This morning I copied a URL from the browser to the clipboard and then tried to paste it into the email message I was writing in another browser window. Internet Explorer popped up this confirmation box:

I wouldn’t mind so much if it showed this box one time. But it shows the box for every new email I try to paste stuff to.

There are two things that annoy me about this confirmation box. The first is that the default button is “Don’t allow”. Obviously, somebody has a much higher opinion of the threat posed by indiscriminate clipboard pasting than I do. I just don’t agree that IE should be holding my hand here and trying to dissuade me from pasting data into an email. The default should be “Allow access”. For dang sure, I should be able to change the default. Better yet, I’d like to just turn the silly notification off. Does Windows have a, “Yes, I know what I’m doing” mode?

Worse, this confirmation box is broken for keyboard users. I’m pretty keyboard-centric, especially when I’m writing. I don’t need to remove my fingers from the keyboard in order to copy a URL from one browser window (or tab) to another. Alt+Tab, Ctrl+D, Ctrl+C, Alt+Tab, Ctrl+V. Done. When this confirmation box pops up, it changes “Done” into:

1. “What the heck?”
2. Press Enter before fully realizing that I just prevented myself from pasting into the email.
3. Copy the draft email to the clipboard.
4. Open Notepad.
5. Paste the draft into Notepad.
6. Close the draft email.
7. Open a new email message or reply.
8. Paste the draft back into the new email.
9. Go find the URL I wanted to paste, and copy it to the clipboard.
10. Attempt to paste the URL into the email.
11. Read confirmation box and press the left arrow button to highlight the “Allow access” button.
12. Nothing happens.
13. Press the right arrow.
14. Press Enter.

Whoever coded up this particular confirmation box got his arrow keys backwards.

I guess I am more secure with this new setup. It’s so painful that I’ll stop trying to paste things into my emails.

I understand that security is an issue, and to some extent IE has to protect users from themselves. But this is broken. Horribly. At minimum, the confirmation should have a link or checkbox that lets me turn the message off for pages that I identify. Like the “new email” page that I use dozens of times a day.