How can you get rid of Internet Explorer?

[video_enthusiast07]

Hi, I tried deleting the program, but it keeps re copying itself in the folder.

[aedipuss]

i think it's been an integral part of windows for a couple generations and can't be removed. but you can use another browser of your choice as your default.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Yeah deleting IE can cause problems with Explorer and Windows Update.

[redwudz]

If you have IE 7, you can go back to IE 6, if that would help. http://forums.vnunet.com/message.jspa?messageID=700070

[reylafo]

Get Linux

[video_enthusiast07]

I hate the fact that its needed for important stuff like updates, but I guess I'll just hide it and use another browser.



If only I didn't get annoying pop ups out of nowhere i wouldn't really have a problem with it, but it makes me want to scream sometimes, lol.


Thanks guys for your responses.

[mats.hogberg]

If only I didn't get annoying pop ups out of nowhere i wouldn't really have a problem

That sounds more like some adware's been sneaking into your IE, than IE itself.

/Mats

[Squash]

I use Firefox 98% of the time but there are a few things I need IE7 for.

If you're running IE7, make sure you have pop-up blocking turned on (Tools>Pop-up Blocker>Turn on Pop-up Blocker). If you're still running IE6, I'd upgrade to IE7 just for the pop-up blocker. You can set it to low, medium, or high settings. If you're still getting pop-ups in IE7 after turning on pop-up blocking, you can run Ad-Aware or Spybot Search & Destroy and probably get rid of any malware you've picked up.

And take a look at the IE7pro add-on at http://www.ie7pro.com . It's free and, among many other things, will block almost all ads (flash ads, too) and catches most if not all of the pop-ups that IE7 misses. It also has mouse gestures like the FF extension and a ton of other stuff found in several of the more useful Firefox extensions. For those few times when I have to use IE7, IE7pro makes it a better experience. There are several independent reviews of it on their web site. I am not a spammer, I just like it.

[CrayonEater]

You can use IEradicator or nLite. The former utility has been around for a long time and, I'm told, has a very high degree of success. I don't know as much about nLite. Contrary to popular belief, you DO NOT need IE to do updating, just to do updating from the official Windowsupdate site; Windizupdate.com, among others, provide Firefox and/or Opera plugins which allow you to update Windows. It won't update in the background like Automatic Update does, but in many cases that may be a better thing as you can do updates at your convenience i.e. when the computer is idle, rather than have Windows eat up connection bandwidth checking for updates every once in awhile.

I don't go to such great lengths to eliminate IE, since I know I may need (mainly, for spyware and virus research). I simply create a batch file in DOS that deletes IEXPLORE.EXE, creates a dummy file, and then write-protects it, preventing the Internet Explorer executable from being re-created. The batch file does this quickly enough to prevent Windows from re-creating IEXPLORE.EXE. If I decide I need IE for something, I simply delete the dummy IEXPLORE.EXE file and, within a few seconds, Windows automatically re-creates the correct executable which can then be run.

It's worth mentioning that it *CAN* be uninstalled via Windows' own Control Panel, under Add/Remove Components, but Windows does an extremely poor job of uninstalling its own components, hence why some people use IEradicator.