Uninstall Internet Explorer 8 from Windows 7?

[riteshtechie]

The answer is pretty simple You can’t. Yeah, that’s true you can’t actually uninstall Internet Explorer 8 from Windows 7, and the reason being from Windows 7 onwards Microsoft has added Internet Explorer 8 as a feature in it rather than as a program. This is the reason why you can’t see Internet Explorer in Windows 7.

But this didn’t answer Jake’s Question so what should we do, there must be some workaround? Yeah, we do have and we always have :P

What we can do is we can Turn Off this Windows Feature and after that you can’t find a trace that IE was once here on Windows 7, it’s just like uninstalling it (though you aren’t).

How to do it?

Follow the below 3 steps to Turn off Internet Explorer from Windows 7.

Step 1. Click on Start ORB and type Windows Feature and hit Enter.



Step 2. Now in Windows Feature Windows uncheck the Internet Explorer 8 Option.



Step 3. Now click Yes in the Confirmation Dialog and Reboot your system and that’s it



Now you have successfully removed IE8 from Windows 7 now what now installing/using some new Internet Browser.

[noaccount]

AFAIK this is risky as a lot of dependencies need to be remaped only to remove iexplorer.exe. although it is better from a security point of view, its also not needed only to install a new browser

Wikipedia has a whole page dedicated to subject and as a foreword they state

the matter of uninstalling the version of the browser that has shipped with an operating system remains a controversial one.

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_Internet_Explorer]Removal of Internet Explorer

[Alboguy]

Doesn't this affect Windows stability?

[hellnoire]

I've removed IE without it crashing on me... but I have lost a lot of small features, so unless you know what you're doing, I wouldn't recommend it.

[riteshtechie]

Not at all, as I said in WIndows 7 its a feature rather than a pp and it don't make anything unstable

[safeguy]

I would agree with noaccount on this issue - I personally leave IE alone despite the fact I don't use it often (it isn't my default browser).

Removing Internet Explorer does have a number of consequences. Some programs bundled with Windows, such as Outlook Express, and some basic Windows components, such as Help and Support, depend on libraries installed by IE in order to function. With IE removed, they may fail to work, or exhibit unexpected behavior. Several common 3rd party applications, Intuit's Quicken being a typical example, depend heavily upon the HTML rendering components installed by the browser. For this reason, most of the IE removal utilities offer the compromise option of removing large parts of IE while still leaving behind the HTML rendering engine or "IE core," which allows many of these 3rd party applications to function normally. Also, in versions of Windows before Vista, it is also not possible to run Microsoft's Windows Update or Microsoft Update with any other browser due to the service's implementation of an ActiveX control, which no other browser supports. In Windows Vista, Windows Update is implemented as a Control Panel applet.

I know most of us here don't use Outlook Express and rarely refer to Help and Support (when I was stuck offline at a point in time - I read the Help files and guess what - I found them to be very useful...you might find out things you didn't know before) but like quoted above, some third-party apps are still affected by IE and you need not look far - read this:


Internet Explorer Can Affect Firefox

Surprised? Well - that's only the tip of the ice...god knows what else might be affected by the non-presence of IE. Rather than risk facing into trouble with some apps or Windows stability (how true that is depends on your judgment and your perception of MS as a company), just leave IE alone and install another browser if you need it and set it to default. No harm done and you wouldn't have to guess-work in the future when something goes wrong...

Another thing - there can be times when IE might come in useful when you least expect it - especially when other browsers don't work for some weird reasons (just search for it if you don't believe me).

Summary: Uninstalling IE isn't worth the potential trouble and the benefits are minimal in practice. It's just one of those "I really hate IE and it'd be nice to get rid of it once and for all" feeling - don't let emotions outweigh your logical thinking

[johnshaw1917]

Summary: Uninstalling IE isn't worth the potential trouble and the benefits are minimal in practice. It's just one of those "I really hate IE and it'd be nice to get rid of it once and for all" feeling - don't let emotions outweigh your logical thinking

Good summary safeguy, I totally agree with you.