IE Maximized

I'm always annoyed by Internet Explorer opening up in a small window, even after I repeatedly set it to maximized before I close it. Today, I got fed up and did some googling. Here's what I found and it solved the problem:

One of the most aggravating things about IE is that it won't always open full screen. The fix is easy! Right click on your Internet Explore shortcut and click on properties, select the shortcut tab. Select run, click on the dropdown menu and select run maximized. Click Apply, OK and that's it!
(from http://www.marthas-web.com/internetexplorer.htm)

Now, I use the launch bar IE icon, and you can do this process on that, but I don't think you can do it on the one in XP's start menu or the default one on the desktop. If you just make a shortcut to one of those, I think you can edit the properties of the shortcut and use that.

I also have what I consider to be the convenience of conveniences: an icon to open a new, blank IE window so I can quickly type in a site without having to wait for my homepage to come up. I create a shortcut to IExplore.exe (which is located in "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" for me) and then I make a minor change in the shortcut properties. In the target box, add about:blank to the end so that you have

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" about:blank

If you combine this with the maximize trick above, you get a beautiful, empty window to take you anywhere you want to go. You could also put a URL there, I guess, but there are other ways to do that that may be better than this.

I'm just happy as a clam now. Thanks, Mahhhtha's Web!