Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
The latest IE update - Internet Explorer 8 - causes problems for some people. It might be easy to remove the IE update, or it might be a lot of work.
I recently updated to Internet Explorer 8. I would like to change it back to Internet Explorer 7. Can this be done? If so, how?
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I'm hearing this question a lot. Over and over. From many people. All the time.
Apparently that latest IE update isn't working for
some many people.
Including my own test machine.
And uninstalling it can also be a bit of a problem.
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First, Microsoft has a knowledgebase article: How do I uninstall or remove Internet Explorer 8? That article references a "Fix this problem" utility that supposedly does everything necessary. If you can, I actually recommend trying that utility first.
If that doesn't work, then the recommended approach is to look for Internet Explorer 8 in the Add/Remove programs section (or the Programs and Features section) of Control Panel.
Clicking Remove should start the "Windows Internet Explorer 8 Removal Wizard":
And then things get sticky.
As you can see, I've been warned that several pieces of software were installed after I upgraded to IE8. It's possible that removing IE8 will break one or more of them:
Hopefully, immediately after an upgrade this should be a short list, but as you can see in this example all I've taken is updates, and installed one application and the list is already quite long. Sadly, if IE8 isn't working for you, you may simply need to take the risk, and be ready to re-install any affected applications after you're done.
Eventually, you'll need to reboot (of course):
After rebooting and firing up Internet Explorer:
Now, I'm hearing of many reports of folks who cannot follow the instructions above. The most notable complaint: "Internet Explorer 8 doesn't appear in the Add/Remove list".
The most common reason is simply this, quoting from the knowledgebase article:
Important You cannot uninstall Internet Explorer 8 if it is set as not removable. This occurs if you install Internet Explorer 8 before you install Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP.
If this happens to you, things get complicated. The procedure, as outlined in the knowledgebase article You cannot uninstall Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8 after you install Windows XP Service Pack 3 is simply this:
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Uninstall Windows XP SP3
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Uninstall Internet Explorer 8
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Reinstall Windows XP SP3
Those three little bullets encompass a lot of work, and a lot of potential for things to not work, depending on how much activity has occurred on your system after SP3 was installed.
Finally, the original knowledgebase article I referenced above, How do I uninstall or remove Internet Explorer 8? includes "Alternative steps" to uninstalling IE8 as well. These involve running the uninstaller manually via commands entered or pasted into a Windows Command Prompt.
Article C3723 - May 6, 2009
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
I stupidly set my computer to auto update and MS downloaded their malfunctioning junk. After reading the above article, I decided to delete IE8 and I am now running IE7 which has solved all problems. Vista? Office 2007? IE8? Only Bill Gates and crew could get away with doing their jobs so badly.
Posted by: anthony at July 11, 2009 6:12 AMRunning Windows XP/SP3
Posted by: Ken Crook at July 19, 2009 3:39 AMI had been using IE6 but I saw a lot of stories about needing to upgrade from IE6 because it was not secure enough for modern security problems.
I downloaded and installed IE8 without a problem (after doing a full Acronis Image backup).
I needed to turn off some of the assist features so typing went faster, but other than that IE8 works great. And is a lot faster than IE6.
I don't understand all the bad hype I read about IE8?
Maybe since my HP Pavilion notebook is just a vanilla system without any super geek add-ons, IE8 works for me.
Why worry about removing IE8? If you're that low on disc space, you need to reinstall & start over with a fresh drive. If you simply don't want to use IE8, then choose another browser. Firefox 3.5.5 is an excellent choice (it's my default one). There are others, Opera, Chrome, Safari, Seamonkey (for low spec systems, Seamonkey is great). My point is you don't have to use IE at all, except your system uses it to deliver updates to your system. When I reinstalled XP Pro on my laptops, I unchecked IE8 & IE7 and checked "Don't show this update again". But last week I bought a new PC with Windows 7 Home Premium installed, so I'm stuck with it on here. I installed Firefox 3.5.5 on here too, without even giving IE8 a chance on Win 7.
Posted by: Charles Tilley at November 19, 2009 7:52 PMI am glad I read these articles, I am not really savvy with all the tech stuff and I think with all thats said above I might stay with IE6 or go to Firefox and leave IE8 to every one else. Thanks for saving me a whole lot of head ache's.
Posted by: Steve Miller at November 22, 2009 3:18 PMIE 8 regularly freezes up under Windows 7. This is extremely annoying as it can happen at any time.
Posted by: Derek Lawler at November 28, 2010 6:17 AMI have to close it down and restart it, thus losing everything I'd been working on.
IE8, as with most Microsoft products does not as it should.