Use Chrome Frame Without Thinking

For those who feel the need to keep using Chrome Frame, inside Internet Exploder (whatever version), instead of either going with Chrome, Iron, or another more secure browser, there is help, so that you will not have to invoke Chrome Frame with each window.

As the article states, on the Digital Inspiration site, there are some who are forced to use Internet Exploder at work, but, I am not certain how they are benefitted since anyone forced to use IE is also probably disallowed from installing Chrome Frame on the work PC.

Still, if the first condition is upon you, but not the second, you can try this -

You love Google Chrome more than Internet Explorer but since you work in a corporate environment, you aren’t allowed to install Google’s browser on your office computer.

How do you use Chrome then?

Well, you have two options. You can either use the portable version of Chrome (it doesn’t require installation) or you may download the Chrome Frame plugin that, in simple English, will let you run Google Chrome inside Internet Explorer itself.

The Google Chrome Frame plugin is available for all versions of Windows Internet Explorer (including IE 6).

Always Open Sites in Google Chrome

There is a minor problem. If are want to open a website inside Internet Explorer using Google Chrome Frame, you need to manually prefix the URL with “cf:” (without quotes) to activate the Chrome engine. For example, you’ll have to type cf:http://labnol.org in the IE address bar to render this site using Chrome.

Since this involves some effort, here’s a simple workaround that will automatically open all websites inside the Google Chrome Frame without you having to type the “cf” prefix with every URL.

Download the chrome-frame.reg file and double click it. This will add a new entry in your Windows registry forcing IE to render all web pages with Chrome.

Seems like a good idea, but a warning: I don’t do Internet Exploder unless I have to, and it usually involves a Microsoft site, so I theorize that having IE behave like IE is best for my uses. Therefore I have not used Chrome Frame, nor downloaded the registry file. The site is reputable, so I certainly think it is probably alright to do it, but, as I said, I can’t endorse what I have not used.

My advice, for all but those who can get away with Chrome Frame, yet cannot download another browser is – get another browser, and use IE to contact MS sites, and no others. (Another idea: a U3 thumbdrive will allow the use of programs on an otherwise locked down work computer.)

Of course, you probably know which browser I’d recommend.

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An ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. Elbert Hubbard

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