ID/password dialog box in IE5.5 on NT4.0

We’ve just upgraded from IE4.0 to IE5.5. Many of our workstations, when launching the app pops up the internet id/password dialog box. For some reason the “auto detect proxy settings” has been unchecked and the only way to correct it is by unrestricting the account so the user can check off the settings under their own profile. Is there a way to correct this setting at an install level so we can send it out to all users vs. fixing it on a profile level?