Fig 1.0 Un-tick the DON'T SHOW THIS MESAGE AGAIN option to show this message always
| THE INFORMATION BAR |
The Information Bar, under default settings (normal circumstances), is a program that warns you when a webpage tries to:
Open a Pop-Up (Advertisement) window, Install an ActiveX Control and/or Run an Active Control in an unsafe manner, Download
a File, Run Active Content (i.e Animation and Streaming Music) and so on.
An ActiveX Control is normally a useful, extension, program that betters your experience of the Internet for example. Each
ActiveX Control needs your permission to be downloaded before it can run on your computer just like any other program.
Unfortunately, there are programmers/companies out there that try and fool you into downloading their bad activex controls.
They normally do this by offering you some sort of free download (i.e a free music file) so that they can download their
bad activex control as well. For example. You click on the "Install ActiveX Control" Information Bar in order to allow the
free music file to be downloaded, which in turn means the bad activex control is free to download as well. A bad activex
control that can purposely damage your computer files.
Even though the Information Bar warns you of a problem, and sometimes gives you a choice-of-actions to take for the problem,
it is still left to you to make the right decision. And the only advise I can give you is that if the webpage in question
is a webpage you know and trust you should give it permission to Download a file, Install/Run an activex control or Display
a pop-up window.
When you are warned about a webpage the first window you will see, if it has not been switched off, is the Information Bar message requester (Fig 1.0 above). It brings your attention to the Information Bar and also gives instructions on how to use it. Once you have read the message you will probably want to switch it off, by putting a tick next to the DON'T SHOW THIS MESAGE AGAIN option, as it can become an annoying Pop-Up window itself. On the other hand, leaving the DON'T SHOW THIS MESAGE AGAIN option switched on (un-ticked) could mean the message will be more of a reminder than an annoying Pop-Up window. Whatever you decide, click on the CLOSE button to continue.
After clicking on the CLOSE button look towards the top of Internet Explorer's window, just below the Toolbars (Fig 1.1 above), and you will see the actual Information Bar. In this example it is informing you that www.adobe.com wants to download and then install an Add On (additional program/script) in order to continue with the downloading and eventual installing of Adobe Flash Player. You know the website is www.adobe.com as this is what is written inside the Address Bar edit box of Internet Explorer (http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/flash/trigger/e....). And you should know the download file is the Adobe Flash Player program because the webpage title is: Adobe - Flash Player. Although these things might seem obvious now, especially if you were the one who went to the Adobe website to download Adobe Flash Player, always remember: It is not that obvious if you were diverted to that website by a bad piece of software (i.e malware/spyware/virus).
When the Information Bar appears, after giving you a warning sound, read its information. As you get towards the end of the information you will normally be presented with an Option, such as CLICK HERE (Fig 1.2 above) or CLICK HERE FOR OPTIONS. Simply click on any part of the information bar and you will be presented with the menu option(s) for that particular download/install - In this example INSTALL ACTIVEX CONTROL. If I needed more MORE INFORMATION or wanted to know WHAT IS THE RISK? of downloading the ActiveX file I would of clicked on one/both of those options, but as I know Adobe to be a trustworthy company (and because Flash Player is recommended in good computer magazines and because I have downloaded Flash Player many times before) I clicked on INSTALL ACTIVEX CONTROL instead.
After clicking on INSTALL ACTIVEX CONTROL the ActiveX Control is downloaded, but before it begins to install a UAC (User
Access Control) window appears asking you to grant permission for the ActiveX Control to be installed. Simply click on
its CONTINUE button to proceed with the ActiveX Control installation or click on CANCEL if you are having doubts.
User Account Control (UAC) is a feature of Windows Vista that helps to prevent unauthorized changes to the computer, such
as moving a system file or downloading/installing activex controls. When attempting to download/install activex controls UAC
automatically blocks you off with the requester above, because it wants to know if you are the one attempting to
download/install the activex control (indirectly in this example) and not a piece of malicious software for example.
Shortly after clicking on CONTINUE, after the above UAC window has closed, another security requester appears. This time
the Installer requester that asks you if you want to install Adobe Flash Player. Click on DON'T INSTALL (or on the window's
red eXit button) to cancel the installation process completely or on INSTALL to continue installing Adobe Flash Player.
The Installer requester has more options for you to use if you always use a certain company to download and/or install software. For example. If you download from www.adobe.com more than once and do not want to see the Installer security requester all the time you can click on the requester's MORE OPTIONS button to expand it view. From there you can use it ALWAYS INSTALL.... or NEVER INSTALL.... option if you trust or distrust a company. That way, if you are sent to a download indirectly by malware for example and have the NEVER INSTALL.... option switched on you could avoid problems later. Simply click on an option and then on the INSTALL or DON'T INSTALL button to make the option active.
If you are unsure of the company/publisher trying to Install/Download the ActiveX Control you should click on the NAME and PUBLISHER links for more information (Fig 1.5 above). You can also click on the MORE OPTIONS button, if the message requester has one, as explained above to decide on future activex control downloads/installations.
| ALLOW POP-UP WINDOWS |
If you use internet explorer's built-in Pop-Up Blocker (i.e it is switched on) the Information Bar will inform you whenever
a website is trying to open/display a Pop-Up (i.e Advertisement) window.
In this next example I was using the Microsoft Office Online website to download a template when the Information Bar alerted
me to the fact that the website uses Pop-Up windows, which I know about from previous usuage of the website. Therefore. I
moved my mouse pointer towards the information bar, until the information bar turned blue, and then I clicked on it. From
there I selected the ALWAYS ALLOW POP-UPS FROM THIS SITE menu-item.
The menu options available to you for Pop-Up windows are TEMPORARILY ALLOW POP-UPS (for this website visit only), ALWAYS
ALLOW POP-UPS FROM THIS SITE (This website will be added to the Allowed Websites list), SETTINGS (which allows you to turn
off the Pop-Up Blocker and the Information Bar) and MORE INFORMATION (which explains more about Pop-Up windows).
In this example I have clicked on the menu option ALWAYS ALLOW POP-UPS FROM THIS SITE (Fig 2.1 above) to allow the
Microsoft Office Online website to always open/display its Pop-Up windows (Fig 2.2 below). This is because I have used the
website before and trust it completely.
If I had clicked on TEMPORARILY ALLOW POP-UPS instead I would of been shown the following Information Bar. It is informing me that Pop-Up windows are temporarily allowed, but the next time I visit the website I will have to go through the whole Information Bar menu process again. Denying pop-up windows, perhaps because you are annoyed by them and/or the Information Bar!!, can lead to a download not happening (if the pop-up window is something to do with the download procedure) or to an important notice not being shown (because you think the website might be using pop-up windows for Advertising purposes only for example). The good thing about the Information Bar and Pop-Up Blocker working together is that you still have you the option to ALWAYS ALLOW POP-UPS FROM THIS SITE.
| ALLOW FILE DOWNLOADS |
Sometimes when you go to a particular Download Website to download software from it the information bar appears (Fig 3.0 below), before the download process begins, to inform you that it has blocked the website from downloading your chosen software until you either click on the DOWNLOAD FILE menu-item (Fig 3.1 below) or abandon the download by exiting the webpage or information bar. I say sometimes because not all Download Websites make the information bar appear when you go to download software from them.
If you do see the Information Bar appear simply click on it, so that its menu Options appear (Fig 3.1 above), and then click on the DOWNLOAD FILE menu option to begin the download process.
| A COMMON INFORMATION BAR |
If you ever find yourself viewing a webpage, either on the Internet or as a saved webpage file with no internet connection, and wonder why the interaction is not working (i.e no buttons work and/or send data) it could be because of this next Information Bar. It restricts Scripts and ActiveX Controls from running until you click on the ALLOW BLOCKED CONTENT menu option (Fig 4.1 below).
This information bar usually appears when you are viewing a webpage that is not on the Internet. For example. When you are
viewing a webpage that has been saved as a HTML file on your Flash (Memory) Drive or Computer for example. In other words,
you have double clicked on the HTML file in order to view it as a webpage.
The main reason for this information bar appearing is because the webpage being viewed cannot execute (run/launch) its
Script or ActiveX Control, probably because it needs to be downloaded and/or executed from a server. Also. The information
bar might think the webpage is trying to execute something bad or is trying to gain access to something bad. In this example
I am viewing the yoingco Main Index webpage, offline (without an Internet Connection), on my computer. The information bar
has appeared because the Main Index webpage contains code for the Parental Control advertisement, as well a script. I can
view the webpage as normal but if I want the interactive advertisement code to be executed (run/launched), so that the
advertisement changes when I hover my mouse pointer over it, I have to click on the information bar and select the
ALLOW BLOCKED CONTENT menu option. Once this is done it does not need doing again for this session on the computer - If I
close Internet Explorer down and then re-open the webpage I have to do the whole information bar thing again.
At the end of the day the Information Bar is a tool to protect Windows Vista, which relies on you to make the right
decisions. I can only explain the Information Bar to you - It is up to you though to read the Information (bar) in front of
you. With this said, I would strongly advise you to read the Security category and
in particular the I.O Security TAB section as it explains how
to restore certain security settings back to their default settings.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
All HTM files in the yoingco.com folder and its sub-folders are (c) John White, August 3rd 2005 - 2008. All Rights Reserved. FREE Vista Helpline: Contact John