How to Automatically enable Web Tracking in Internet Explorer 9 and above

The Windows-based Survey/Optimize Client (Agent) has built-in capability via the implementation of a Browser Helper Object (BHO) that allows for usage tracking and/or hit counts of web sites in Internet Explorer 7 and later.  Due to increased security starting with Internet Explorer 9, the browser now alerts IE users when the Agent BHO tries to load. The user has the option to disable this BHO, thus rendering usage and hit count tracking functionality inoperable.

To address this on an Microsoft Active Directory enterprise-wide environment, Group Policy can be configured to always allow the Agent BHO to load silently, effectively keeping the user out of the process.

To configure this, create a Group Policy Object (GPO) using the following steps:

Open the Group Policy Management Editor

  1. Open the Group Policy Management Console (gpmc.msc from the Run… menu) on any Domain Controller or server that has access to Group Policy for the Domain.
  2. Expand the nodes in the left-hand Group Policy Management tree from the top until the Default Domain Policy is visible. (This will be the Group Policy Object (GPO) that will be modified.  A new GPO may be created to handle this specifically, but for sake of example, the Default Domain Policy GPO will be used).
  3. Right-click the Default Domain Policy GPO and select Edit…  The Group Policy Management Editor will appear.

Create the Group Policy Object

  1. In the Group Policy Management Editor, expand:
    1. User Configuration
    2. then Policies
    3. then Administrative Templates: Policy Definitions (ADMX files) retrieved from the local computer
    4. then Windows Components
    5. then Internet Explorer
    6. then Security Features
    7. then click on Add-on Management.
  2. In the right-hand window (Add-on Management), double-click Add-on List.
  3. In the Add-on List dialog, click the Enable radio button, and click the Show… button.
  4. In the Show Contents dialog, Enter the following information:
    1. For  Value Name, enter the following text string:
      {86EA4148-BEE6-4CEE-A72F-DA27A5112BD1}
      This string is the name of the Key that is created for our BHO when the Survey Client service is started.  The location of this created Key is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{86EA4148-BEE6-4CEE-A72F-DA27A5112BD1} 
    2. For Value enter a '1' (without the quotes)
      This will set the BHO to be Allowed automatically.
      Value - This is a number indicating whether Internet Explorer should deny or allow the add-on to be loaded.
      • To specify that an add-on should be denied enter a 0 (zero) into this field.
      • To specify that an add-on should be allowed, enter a 1 (one) into this field.
      • To specify that an add-on should be allowed and also permit the user to manage the add-on through Add-on Manager, enter a 2 (two) into this field.
  5. Click OK, and then OK to close and save the changes.

Once this gets propagated throughout the enterprise, the Agent BHO will be enabled automatically.

Create the Group Policy Object

Verify Group Policy was applied

You can verify whether or not the GPO was applied by looking in the registry for one of the client machines governed by the GPO rule. Check the following locations in the Registry:

  • [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Ext\CLSID]
    "{86EA4148-BEE6-4CEE-A72F-DA27A5112BD1}"="1"
    The above registry entry should exist if the GPO has been propogated to the machine.
  • [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{86EA4148-BEE6-4CEE-A72F-DA27A5112BD1}]
    The above registry entry should exist if the GPO has been propogated to the machine and the SSI Survey Client service is started. If the agent is not installed, or the SSI Survey Client service is not running, this entry will not exist.