We need to have our in-house web application always initiate a "new session" whenever a user accesses it on their desktop PC.
With IE8, the sure-fire way to accomplish this is training the users to always do File > New Session.... However, if they open the site from a desktop shortcut or open it in an already-open IE8 window via a favorite, they do not get a new session, nor do they get a new session if they explicitly open a brand-new IE8 instance. This is problematic, because people forget to create a new session like that, and then there's data-corruption problems because of leakage across simultaneous windows sharing a session.
Based on information gleaned from various sites on the web, we've found a couple of additional tweaks that purport to make this behavior more transparent, and perhaps a little more broad in effect. The one, though, that we have the most interest in (but the most difficulty with) is this registry tweak (in Windows XP):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
... Add a DWORD called 'SessionMerging' with value of 0 (zero).
This works, inasmuch as it creates a new session when opening Internet Explorer straight-away (i.e., Start > Programs > Internet Explorer... or clicking on the default desktop icon... ya know... the 'Big Blue E'... or clicking on the Quick Launch bar shortcut)... but shortcuts that are just URL shortcuts do not create new sessions.
Is there a one-shot way (via an additional registry tweak or settings/configuration change) to make any "new" IE instance that is started ALWAYS create a new session, regardless of how that instance was begun?
