Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Change View Source Code Editor in IE 8 thru 11

Posted: 03 Nov 2015 10:53 AM PST

Ever view the source code for a webpage in Internet Explorer? Every webpage you view on the Internet is actually just code written in various languages like HTML, CSS, Javascript and more. All of these elements combine to create a webpage you can view and interact with.

By default, IE will open the source code for a webpage in another IE window, which is fine for most people. If you are a developer or coder, you might want to use a different text editor or code editor to view the source code.

Depending on what version of IE you have installed, the method differs. From IE 8 to 10, it’s really easy and you can change the default source code viewer within IE itself.

In IE 11, you have to edit a registry key in order to make the change. It’s nothing major, but if you don’t like messing around with the registry, it’s annoying.

Change View Source Editor IE 8 to 10

It’s really easy to change the editor in these versions of IE because Microsoft built the option into the browser itself. You have to open Developer Tools to get to the option, which is really easy.

You can either press F12 on your keyboard or click on Tools and then click on Developer Tools.

Another IE window will pop up and here you want to click on File, then Customize Internet Explorer View Source and then choose from the options.

You can pick Notepad or you can click Other if you have a different code editor you would like to use. When you click Other, just browse to the location of the program file (EXE) for your editor.

Change View Source Editor IE 11

In IE 11, you have to edit the registry in order to change the editor because they have removed the option from the developer tools section now.

Before you modify the registry, make sure you read my guide on making a backup of the registry in case something goes wrong.

Now, open the registry editor by clicking on start and typing in regedit. Then, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

Make sure you are under the CURRENT_USER key and not LOCAL_MACHINE because it won’t work if you edit the keys in the latter location. Several online tutorials mention the latter, but it’s incorrect.

Right-click on the Internet Explorer key and click on New and then Key.

Name the new key View Source Editor and then press Enter. Now right-click on the new View Source Editor key and again choose New and then Key.

This key will be created under View Source Editor and you should name it Editor Name. Your registry keys should look like the image below.

In the right pane, double-click on the Default key that has no value set. In the Value data box, go ahead and put in the path to the EXE file for your desired code editor. Make sure to put the entire path in quotes as shown below.

Click OK and that’s it. You can now open IE and do a View Source and it should open in your desired code editor. You do not need to restart your computer or log off, the changes take effect immediately.

The only thing I haven’t been able to figure out yet is how to change the source code editor for Microsoft Edge, the new browser that is included with Windows 10. Once I am able to solve that issue, I’ll update this post with the solution. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment. Enjoy!

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How to Enable or Disable System Restore in Windows

Posted: 03 Nov 2015 08:44 AM PST

System Restore is a feature built into Windows that periodically creates “restore points” or backups of system files and/or user files so that the system can be restored to a previous state in case something goes wrong.

Normally, Windows will create these system restore points automatically before certain events, i.e., installing new software, updating a driver, installing Windows updates, etc. If none of these events occur, Windows will create a restore point every seven days.

In terms of files, System Restore will save a copy of a file or folder when it is modified, but only when a restore point is created. You can then restore a previous version of the file or folder by simply right-clicking on the file or folder.

Do not think of system restore as a backup solution for your files and folders because it is not nearly as robust as using Windows backup or a third-party backup program.

Enable System Restore

By default, System Restore should already be enabled on Windows unless it was turned off manually. To enable System Restore, we need to open the System Protection tab. You can do this in one of two ways. Note that the below instructions will work on Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10.

Click on the Start button and then type in system restore. You’ll probably get a couple of different options and the one you want to click on is Create a restore point.

If System Restore is disabled, you’ll see Off listed in the Protection column for each partition on the hard drive.

Note that if your computer has multiple hard drives, you might see all of them listed under Protection Settings. Windows is normally installed under C: (System), so click on that to select it. Then click on the Configure button.

Click on the Turn on system protection radio button and then adjust the slider under Disk Space Usage to a value between 3 and 5 percent. Note that this value is going to be based on the size of the partition, not the size of the hard disk.

Recommended Disk Space Usage for System Restore

This means you might have a 1 TB hard drive, but split into a C and D partition. C is the system partition where Windows is installed and might only be 100 GB and the rest is on the D partition. If you enable System Restore on the C drive, then 3% will be 3 GB and 5% will be 5 GB.

If you just have one huge C partition that is the size of the entire drive, then 3% of 1TB would be a whopping 30 GB, which is huge. In these types of cases, just set it to 1% or 2%.

Whatever percentage you use, just make sure the value is greater than 1000 MB or 1 GB as a minimum. Note that each GB will be able to hold anywhere from 1 to 3 restore points, depending on what you have on that partition.

I recommend a value between 3 GB and 10 GB for system restore as it can prove to be very handy in certain situations. The more you have, the more likely you’ll be able to recover your computer from a problem.

If you want to reduce the amount of space system restore is using on your system, just adjust the slider to a lower percentage. In addition, you can click the Delete button to remove all of the current restore points for the drive. This way, you can keep system protection enabled, but clear up some space if you are running out of hard disk space.

Disable System Restore

Disabling System Restore is just as easy as enabling it. Click on Start, type in system restore and then click on Create a restore point.

Select the hard drive you want to disable protection for in the list and then click Configure. On the next screen, select either Turn off system protection or Disable system protection.

Click OK and system restore will be turned off. You’ll also get a message stating that all restore points will be deleted from the disk and new ones will not be created.

As previously mentioned, I do not recommend turning off system protection unless you know what you are doing and already have another backup solution in place. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment. Enjoy!

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