Appendix J: Content Advisor in Windows Server 2008
Applies To: Windows Server 2008
In This Appendix
Benefits and Purposes of Content Advisor in Internet Explorer 7
How Content Advisor Affects Communication Across the Internet
Procedures for Controlling Content Advisor
Benefits and Purposes of Content Advisor in Internet Explorer 7
Content Advisor is a tool that works with Internet Explorer 7 to help the computer administrator control the types of Internet content that can be viewed from that computer. By default, Content Advisor is disabled on computers running Windows Server 2008. Content Advisor can only be enabled by someone with administrative credentials. If Content Advisor is enabled, only content that meets or exceeds the criteria configured in Content Advisor can be viewed with Internet Explorer 7.
Content Advisor is compliant with the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) specification. For more information, view topics about PICS on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web site at:
(Web addresses can change, so you might be unable to connect to the Web site or sites mentioned here.)
For information about Content Advisor, see Help topics in Windows Server 2008. For sources of information about configuring Internet Explorer 7, see Internet Explorer 7 and Resulting Internet Communication in Windows Server 2008 in this white paper.
How Content Advisor Affects Communication Across the Internet
You can open Content Advisor in Internet Options on the Content tab. Internet Options can be opened in a variety of ways, including through the Internet ExplorerTools menu and through Control Panel\Network and Internet\Internet Options. If you have previously created a Supervisor password in Content Advisor, you will be prompted for it before you can view the Content Advisor interface.
Content Advisor supports or initiates the following types of communication across the Internet:
When Content Advisor is enabled and a user on that computer uses Internet Explorer to try to view a Web site, Content Advisor compares the Web site against the criteria that are configured in Content Advisor. The Web site will be displayed only if it meets or exceeds the criteria.
The criteria that are configured in Content Advisor can be ratings criteria, lists of approved and disapproved Web sites, or both. If ratings criteria are used (that is, if any rating settings other than "Unrestricted" are used), by default, sites that are not rated by the chosen ratings system cannot be viewed. However, an administrator can change this by opening Content Advisor, clicking the General tab, and selecting Users can see websites that have no rating.
By default, the rating system used with Content Advisor is the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA). The ratings for a Web site are stored in metadata that Web sites make available according to the PICS standard. For more information, see topics about PICS on the W3C Web site at:
(Web addresses can change, so you might be unable to connect to the Web site or sites mentioned here.)
The Content Advisor interface includes buttons that provide links to the Internet:
Content Advisor Ratings tab: When you click the More info button, the Internet page for the current rating service is displayed. This varies according to the rating service you are using. For example, if you are using ICRA, the following Web site might be displayed:
https://www.icra.org/pics/vocabularyv03/
(Web addresses can change, so you might be unable to connect to the Web site or sites mentioned here.)
Content Advisor General tab: When you click the Find rating systems button, the following Web page is displayed:
Procedures for Controlling Content Advisor
By default, Content Advisor is disabled on a computer running Windows Server 2008; Content Advisor will not run if the default settings remain unchanged. You can use Group Policy to prevent settings being changed for Content Advisor, as described in this section. The section also tells how to open Content Advisor (to view or change settings).
To Open Content Advisor
Log on to a computer running Windows Server 2008 (make sure that you have administrative credentials for that computer). You can log on as a user and then provide the administrative credentials when prompted.
Click Start, and then either click Control Panel, or point to Settings and then click Control Panel.
Either double-click Internet Options, or click Network and Internet and then click Internet Options.
Click the Content tab, and then under Content Advisor, click Enable, Disable, or Settings.
If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
View or change settings as needed.
To Prevent a Person Logged On as an Administrator from Changing Settings for Content Advisor
As needed, see Appendix B: Resources for Learning About Group Policy for Windows Server 2008, and then edit an appropriate Group Policy object (GPO).
If you want the policy setting to apply to all users of a computer and to come into effect when the computer starts or when Group Policy is refreshed, expand Computer Configuration. If you want the policy setting to apply to users and to come into effect when users log on or when Group Policy is refreshed, expand User Configuration.
Expand Policies (if present), expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, expand Internet Explorer, and then click Internet Control Panel.
In the details pane, double-click Disable the Content page, and then click Enabled.
Note
When this policy setting is enabled, users will not be able to change settings for any feature reached from the Content tab (Content Advisor, Certificates, AutoComplete, or Feeds).