Internet Explorer 8 Welcome window fix

When you run Internet Explorer 8 for the first time, it pop-ups a Welcome window which takes you through many screens asking questions. This may become a headache if you re-install Windows every few months like I do. Also, when you create a new user account, that new user has to go through this Welcome window again. But here is a fix for this Welcome window.

If you do not want to go through this Welcome window, follow these instructions before you run Internet Explorer 8 for the first time.

1. Open Windows Registry Editor by pressing Windows Key + R, typing regedit and pressing Enter
2. Navigate to the following key

   HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain

3. In the right hand side pane, right click and select New → Dword (32-bit) value to create a DWORD (32-bit) value named IE8RunOnceLastShown. When created, double-click on it and set its value to 1. Similarly, create a DWORD (32-bit) value named IE8TourShown and set its value to 1.
4. In the right hand side pane, right click and select New → Binary Value to create a Binary value named IE8RunOnceLastShown_TIMESTAMP. Similarly, create a Binary value named IE8TourShownTime. Set the value of both these entries to 0.
5. Now you can start Internet Explorer 8 without the Welcome window bugging you.

Here is a table of entries, types and their values :

If you are not familiar with editing Windows’ Registry then you can download the Registry entries file from here. Download it to your Windows’ Desktop, extract the contents and double click on ie8_welcome_fix.reg. Choose Yes when prompted.