Find Your Favorites Faster

This tip is provided by Dee Crocker of the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund.

Bookmarking frequently visited Internet sites is easy using the IE Favorites feature. Finding your favorites is not always as easy, especially if you’re bookmark crazy like me and you’ve got over 300 “favorite” sites.

A little known but useful feature in IE 6 and 7 is the Personal Favorites Menu. This option is turned off by default. By enabling this option, IE keeps your favorites list shorter by hiding links that you haven’t used recently. Those little used links aren’t gone . . . you can access them by clicking on the down arrow at the bottom of the favorites menu or submenu.

To turn on the Personal Favorites Menu:

1. Select Tools from the main IE menu bar.
2. Choose Internet Options from the drop-down menu.
3. Click on the Advanced tab.
4. In the Browser settings section, check the box "Enable Personalized Favorites Menu."

You have to exit IE and restart it for the Personalized Favorites Menu feature to begin working. It takes a little time for IE to learn your surfing preferences, but once it does, you’ll spend less time sifting through your Favorites Menu and more time surfing the net.