IE7’s Security Zones User Interface Part III

The process of adding sites to the Local Intranet, Trusted Sites, and Restricted Sites zones is easy. So, too, is selecting one of the four broad security level settings. The tricky part is adjusting the individual security settings because you really need to have a thorough understanding of what each of these settings controls. In Part II of this article, we looked at some of the individual security settings. In this installment, we’ll continue looking at some of the remaining settings that you can configure.

Downloads

The settings in the Downloads category allow you to control how you want the browser to deal with the download of files and fonts. The Font Download option can be set to Enable, Disable, or Prompt; the File Download option can only be set to Enable or Disable.

Java VM

There is only one setting available under the Java VM (Virtual Machine) category: Java Permissions. When a Java applet runs, it typically requests permission to access items on your system, such as folders, files, printers, system information, or network connections. Obviously, controlling the amount of security applied to Java applets is very important.

To configure Java security, you’ll use one of five settings:

• Custom
• Disable Java
• High Safety
• Low Safety
• Medium Safety

Keep in mind that if a Java applet doesn’t need a higher level of permission than what you have set, it will run without requesting permissions. If it does need a higher level of permission, Internet Explorer will display a dialog box that prompts you to grant the necessary additional privileges needed for the applet to run.