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Hidden Internet Explorer Tweak

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  • K kdmote

    For years there has been a hidden trick that I use all the time in Internet Explorper. (I'm surprised I can't find much of anything about this on the internet; perhaps that's just another sign of IE's shrinking market share.) It is similar to the IE "Search Provider" mechanism, only better. It's so hidden it doesn't even have a name. I call it SearchURL. It is a shortcut that enables you to search a website quickly. For example, if you find yourself searching the CP Lounge often, you could use this shortcut typed into the IE Address Bar:

    cp baloney

    and you will get all the Lounge articles containing "baloney". (Including this one, I presume.) Here's how to set it up (You'll need regedit privileges): In regedit, navigate to:

    HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl

    Create a new Key. Give it the name "cp". For the default value, paste in this text:

    http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=%s&doctypeid=6&categoryid=f1\_1159\_

    (Note: the "secret sauce" is the `%s` in the url. IE will replace that with whatever search term you supply in the address bar.) It should work immediately. Just type `cp baloney or whatever` in your IE Address Bar. I've created a couple dozen shortcuts for all the sites I frequent (e.g. wikipedia, thesaurus.com, amazon.com, stackoverflow, etc., as well as several internal sites on my company's intranet). It works on just about any site that has a "Search this site" box. Just search the site normally for some `SearchTerm`, then cut resulting the URL and replace `SearchTerm` with `%s`, then create a new SearchUrl key in the registry, choose any memorable abbreviation for the site, and paste the URL in the Data of the key. Pretty simple, eh? Just thought I'd share the love. P.S. There used to be a downloadable program (called TweakUI) that could set this up for you automatically (without regedit) but that program doesn't appear to exist anymore.

    J Offline
    J Offline
    Jeremy Falcon
    wrote on last edited by
    #5

    Does it search the site or just the page it's on? If it's the former then you can do that in chrome without a registry tweak just using something like site:codeproject.com bob in the address bar. If it's the latter, then Ctrl+F no? Not to mention you get the added bonus of your browser not sucking when using Chrome.

    Jeremy Falcon

    K 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

      Nowadays, I use Edge to download Chrome, and then hide Edge... ;)

      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

      J Offline
      J Offline
      Jeremy Falcon
      wrote on last edited by
      #6

      Gotta stay modern. :laugh:

      Jeremy Falcon

      1 Reply Last reply
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      • J Jeremy Falcon

        Does it search the site or just the page it's on? If it's the former then you can do that in chrome without a registry tweak just using something like site:codeproject.com bob in the address bar. If it's the latter, then Ctrl+F no? Not to mention you get the added bonus of your browser not sucking when using Chrome.

        Jeremy Falcon

        K Offline
        K Offline
        kdmote
        wrote on last edited by
        #7

        Neither, exactly (although it is similar to the first). It searches a specific url (see my example which just searches CP’s Lounge, rather than all of CP). But the real advantage is that I can assign an arbitrary shortcut/abbreviation, so I don’t have to type out the entire name of the site.

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

          Nowadays, I use Edge to download Chrome, and then hide Edge... ;)

          Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

          K Offline
          K Offline
          kdmote
          wrote on last edited by
          #8

          OriginalGriff wrote:

          use Edge to download Chrome

          Sadly, neither are approved yet on my corporate network. Nevertheless, I don't think even Chrome offers this particular shortcut.

          T J 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • K kdmote

            For years there has been a hidden trick that I use all the time in Internet Explorper. (I'm surprised I can't find much of anything about this on the internet; perhaps that's just another sign of IE's shrinking market share.) It is similar to the IE "Search Provider" mechanism, only better. It's so hidden it doesn't even have a name. I call it SearchURL. It is a shortcut that enables you to search a website quickly. For example, if you find yourself searching the CP Lounge often, you could use this shortcut typed into the IE Address Bar:

            cp baloney

            and you will get all the Lounge articles containing "baloney". (Including this one, I presume.) Here's how to set it up (You'll need regedit privileges): In regedit, navigate to:

            HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl

            Create a new Key. Give it the name "cp". For the default value, paste in this text:

            http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=%s&doctypeid=6&categoryid=f1\_1159\_

            (Note: the "secret sauce" is the `%s` in the url. IE will replace that with whatever search term you supply in the address bar.) It should work immediately. Just type `cp baloney or whatever` in your IE Address Bar. I've created a couple dozen shortcuts for all the sites I frequent (e.g. wikipedia, thesaurus.com, amazon.com, stackoverflow, etc., as well as several internal sites on my company's intranet). It works on just about any site that has a "Search this site" box. Just search the site normally for some `SearchTerm`, then cut resulting the URL and replace `SearchTerm` with `%s`, then create a new SearchUrl key in the registry, choose any memorable abbreviation for the site, and paste the URL in the Data of the key. Pretty simple, eh? Just thought I'd share the love. P.S. There used to be a downloadable program (called TweakUI) that could set this up for you automatically (without regedit) but that program doesn't appear to exist anymore.

            M Offline
            M Offline
            Mark_Wallace
            wrote on last edited by
            #9

            Nice. It's a lot better than typing "baloney site:codeproject.com". There's a pretty huge "but", though.

            kdmote wrote:

            There used to be a downloadable program (called TweakUI)

            There still is[^], and it's still made by the MS Power Tools guys. Heads up: download.cnet.com has taken to playing an "Aren't we the sweetest things!" video, when you open their pages, so turn the sound down, if appropriate.

            I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • M Marc Clifton

              Nice, but my hidden Internet Explorer tweak is, first thing I do, download Chrome and hide IE. ;) Marc

              Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project! Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny

              S Offline
              S Offline
              Slacker007
              wrote on last edited by
              #10

              I literally laughed my ass off at this one. Still trying to pick my ass off the floor. :sigh:

              Z A 2 Replies Last reply
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              • K kdmote

                OriginalGriff wrote:

                use Edge to download Chrome

                Sadly, neither are approved yet on my corporate network. Nevertheless, I don't think even Chrome offers this particular shortcut.

                T Offline
                T Offline
                TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                wrote on last edited by
                #11

                Yes, chrome does, sorta: type the website name into the address bar, say youtube.com and then press the tab key, you'll get a search prompt.

                #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                K 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • S Slacker007

                  I literally laughed my ass off at this one. Still trying to pick my ass off the floor. :sigh:

                  Z Offline
                  Z Offline
                  ZurdoDev
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #12

                  Slacker007 wrote:

                  literally laughed my ass off

                  Studio C- Captain Literally: ALL EPISODES! - YouTube[^]

                  There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

                  M 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • Z ZurdoDev

                    Slacker007 wrote:

                    literally laughed my ass off

                    Studio C- Captain Literally: ALL EPISODES! - YouTube[^]

                    There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

                    M Offline
                    M Offline
                    Mark_Wallace
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #13

                    Oh, for F's sake! If you can't use "literally" figuratively, then just stop speaking English, because you're literally illiterate.

                    I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                    W 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

                      Yes, chrome does, sorta: type the website name into the address bar, say youtube.com and then press the tab key, you'll get a search prompt.

                      #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                      K Offline
                      K Offline
                      kdmote
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #14

                      Yeah, but with this method, you don't have to type in the website name. #ReduceKeystrokes!

                      T 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                        Nowadays, I use Edge to download Chrome, and then hide Edge... ;)

                        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                        W Offline
                        W Offline
                        W Balboos GHB
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #15

                        It's kind of an interesting way of explaining your cutting edge technology.

                        Ravings en masse^

                        "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                        "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • K kdmote

                          Yeah, but with this method, you don't have to type in the website name. #ReduceKeystrokes!

                          T Offline
                          T Offline
                          TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #16

                          meh

                          #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • M Mark_Wallace

                            Oh, for F's sake! If you can't use "literally" figuratively, then just stop speaking English, because you're literally illiterate.

                            I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                            W Offline
                            W Offline
                            W Balboos GHB
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #17

                            Thanks to your initial comment I watched all four episodes. Porcupine I'm literally literal, or am I?

                            Ravings en masse^

                            "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                            "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

                            M 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • W W Balboos GHB

                              Thanks to your initial comment I watched all four episodes. Porcupine I'm literally literal, or am I?

                              Ravings en masse^

                              "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                              "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

                              M Offline
                              M Offline
                              Mark_Wallace
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #18

                              It could have done with being funny, to make up for the fact that it's soooooo wrong.

                              I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • S Slacker007

                                I literally laughed my ass off at this one. Still trying to pick my ass off the floor. :sigh:

                                A Offline
                                A Offline
                                Agent__007
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #19

                                I laughed at your comment more than the original one. :laugh:

                                You have just been Sharapova'd.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • K kdmote

                                  For years there has been a hidden trick that I use all the time in Internet Explorper. (I'm surprised I can't find much of anything about this on the internet; perhaps that's just another sign of IE's shrinking market share.) It is similar to the IE "Search Provider" mechanism, only better. It's so hidden it doesn't even have a name. I call it SearchURL. It is a shortcut that enables you to search a website quickly. For example, if you find yourself searching the CP Lounge often, you could use this shortcut typed into the IE Address Bar:

                                  cp baloney

                                  and you will get all the Lounge articles containing "baloney". (Including this one, I presume.) Here's how to set it up (You'll need regedit privileges): In regedit, navigate to:

                                  HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl

                                  Create a new Key. Give it the name "cp". For the default value, paste in this text:

                                  http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=%s&doctypeid=6&categoryid=f1\_1159\_

                                  (Note: the "secret sauce" is the `%s` in the url. IE will replace that with whatever search term you supply in the address bar.) It should work immediately. Just type `cp baloney or whatever` in your IE Address Bar. I've created a couple dozen shortcuts for all the sites I frequent (e.g. wikipedia, thesaurus.com, amazon.com, stackoverflow, etc., as well as several internal sites on my company's intranet). It works on just about any site that has a "Search this site" box. Just search the site normally for some `SearchTerm`, then cut resulting the URL and replace `SearchTerm` with `%s`, then create a new SearchUrl key in the registry, choose any memorable abbreviation for the site, and paste the URL in the Data of the key. Pretty simple, eh? Just thought I'd share the love. P.S. There used to be a downloadable program (called TweakUI) that could set this up for you automatically (without regedit) but that program doesn't appear to exist anymore.

                                  T Offline
                                  T Offline
                                  tgd nti
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #20

                                  In chrome you can set this up by going to settings -> Manage search engines -> add search engines

                                  K 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • K kdmote

                                    For years there has been a hidden trick that I use all the time in Internet Explorper. (I'm surprised I can't find much of anything about this on the internet; perhaps that's just another sign of IE's shrinking market share.) It is similar to the IE "Search Provider" mechanism, only better. It's so hidden it doesn't even have a name. I call it SearchURL. It is a shortcut that enables you to search a website quickly. For example, if you find yourself searching the CP Lounge often, you could use this shortcut typed into the IE Address Bar:

                                    cp baloney

                                    and you will get all the Lounge articles containing "baloney". (Including this one, I presume.) Here's how to set it up (You'll need regedit privileges): In regedit, navigate to:

                                    HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl

                                    Create a new Key. Give it the name "cp". For the default value, paste in this text:

                                    http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=%s&doctypeid=6&categoryid=f1\_1159\_

                                    (Note: the "secret sauce" is the `%s` in the url. IE will replace that with whatever search term you supply in the address bar.) It should work immediately. Just type `cp baloney or whatever` in your IE Address Bar. I've created a couple dozen shortcuts for all the sites I frequent (e.g. wikipedia, thesaurus.com, amazon.com, stackoverflow, etc., as well as several internal sites on my company's intranet). It works on just about any site that has a "Search this site" box. Just search the site normally for some `SearchTerm`, then cut resulting the URL and replace `SearchTerm` with `%s`, then create a new SearchUrl key in the registry, choose any memorable abbreviation for the site, and paste the URL in the Data of the key. Pretty simple, eh? Just thought I'd share the love. P.S. There used to be a downloadable program (called TweakUI) that could set this up for you automatically (without regedit) but that program doesn't appear to exist anymore.

                                    I Offline
                                    I Offline
                                    iskSYS
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #21

                                    in Mozilla's browser, Firefox, it's as simple as selecting 'add keyword for this search' in the context menu.

                                    K 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • K kdmote

                                      For years there has been a hidden trick that I use all the time in Internet Explorper. (I'm surprised I can't find much of anything about this on the internet; perhaps that's just another sign of IE's shrinking market share.) It is similar to the IE "Search Provider" mechanism, only better. It's so hidden it doesn't even have a name. I call it SearchURL. It is a shortcut that enables you to search a website quickly. For example, if you find yourself searching the CP Lounge often, you could use this shortcut typed into the IE Address Bar:

                                      cp baloney

                                      and you will get all the Lounge articles containing "baloney". (Including this one, I presume.) Here's how to set it up (You'll need regedit privileges): In regedit, navigate to:

                                      HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl

                                      Create a new Key. Give it the name "cp". For the default value, paste in this text:

                                      http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=%s&doctypeid=6&categoryid=f1\_1159\_

                                      (Note: the "secret sauce" is the `%s` in the url. IE will replace that with whatever search term you supply in the address bar.) It should work immediately. Just type `cp baloney or whatever` in your IE Address Bar. I've created a couple dozen shortcuts for all the sites I frequent (e.g. wikipedia, thesaurus.com, amazon.com, stackoverflow, etc., as well as several internal sites on my company's intranet). It works on just about any site that has a "Search this site" box. Just search the site normally for some `SearchTerm`, then cut resulting the URL and replace `SearchTerm` with `%s`, then create a new SearchUrl key in the registry, choose any memorable abbreviation for the site, and paste the URL in the Data of the key. Pretty simple, eh? Just thought I'd share the love. P.S. There used to be a downloadable program (called TweakUI) that could set this up for you automatically (without regedit) but that program doesn't appear to exist anymore.

                                      D Offline
                                      D Offline
                                      dannomanno
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #22

                                      Interesting approach. I've used my own startup HTML page (with all my favorite links as similarly sized images representing the website [often the logo] - essentially my own start menu for the web) and on there I have textboxes which I can use to submit queries that effectively do the same thing on my common sites. Should the website change, it's easier for me to modify some JS than a registry entry so I'll probably stick with my approach but it's nice to recall the power of the registry.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • K kdmote

                                        OriginalGriff wrote:

                                        use Edge to download Chrome

                                        Sadly, neither are approved yet on my corporate network. Nevertheless, I don't think even Chrome offers this particular shortcut.

                                        J Offline
                                        J Offline
                                        joequincy
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #23

                                        Sure. With Chrome you don't have to edit the registry. They expose the feature (deep, but still present) in the browser's UI: How to Set Keyword Bookmarks in Google Chrome[^] Firefox is even simpler. There's a link in that LifeHacker article for more info.

                                        K 1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • I iskSYS

                                          in Mozilla's browser, Firefox, it's as simple as selecting 'add keyword for this search' in the context menu.

                                          K Offline
                                          K Offline
                                          kdmote
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #24

                                          iskSYS wrote:

                                          'add keyword for this search'

                                          Yep, this is the same feature (and Firefox has exposed it in a far simpler manner). One of the reasons I submitted the original post was to find out how to do this in other browsers, so thank you. But just to clarify (regarding instructions in Firefox): you need to click into a searh field on a website (for example, the "Search Messages" at the top of this page) to access the context menu item.

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