Get rid of content advisor password

Archived Articles, Internet How-Tos

Question: Suddenly I am unable to access any web pages with Microsoft Internet Explorer on my Windows 98 computer. A notice appears saying “Check content advisor for missing information.” I have done this but unfortunately at some time a supervisor password was used and I do not recall it. Can you help? — I.J.

Answer: Normally that shows up when a file called ratings.pol has been corrupted or removed. Perhaps someone in your house has been tampering with the Content Advisor settings?

Anyway, the file contains information to protect web users from off-color or adult-oriented material on the web. It is set up by the Content Advisor feature in Microsoft Internet Explorer, which is the Web browser built into Windows.

For those who have not seen this feature before, it can be accessed by choosing Tools from the menu at the top of the browser. Then choose Internet Options, and then click on the Content tab. After that, click the Enable button to configure the browser based on content in four categories: Violence, Nudity, Sex, and Language.

When these are set, the browser will prompt the person surfing the web to enter a password when a questionable page is detected. If you lose the password, there’s no getting around the problem except with a little computer surgery. You’re going to have to cut into the bowels of Windows to fix it. This can be a little scary, but it’s quite straightforward.

  1. To start the procedure, you have to go into the Windows registry. That’s kind of like a hidden filing cabinet used by Windows to keep track of all kinds of system, software, and file settings. Click the Start button in the bottom left corner of your Windows desktop, then select Run and type in REGEDIT. Then click OK. This opens the registry editor.
  2. You’ll see a window with two panes. Down the left will be a list of entries with plus signs (+) next to them. Click the plus sign in front of the one called HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. The plus will turn into a minus sign (-) and a sub-menu will open to reveal a list of more entries with more plus signs next to them.
  3. Next, click the plus sign next to SOFTWARE, then Microsoft, and then Windows, Current Version, and finally Policies. In the Policies list, click once on Ratings.
  4. Now look to the right pane of the registry editor. There should be two listing -one that says Default, and one that says Key. Select Key with your mouse and press the Delete key on your keyboard, which will remove Key. Leave Default and any other entries alone. Close the Registry. (A visual representation of the registry tree is at: www.dracon.net/regedit/reg03.html.)
  5. Next, use Windows Explorer to browse to the C:windowssystem folder. Click the Tools menu at the top of the Windows Explorer window, and then click Folder Options and then the View tab. Click Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.
  6. Then hit F5 to refresh the Windows Explorer file listings and locate the ratings.pol file. Delete it. Then reboot your computer.

When the system restarts you’ll be able to get into the Content Advisor and reset the passwords.