Internet Explorer 6 contains a hard-coded list of unsafe files in the
shdocvw.dll file. IE 6 uses the unsafe-file list to prevent you from
accidentally opening a file type that might cause problems on your computer.
The complete list of unsafe extensions is:
- .ad
- .adp
- .asp
- .bas
- .bat
- .chm
- .cmd
- .com
- .cpl
- .crt
- .exe
- .hlp
- .hta
- .inf
- .ins
- .isp
- .js
- .jse
- .lnk
- .mdb
- .mde
- .msc
- .msi
- .msp
- .mst
- .pcd
- .pif
- .reg
- .scr
- .sct
- .shb
- .shs
- .url
- .vb
- .vbe
- .vbs
- .vsd
- .vss
- .vst
- .vsw
- .ws
- .wsc
- .wsf
- .wsh
You can add file extensions to the unsafe-file list:
- Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\UnsafeFiles\Include
You will have to create the key if it does not exist. It won’t.
- From the Edit menu, select New, Key
- Enter the extension you want to add
for example if .wsh were not in the
default list, you could add it:
.wsh
You can make exceptions to the unsafe-file list:
- Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\UnsafeFiles\Exclude
You will have to create the key if it does not exist. It won’t.
- From the Edit menu, select New, Key
- Enter the extension you want to exclude
for example to exclude .exe from
the default list, add it:
.exe
Messed up or want to get back to defaults, just delete the keys you added. In
most cases delete the UnsafeFiles key.