IE 8 Removing "Favorites" button and "Suggested Sites" Button

My Links bar was already full in IE7. IE 8 has crowded out some links I like
to have visible in the links bar. If the "Favorites" button and the
"Suggested Sites" button cannot be taken out of the row of links or put in
the end with the double arrows, I will go back to IE7 and stay there to the
last possible moment. Please advise.

Hi Tom,

Right click on a link or Folder button on the Favorites Bar to display the
context menu. Select Customize Title Widths... Your choice... Icons only
gives you the most compact layout...

Click on a link or Folder button on the Favorites Bar. Hold the mouse down
and drag it to your preferred position.

Regards.

"Tom461" <Tom461@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:22E96E7B-A649-4F91-AE07-9581820232F7@microsoft.com...
> My Links bar was already full in IE7. IE 8 has crowded out some links I
> like
> to have visible in the links bar. If the "Favorites" button and the
> "Suggested Sites" button cannot be taken out of the row of links or put in
> the end with the double arrows, I will go back to IE7 and stay there to
> the
> last possible moment. Please advise.
>

Thanks for the info. I don't like the narrow title width option because I
want more space for some link names. And moving the big new Favorites button
on the left of the Links seems not possible. So I will remove IE8. I can't
believe that Microsoft got rich on thinking like this.

"rob^_^" wrote:

> Hi Tom,
>
> Right click on a link or Folder button on the Favorites Bar to display the
> context menu. Select Customize Title Widths... Your choice... Icons only
> gives you the most compact layout...
>
> Click on a link or Folder button on the Favorites Bar. Hold the mouse down
> and drag it to your preferred position.
>
> Regards.
>
> "Tom461" <Tom461@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:22E96E7B-A649-4F91-AE07-9581820232F7@microsoft.com...
> > My Links bar was already full in IE7. IE 8 has crowded out some links I
> > like
> > to have visible in the links bar. If the "Favorites" button and the
> > "Suggested Sites" button cannot be taken out of the row of links or put in
> > the end with the double arrows, I will go back to IE7 and stay there to
> > the
> > last possible moment. Please advise.
> >
>

MS derives no income from users upgrading to IE.

Tom461 wrote:
> Thanks for the info. I don't like the narrow title width option because I
> want more space for some link names. And moving the big new Favorites
> button
> on the left of the Links seems not possible. So I will remove IE8. I can't
> believe that Microsoft got rich on thinking like this.
>
> "rob^_^" wrote:
>
>> Hi Tom,
>>
>> Right click on a link or Folder button on the Favorites Bar to display
>> the
>> context menu. Select Customize Title Widths... Your choice... Icons only
>> gives you the most compact layout...
>>
>> Click on a link or Folder button on the Favorites Bar. Hold the mouse
>> down
>> and drag it to your preferred position.
>>
>> Regards.
>>
>> "Tom461" <Tom461@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:22E96E7B-A649-4F91-AE07-9581820232F7@microsoft.com...
>>> My Links bar was already full in IE7. IE 8 has crowded out some links I
>>> like
>>> to have visible in the links bar. If the "Favorites" button and the
>>> "Suggested Sites" button cannot be taken out of the row of links or put
>>> in
>>> the end with the double arrows, I will go back to IE7 and stay there to
>>> the
>>> last possible moment. Please advise.

I am also looking to do this but for different reasons. I am attempting to
create a public kiosk. Through GPO I can remove the favorites bar, but that
favorites button remains. There is not a way that I can find to remove that
thing. In Kiosk mode, yes the button is gone. But if a link or a new window
is opened, that button remains and I really want it gone before I deploy.

Has anyone gained new insight to this since the OP?

Thanks,
Gretchen Garcia


"Tom461" wrote:

> My Links bar was already full in IE7. IE 8 has crowded out some links I like
> to have visible in the links bar. If the "Favorites" button and the
> "Suggested Sites" button cannot be taken out of the row of links or put in
> the end with the double arrows, I will go back to IE7 and stay there to the
> last possible moment. Please advise.
>

Hi Gretchen,

It sounds like you are launching your Kiosk application in a normal IE
Window.

I think there is a GP setting to always launch IE in Kiosk mode, otherwise
you should launch IE with the Kiosk mode command line switch eg.
iexplore.exe -k homepageuri

Regards.

"Gretchen" <Gretchen@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9C134BFD-2C5B-42AA-BA6E-F5C03FB578F9@microsoft.com...
> I am also looking to do this but for different reasons. I am attempting
> to
> create a public kiosk. Through GPO I can remove the favorites bar, but
> that
> favorites button remains. There is not a way that I can find to remove
> that
> thing. In Kiosk mode, yes the button is gone. But if a link or a new
> window
> is opened, that button remains and I really want it gone before I deploy.
>
> Has anyone gained new insight to this since the OP?
>
> Thanks,
> Gretchen Garcia
>
>
> "Tom461" wrote:
>
>> My Links bar was already full in IE7. IE 8 has crowded out some links I
>> like
>> to have visible in the links bar. If the "Favorites" button and the
>> "Suggested Sites" button cannot be taken out of the row of links or put
>> in
>> the end with the double arrows, I will go back to IE7 and stay there to
>> the
>> last possible moment. Please advise.
>>

[amillionvolts]

I have found a way to remove and prevent "Suggested Sites" from appearing in the favorites bar in IE8 on Windows XP. This has worked for me and I am testing this on a freshly installed copy of XP with all the latest updates. First you should disable the suggested sites feature by uncheck marking its box under advanced settings. Details on how to do that are posted above by other people. After un-checking that I rebooted and started up IE8, right clicked on “Suggested Sites” in the favorites bar and said delete. Close IE8 now. Then I used Registry Mechanic to scan my registry for any broken links and invalid values. It found the broken/invalid shortcut in the registry at:
hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\internet explorer\suggested sites
Where the variable “SlicePath” should have the value of:
C:\Documents and Settings\your username here\Favorites\Links\suggested sites.url

Yes this is a broken value, but by having it broken you get what you want by not having that URL in your favorites bar. While you are in that folder in the registry, make sure the variable “Enabled” is set to 0.
Because we deleted the file “suggested sites.url”, you want to make sure no programs you have on your system will change this registry value. This has worked for me; let us know if it works for you.

Extra notes:
Registry Mechanic is a registry cleaner made by PC Tools.
This is my first post on this website; if I am breaking any rules by posting the above, I am sorry and (to the website admins) you may remove/correct my post if necessary.
I would expect the fix for Vista and Windows 7 to be very similar, maybe with a slight tweak on that registry path.