November 20, 2006Internet Explorer 7’s Kiosk ModeNow that we have IE 7.0, one of the first questions is does it still support kiosk mode. The answer is yes. Still, the kiosk mode doesn't buy you much as that is probably 5% of the solution. The solution is most definitely more along the lines of www.sitekiosk.com and www.kioware.com for a wrapper. Still, the perennial Kiosk Mode cannot be ignored. At work, we frequently get the request from clients to keep internet machines locked onto their website. There are a number of different pieces of software that can do this - and we do use them. Sometimes though, we just need a quick and dirty way to do this. I have discovered a way to do just that! Read on . . . IE7 does have a “Kiosk Mode” which launches the browser with no tool bars, no address bar, nothing! just the browsing window. Click here for a Firefox How-to. You can launch IE7 into Kiosk mode by adding a switch to a command line command! 1. Click Windows Key+R The problem with this method is that people can figure out that hitting Alt+F4 will close the window, and then they double-click IE from the desktop. We can’t simply removed the IE icon because a blank desktop with no way to get back online is unacceptable! We need their website/webapp running! Here’s a way around this issue: We can create a shortcut to IE and pass the “ -k” switch directly! 1. Create a shortcut to IE7 on the desktop and remove the direct link: 2. Right-click and select “Properties“ 3. In the “Target” field, add the “ -k” operator the the command - remember to add a space before the dash: Known Issues: 1. Now, users can still open My Computer/My Documents and use the address bar there. As I mentioned, there are many different apps that can really lock the machines down, we use Fortres at work. Unfortunitly this is the best, free method as of this writing -at least until someone creates an addon for IE. |