mspx, which
has detailed info about custom level settings.

For some reason, I couldn't find the above link when I was looking at the IE
site and I still can't, until you pointed me in that direction - I've
bookmarked it. I'm surprised that Microsoft hasn't updated that document
since Sept 2001 - surely millions of people like me have the same questions.

 

[PA Bear]

YW & thanks for posting back.

Thanks a bunch! All the links that you provided were very helpful,
particularly this one:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/using/howto/security/setup.mspx, which
has detailed info about custom level settings.

For some reason, I couldn't find the above link when I was looking at the
IE
site and I still can't, until you pointed me in that direction - I've
bookmarked it. I'm surprised that Microsoft hasn't updated that document
since Sept 2001 - surely millions of people like me have the same
questions.