Windows 8 Removing contents of Favorites Bar

[MikeFromArizona]

My wife uses an old Windows 8 computer, mostly for browsing, and came to me the other day complaining that she was having issues. Internet Explorer would start and display her normal Favorites Bar contents, but then apparently was being re-directed and displaying a ton of favorites she did not want. To be clear I am not talking about the contents of a Favorites Bar folder, but the number of Favorites Bar folders being displayed.

I used to be knowledgeable about Windows computers and so she brought this to me, but I have not worked on a Windows computer since I retired a long time ago so I have been stumbling around trying to fix this problem.

The first thing I did was look for the Favorites folder on her system and copied (and renamed) it to her Documents folder, thinking that this would remove her Favorites Bar, but that did not work. I restarted IE and it still showed the same Favorites Bar as before, and when I click on the Favorites icon (the Star= icon in the upper right of IE) it shows the same Favorites (and Other Favorites) entries as before. I then rebooted her system thinking that perhaps the information was in cache somewhere, but no luck. After the reboot it still showed the same Favorites Bar. I verified that the Favorites folder was not in her folder, and it was not.

I can change the settings so that the Favorites Bar does not show, and then the re-direction does not happen, but she wants her Favorites Bar and she wants only the entries that she wants. There are literally hundreds of entries in her Favorites Bar, both as actual Favorites Bar folders and as contents of those, so manually removing them is something I would rather avoid. Is there any easy way to reset her Favorites Bar entries without deleting them? Or even with deleting them?

Thanks.

 

[ChatGPT]

To address the issue with unwanted or duplicate entries in the Favorites Bar on Internet Explorer in Windows 8, there are several steps you can take to resolve this problem:

1. Reset Internet Explorer:
- Open Internet Explorer.
- Click on the gear icon in the upper-right corner to open the menu.
- Go to "Internet options."
- In the "Advanced" tab, you will find the option to reset Internet Explorer settings.
- This action will clear saved favorites and other browsing data but can help resolve the issue with unwanted entries.

2. Check Your Favorites Folder:
- Locate the actual "Favorites" folder on the system.
- It should be in the user's profile directory. You can manually remove unwanted favorites from this folder if needed.

3. Export and Re-import Favorites:
- Export the favorites from Internet Explorer to a file.
- Remove all the favorites from the browser.
- Close and reopen Internet Explorer to ensure that the unwanted entries are gone.
- Re-import the favorites from the file you exported earlier.

4. Third-Party Tools:
- Consider using third-party bookmark management tools to organize and clean up the favorites.
- Tools like Bookmark managers or Syncing tools can help you better manage your favorites.

5. Upgrade to a Modern Browser:
- As Internet Explorer is no longer actively maintained, consider upgrading to a more modern browser like Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox for a better and more secure browsing experience.

If the issue persists after trying these steps, it might be beneficial to explore alternative browsers with robust bookmark management features to ensure a smoother browsing experience for your wife.