IEZoneAnalyzer 3: Finally an easy way to manage Internet Explorer security zones

Internet Explorer's security zones provide support for more than 70 key settings, which gives you very fine control over what websites can and can't do on your system. These settings are spread around several dialogs, though, and it can be difficult to get a feel for your current configuration, or spot any problems -- unless you get a little help from IEZoneAnalyzer 3.

If you'd like an overview of your current security settings, for instance, don't waste time browsing around the Tools > Internet Options dialog. Just launch IEZoneAnalyzer, choose "Internet" in the Security Zone box, click "View Effective Settings," and the program will display your configuration in a single dialog. This includes the source of each setting, so you'll know if a particular restriction was applied by your preferences, machine preferences or Group Policy. And a couple of clicks will export this data to the clipboard, a CSV file, or even directly to Excel, if you'd like to run further analysis or just save it for posterity.

IEZoneAnalyzer also allows you to compare entire collections of IE security settings.

If you're having IE issues on your laptop, say, but your desktop is fine, then you can use the program to save the settings from one configuration (File > Export Local Settings), compare it with the other and highlight any differences.

Alternatively, you could use the same idea to monitor changes in a single IE installation, over time. So once you've optimized your security settings, you might save these as a baseline. Then, maybe every month, you could use IEZoneAnalyzer to compare your current zone settings with that baseline, and if the settings have drifted for some reason (someone else with access to your PC has tweaked something, maybe) it'll be highlighted immediately.

The program's third option makes it easy to compare settings for particular IE Security Zones, either against each other or Microsoft's templates (the default values selected if you choose High, Medium High, Medium, Medium Low or Low security).

You might think you've set up IE to have a high level of security, for instance, but is there a setting you've forgotten? To find out, you can choose the High Security template, compare it with your local settings, and the resulting report will immediately highlight any differences.

IEZoneAnalyzer 3 is a useful tool for anyone who would like to better understand Internet Explorer's security settings, then. It's portable, for extra convenience, and the latest version is available now.

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