Network Management Strategies for the CIO
When you want to give users a new workstation, for whatever reason, you know they want to carry some information with them to the new station. One way to do this is to use some kind of a copy function to copy a disk image to the new station. But if your needs are less expansive, you can try this simple tip, which allows info from IE to go with your user, and all you have to do is show the user how it works.
Cookies and favorites are the two most important customization features found in Microsoft Internet Explorer. When you move a user from one computer to another, that person will probably want to take those settings along to the next system. Also, when users go out on the road they also probably want to take the latest information with them.
If they have access to an administrator's password, they can find these settings stored in their user profile and copy them out. However, Internet Explorer provides a different and much easier method that any user can apply. They just select the Import and Export command from the File menu to launch the Import/Export wizard. Then, select any of the four choices: Import Cookies, Export Cookies, Import Favorites, and Export Favorites. They'll be prompted either to locate the folder containing the favorites they wish to export, or specify the location of the file they will create when exporting cookies. For importing cookies, they'll need to know the location of the text file, or the folder containing the favorites they want
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to import.
When you perform an Export Cookies, Internet Explorer takes all of the cookie files and condenses them into a single text file. The wizard's Import Cookies function restores individual cookies.
You may wish to make a collection of favorites or cookies available to other users on the network. If so, you can use this function to create a central repository to which other users have access.
Barrie Sosinsky is president of consulting company Sosinsky and Associates (Medfield MA). He has written extensively on a variety of computer topics. His company specializes in custom software (database and Web related), training and technical documentation.
This was first published in July 2003
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