If you’re having issues with Internet Explorer, you may be considering resetting it to its default settings. But what does this actually do, and when is it a good idea to do this? Resetting Internet Explorer will remove any changes you’ve made to your browser, including your home page, search engine, and installed add-ons. It will also clear your browsing history, cookies, and temporary Internet files, and potentially remove any viruses or malware that may have been affecting your browser. This can be a helpful solution if you’ve made changes to your browser that are causing problems, or if you suspect that your browser has been compromised by malicious software.
Resetting your browser settings will impact the settings below:
- Default search engine and saved search engines will be reset and to their original defaults.
- Homepage button will be hidden and the URL that you previously set will be removed.
- Default startup tabs will be cleared. The browser will show a new tab when you startup or continue where you left off if you’re on a Internet Explorer book.
- Pinned tabs will be unpinned.
- Content settings will be cleared and reset to their installation defaults.
- Cookies and site data will be cleared.
- Extensions and themes will be disabled.
How To Reset Internet Explorer To Default Settings
You can reset Internet Explorer settings to what they were when Internet Explorer was first installed on your PC. This can be useful for troubleshooting problems caused by settings changed after installation. Note that resetting Internet Explorer isn’t reversible, and all previous settings are lost after resetting.
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Go to “Internet Options”.
Open Internet Explorer, click on the gear icon in the upper-right part of your browser, then select “Internet Options“.
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Select the “Advanced” tab, then click “Reset”
In the “Internet Options” dialog box, select the “Advanced” tab, then click on the “Reset” button.
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Click on “Reset”.
In the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” section, select the “Delete personal settings” checkbox, then click on the “Reset” button.
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Click on “Close”.
When Internet Explorer has completed its task, click on the “Close” button in the confirmation dialogue box.
Close your browser and then you can open Internet Explorer again.
That’s it, Internet Explorer settings will be restored to their defaults. We strongly recommend that you install an ad blocker like AdGuard to block malicious ads.
While resetting Internet Explorer will restore the browser’s settings back to default, malicious extensions (that are installed with browser policies) or programs that are installed on your device can hijack the browser. If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow one of the steps:
- Run a computer scan with Malwarebytes Free
- Ask for help in our Malware Removal Help forum.
