Sample Scenarios

You can customize Internet Explorer in many ways to accommodate different preferences and needs. To help you get started, here are just a few ideas about how an organization might customize Internet Explorer.

Corporate Administration Example

You can customize Internet Explorer to meet differing needs in your organization. For example, you might want to customize the following items:

• Include fewer components in custom packages used by employees in the field who might have limited disk space on their laptop computers.
• Include support for different character sets for employees who communicate with overseas departments, so they can correctly view Web pages in different languages.
• Create a CD-ROM setup for users in a remote country so that they do not need to connect to the local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) used by most of your employees for downloading Setup.
• Increase the level of security for employees downloading from the Internet by creating a different IEAK package with enhanced security options or by using automatic configuration to modify their security settings.

Internet Service Provider Example

To accommodate different user preferences, you might want to customize the following items:

• Create an Internet Explorer package that includes several installation choices. That way, you can accommodate customers who want to use a different e-mail program than Microsoft Outlook Express, as well as experienced users who want to use more advanced components.
• Customize and control connection settings. For example, you can have a program run either before or after your users connect to the Internet. You can also add your organization's logo to the dialog box that appears when users dial in to the Internet.
• Customize Microsoft Outlook Express. You can preconfigure its servers and customize its appearance. That way, your customers can get connected and start using their software more quickly and with less technical support from your organization.

Internet Content Provider Example

You might want to customize Internet Explorer to showcase your organization's information and services better on the Internet. For example, you could customize the following items:

• If your organization is a radio station, add links to your organization's Web sites, such as pages that highlight play lists and composers' biographies. You can also add your organization's name to the title bar and your organization's logo to the setup bitmap. In addition, you can replace the browser logo with a treble clef symbol, musical notes, or your organization's logo.
• Track usage of your customized browser by using a user agent string, which is a string of characters that a Web browser sends when it visits an Internet site. The custom string that you append to the user agent string enables Web sites to compile statistics about how many of your customers are using your browser to view the site.

Internet Developer Example

You might want to customize the following items:

• Create a custom program that uses, or "hosts," the WebBrowser control, but does not display the Windows Update Setup interface during installation.
• Use a batch file and command-line switches to install Internet Explorer in redistribution mode. This mode installs the underlying program files without overwriting the Internet Explorer icon, if Internet Explorer already exists on the user's computer. You can also suppress Windows Update Setup prompts, so that your custom program provides setup feedback to the user.
• Customize the Web browser with links to your organization's Web sites or to related technologies. Then you can use the IEAK to create a CD-ROM package that includes your custom program.