IE Toolbar Buttons

This tab displays third-party IE toolbar buttons installed on your system.

What's An IE Toolbar Button?

An IE toolbar button is an IE extension that adds a new button on the IE toolbar next to the standard buttons like Go Forward, Go Back, etc. A button is just an entry in the registry. But the entry can point to a COM object (hence a DLL module) depending on the action the button executes.



Location

The buttons are stored in the registry under the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Internet Explorer \Extensions

The Disable Action

The disable action moves the button's entry from the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Internet Explorer \Extensions to a temporary location.

You must restart Internet Explorer for the action to take effect.

The Delete Action

The delete action (depending on the selected options):

  • Deletes the button's entry from the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Internet Explorer \Extensions;
  • Deletes the file of the program or the COM object associated with the button;
  • Unregisters the COM object's DLL module associated with the button (if any).

You may need to close all Internet Explorer windows to delete the file associated with the button.
You must restart Internet Explorer for the action to take effect.

Properties


Name The button caption.
CLSID The button's entry name under the Software \Microsoft \Internet Explorer \Extensions key.
Publisher The developer (a company or a person) of the file associated with the button.
Action The action executed when the button is pressed, can be one of the following values:
  • Call A COM Object;
  • Start A Program;
  • Show/Hide An Explorer Bar;
  • Execute A Script.
COM object CLSID Class identifier (globally unique identifier - GUID) of the COM object associated with the button.
Program ID Programmatic identifier - human-readable identifier of the COM object associated with the button.
File A full path to the file associated with the button. Depending on the button's action this can be:
  • A COM object's DLL module if the action is Call A COM Object;
  • An executable file if the action is Start A Program;
  • An Explorer Bar file if the action is Show/Hide An Explorer Bar;
  • A javascript/vbscript file (or a file that contains the script file as a resource) if the action is Execute A Script.
Script The script file (or a file that contains the script file as a resource) of the button.
File Version File version information. The information is retrieved from the file resources. Also includes product version information if it differs from the file version.
File Size File size in bytes.
File CRC32 Cyclic Redundancy Checksum (Check) of the file.
File MD5 Message Digest 5 of the file.
File Creation Date The date the file was created.
Location The location (registry or a folder) of the item.
Safe Indicates whether the item in a safe or in a blocked list. Yes - item is in a safe list. No - item is in a blocked list. N/A - items is not in a safe nor in a blocked list.
Status Indicates whether the item is enabled or disabled.
Icon The icon file (or a pointer to an icon resource) of the button.

Tips and Tricks


  • Sometimes a button and a Tools menu item can share the same entry under the Software \Microsoft \Internet Explorer \Extensions key. Therefore disabling or deleting the button can also affect the corresponding Tools menu item;
  • In Internet Explorer main menu click View -> Toolbars -> Customize... to select which buttons to display;
  • Starting from Internet Explorer 6 XP SP2, you can manage buttons right from Internet Explorer: from the main menu select Tools -> Internet Options, switch to the Programs tab, click Manage Add-ons...