Solved IE11 prompt about putting internet shortcut on desktop

[CJ Cotter]

When I'm on a web page and want to "send shortcut to desktop", I get an annoying prompt asking if I really want to do this. (Who was the MS programmer that added this idiot item?) Is there any way to disable it? Thanks in advance.

 

[Ztruker]

Doesn't do this for me? Just tried it and it created the shortcut on the desktop without any prompt.

I know that doesn't help you fix your problem but at least you now know it can work.

I wonder if it has anything to do with UAC, as I have it disabled.

 

[BrightBlessings]

That's the UAC doing what it is meant to do.

 

[CJ Cotter]

I was unaware of the User Account Control settings changer. Disabling it to "Never Notify" does indeed shut off the prompt, but it then opens me up to a whole world of potential evil being done to my computer. I've been to websites where something started installing without my permission. I want protection from that kind of thing.

Since I was hoping for some kind of registry tweak that would address just this individual annoyance, I'm going to leave this open to see what others have to say.

Nevertheless, I do thank you for taking the time to comment.

 

[CJ Cotter]

Bad Solution?

Don't know how safe this is, but go to

Tools / Internet options / Security / Internet (zone)

I just discovered that if you uncheck the box that says "Enable Protected Mode", this also shuts off the annoying prompt. However, when you do and then click [Apply], a dialog box pops up which says that you have just put your computer at risk. (You must restart IE11 for the change to take effect.)

 

[CJ Cotter]

Microsoft Explanation

When Microsoft created the feature "Protected Mode" they had the box checked--Enabled--as the default setting, for no other reason than to be a Microsoft information-gathering tool: "This was done so that we could receive feedback and data about sites that use add-ons that are incompatible with Enhanced Protected Mode." Then on November 12, 2013, they issued a patch which unchecked the "Enable Protected Mode" box as the new default. Apparently, it is not critical that we have "Protected Mode" enabled, though they still "recommend" it. See the whole write-up here:

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2907803

Additional commentary:

Microsoft updates IE11 to disable Enhanced Protected Mode by default - Neowin

So, there's the solution to the "send shortcut to desktop" annoying prompt. Uncheck the box that says "Enable Protected Mode", and ignore the warning when you do so.

I'm going to leave this thread open for a couple of weeks to give others the opportunity to comment, but then I'll close it out.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Us not knowing what third party security you use and any other backup security like MBAM Premium it's difficult to say anything but Disable protection mode at your own risk,
Which I would say that anyway
We can not recommend disabling a security feature,
If you don't like the popup messages try another browser and see if the popup occurs
Cheers.

 

[CJ Cotter]

Of course, you cannot recommend disabling any security feature.

However, since Microsoft--in their own words--is not placing an urgent critical need to have "Protected Mode" enabled, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

Thank you for your comments.