Tip 104: Add or modify Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) command shortcuts

IE 5.5 lets you search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for a specific Microsoft article by typing the article number in the IE address bar. For example, to display the contents of the Microsoft article:
"BUG: MSCDEX May Not Detect Disk Change" ( http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=123456 ), you would type:
MSKB Q123456
in the address bar.

Microsoft removed this functionality in IE 6.0, but you can reenable this feature as well as add your own shortcuts by performing the following steps:

  1. Start the registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
  2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl.
  3. From the Edit menu, select New, Key.
  4. Enter the name that you want to use as the shortcut command (e.g., MSKB), then press Enter.
  5. Select the new key, then double-click the Default value in the right-hand pane.
  6. Set the value to be the Web address you want to use and append %s to the end of the URL that the shortcut points to. For example, type: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=%s to enable the Microsoft Knowledge Base functionality.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Close the registry editor.

The change will take effect immediately. The table below presents other popular shortcuts.

Key Name Default Value
AV (AltaVista) http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/web?q=%s
GGL (Google) http://www.google.com/search?q=%s
WINFAQ (Windows NT/2000 FAQ) http://search.winnetmag.com/query.html?col=faq&qt=%s

After you create a shortcut, you simply type the shortcut, followed by your search terms, in IE’s address bar. For example, type:

WINFAQ active directory

to search the Windows NT/2000 FAQ Web site for the term "active directory".
To save time, you can create the following information in a .reg file to automate the addition of the shortcuts mentioned before:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\AV]
@="http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/web?q=%s"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\Ggl]
@="http://www.google.com/search?q=%s"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MSKB]
@="http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=%s"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\WINFAQ]
@="http://search.winnetmag.com/query.html?col=faq&qt=%s"