Exam 70-270 Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional (as well as exams 70-271 and 70-272) requires you to know how to configure Internet Explorer options. There are several tabs available from the Internet Options dialog box. The three that you should focus your attention on are the Security, Privacy, and Connections tabs.

For security purposes, Internet Explorer allows you to place Web sites into different zones. Specific actions can then be performed on Web sites based on the zone it has been placed in. The Security tab available from the Internet Options dialog box displays four separate zones.

A Web site can be added to a zone by selecting the specific zone, clicking the Sites button, and typing in the address of the Web site.

From the Security tab, you can also set the security level for a zone. For example, sites on an Intranet are more than likely safe, so you can configure a low level of security for the Local Intranet zone. Each zone is configured with a default security level. You can accept the default settings or you can customize the security level to meet your specific needs. The security level for a zone can be changed by moving the slider to low, medium-low, medium, or high. Alternatively, more experienced users can define a custom level of security.

As a Desktop Support Technician, you should keep in mine that the security levels can prevent some loss of functionality when accessing Web sites. If a user a trying to access a Web site that requires some functionality that is disabled by the security level configured for the zone, add the Web site to the list of Trusted Sites.

[tags]xp,certification,70-270,account policies,local security policy[/tags]