Troubleshoot difficulties with the Manage Add-ons interface

In the event of difficulties with the Manage Add-ons interface, the following steps are recommended.

  1. Test the Manage Add-ons interface when logged on as a different user. The configuration of disabled add-ons is stored per-user.

  2. Check the registry location for blocked add-ons:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings

    Note: The Settings registry does not get created until at least one Add-On is blocked.

    • From the Start menu, click Run.
    • In the Run dialog box, type: Regedit. Click OK.
    • In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following registry location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings
    • Under the Settings registry key, each add-on that is blocked is represented by a subkey with the class identifier (CLSID) of the blocked component. You can perform a search on the CLSID in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry key to determine what component each key represents. To do this, first locate and click one of the CLSIDs. In this example, the subkey name we will look for is {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000}.
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    • After selecting the CLSID, from the Edit menu, click Rename.
    • Copy the entire CLSID name to the clipboard by pressing the CTRL+C keys or by or by right-clicking on the CLSID name and then clicking Copy.
    • After copying the CLSID name to the clipboard, from the Edit menu, click Find.
    • In the Find dialog box, paste the CLSID name from the clipboard by pressing CTRL+V or by right-clicking in the Find what line and then clicking Paste. In this example, {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000} is pasted in the Find what line.
    • Click Find Next.
    • Keep searching for registry subkeys until you find one that has a description along with it. In this example, the CLSID of {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000} corresponds to Shockwave ActiveX Control.
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