When you exit Internet Explorer 7 and you have multiple tabs open, an option displays allowing you to tell the program to reopen all currently open tabs the next time you open Internet Explorer 7.
Internet Explorer 8 has removed that option. There are a couple of ways around this.
However, first we will tell you where Internet Explorer 8 stores the information that allows the program to reopen the last browsing session.
Storage Location of Last Browsing History Data
The set of open tabs, or the browsing session, detected when Internet Explorer 8 is closed are stored in .dat files in a subdirectory within your user profiles folder in the following locations, depending on your version of Windows:
Windows XP:
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Recover\Last Active
Windows Vista and Windows 7 in Normal Privilege Mode:
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Recovery\Last Active
Windows Vista and Windows 7 in Elevated Administrator Privilege Mode:
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Recovery\High\Last Active
The main .dat filename will be similar to the following:
RecoveryStore.{GUID}.dat
where the GUID is the Globally Unique Identifier, which is different for each user and computer.
For each tab that was open when Internet Explorer 8 was closed, there will be a different .dat file to store the details and data for the web page open on each tab using the following name format:
{GUID}.dat
where the GUID is the Globally Unique Identifier, which is different for each tab that was open in the last browsing session.
TIP: The Active directory, at the same level as the Last Active directory, is used to store the current state of Internet Explorer 8 for automatic crash recovery.
Knowing where the .dat files for storing the last browsing session are located, allows you to easily backup your last browsing session for future use or for transferring to another computer. If you are using a computer also used by other people and are concerned about privacy, you can delete the .dat files to prevent other people from opening the sites you were visiting.
Reopening the Last Browsing Session
There are two methods of reopening the tabs that were open when Internet Explorer 8 was closed last.
Method #1
In the Internet Explorer window, select Reopen Last Browsing Session from the Tools menu.
NOTE: You can access the Tools menu from the menu bar or the command bar, or you can press Alt + T.
The last browsing session is opened on new tabs created to the right of any currently open tabs, preserving your currently browsing session.
Method #2
To use the second method, you must have new tabs opening to the new tab page to access the Reopen Last Browsing Session option.
To set this up, select Internet Options from the Tools menu.
On the General tab on the Internet Options dialog box, click the Settings button in the Tabs section.
The Tabbed Browsing Settings dialog box displays. Select The new tab page from the drop-down list under When a new tab is opened, open. Click OK on the Tabbed Browsing Settings dialog box and again on the Internet Options dialog box.
Open a new tab, by clicking the blank tab to the right of any opened tabs. You can also press Ctrl + T to access a new tab.
On the new tab, click the Reopen Last Browsing Session link.
The last browsing session is opened on new tabs created to the right of any currently open tabs, using the new tab as the tab for the first saved tab. Again, your current browsing session is preserved.
by Lori Kaufman