After installing Service Pack 2 for Windows XP from Microsoft, we immediately noticed a new, very annoying behavior in Internet Explorer. Suddenly, our multimedia projects, and those of our students, had images in the project being blocked and other features doing odd things. Interestingly, none of these odd behaviors occurred when we viewed projects in the Firefox browser or Netscape 7.2. This certainly narrowed the playing field to an Internet Explorer issue. Here’s what the problem looks like and here’s how to fix it.

What the problem might look like:
In Figure 1, you see the Internet Explorer browser window. I’ve just attempted to view a multimedia project like one from QTI2. A warning appears in the middle of the screen and behind it, I can see a bright yellow bar that tells me Internet Explorer is protecting me from showing active content and that I’ll have to click on it to change this situation. Considering that either our students or us created the content, I know nothing bad is going to happen by allowing active content to display. I first have to click on the OK button to get rid of the Information box in the middle of the page and then I have to click on the yellow bar behind it to tell Internet Explorer to allow the blocked content to display.

Figure 1 shows what the behavior might look like



How you stop this from re-occurring:
You have to make some personal decisions. I chose to adjust the security settings in Internet Explorer so that content that is coming off of my computer, and any cd’s I’m using that might hold projects, will not be blocked.

To accomplish that change in behavior:
1. Bring up Internet Explorer.
2. Click on Tools > Internet Options.
3. Click on the tab that is labeled “Advanced.”
4. Use the slider bar and scroll down the dialog box until you see a heading that says “Security.”
5. Click in the empty box next to the item that says “Allow active content from CD’s to run on My Computer.”
6. Click in the empty box next to the item that says “Allow active content to run in files on My Computer.”
7. Click Apply.
8. Click OK.
9. Close Internet Explorer.
10. Bring it up again and open the project that previously had problems. You’ll discover that everything will now behave the way it is supposed to. You only have to do this once.

Figure 2 shows the Internet Options Dialog Box


Why did Internet Explorer do this to begin with?
IE didn’t start out trying to be annoying. There are lots of groups on the web that have dedicated themselves to making your life a misery by coming up with ways around standard security measures so they can do harm to your computer. One of the latest things is - or was - the ability of these nefarious groups to use a standard JPEG image to gain access to your computer without you knowing it. I found that pretty strange but then learned from some further reading that this was happening at a couple of pornography sites. Everyone has to make their own decisions but following ethical behavior on the Internet is a 24/7 job for each individual - even when you think no one is “looking.” Think about it. Your real morals are what you do in situations when you are the only one who will ever know what happened. So, if you hang around at places like that, if you go into dark alleys in large cities at night, etc., then expect nasty things to occur.