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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
November 29, 2009
Q.
Can I change the title in Internet Explorer?
Currently it says Windows Internet Explorer,
but manufacturers can change it to something
else so how can I?
A. Since
this question refers specifically to
Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, the
answer applies to the Internet Explorer
browser only. See the end of this article
for a way to do the same thing with Firefox.
The title
being referred to is the one that appears at
the top left of the browser window. The first
part of the page title is specified by the
Hypertext Markup Language's (HTML) <TITLE>
tag on the current page. For example, if you
are viewing this on my home page where the
<TITLE> tag set is to, "Daddy Bob's Computer
Q&A" that is what you see at the top of the
page in the first part of title block. If
you are viewing it from a link on another
page then you will see the <TITLE> tag text
from that page. End users have no control
over this part of the title.
However,
in the second part of this title you are
most likely seeing something like "Windows
Internet Explorer" or something else that
has been customized by Internet content
provider, Internet service provider or
computer manufacturer. This part of the
title you can modify to be just about
anything you want to add a personal touch. Here's how.
To add a
custom title to replace the "Windows
Internet Explorer" requires as you
probably suspected, editing the
registry. For those brave enough to try
this, you will have to add a string value (REG_SZ)
to this registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Main. The new value's name must be
Window Title. Whatever text
you assign to this value is what will appear
in the browser's title block immediately
after the title of the current web page.
To revert
back to the default "Windows Internet
Explorer" just delete the Window Title
value you created above.
Note here that if this value had been
previously set by your ISP or manufacturer
and you made a change, removing this value
will revert back to Microsoft's default not
the ISP or manufacturer's.
For those
that prefer to not edit the registry
manually, I have written a little program
that will allow you to make or remove this
modification entirely safely. This program
runs very quickly, and gives you the choice
to enter your own text or to revert back to
the default Microsoft text. It should work
on all operating systems since Windows 95
and all Internet Explorer browsers since
version 5.
To
download this program look in the Download
section of this site or click
HERE.
To modify
the title bar in Firefox you can download a
little plug-in called "Titlebar Tweaks" that
offers not only changing the name but the
arrangement. Click
HERE
to read about it and download it. |
