Sometimes when I hit the Back button in Internet Explorer 5.0, the page I'm looking at just reloads, and the browser does not take me to the previously viewed page. No matter how often I hit Back, I never get where I want to go. Is there any way I can stop this from happening and control my browser's behavior?

Brent Carson

We hear complaints about this obnoxious practice a lot (for instance, "No Turning Back," October 16, 2001). There is no way for you to stop this, but your browser isn't to blame. The site's designers have hijacked your Back button to make sure you stay put. Whenever you encounter a site like this, e-mail the Webmaster and explain why you won't be coming back.

You can get around the problem in several ways, though. You can right-click the Back button, which brings up a menu listing the sites that you visited during your current browsing session. Move the mouse down to the site you want to revisit and then left-click. You can use the same technique with the Forward button as well. Another way is to click Internet Explorer's History button and select your desired site from the list. This method will take longer, however.

Incidentally, if you open more than one Internet Explorer window, each one maintains its own Back and Forward lists. This can be extremely useful but can also be confusing. It pays to keep track of the IE windows you have open at any given time; when you hit the Back button and you don't achieve the desired result, you may just be working in the wrong browser window.