Take That, EU. Internet Explorer is Optional

By | March 4, 2009


The latest Windows 7 Build 7048 offers a pleasant (and not announced) change. You can now actually remove Internet Explorer 8 from Windows.

To uninstall Internet Explorer 8 from Windows 7

Go to Control Panel
Open Programs
Click Turn Windows features on or off
Deselect Internet Explorer 8


Picture source: Neowin

The removal also shouldn’t hurt software which is related on IE rendering engine as well as Windows update procedure.

Yes, you could actually remove Interent Explore from previous Windows versions as well but that had some negative impacts.

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About (Author Profile)


Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism career back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

Comments (12)

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  1. Tiago Sá says:

    That doesn’t affect much, since it still comes bundled, and that’s the main problem.

  2. You can uninstall it now without affecting other programs.

    World of Warcraft launcher for example which is using IE rendering engine, Kayako Live Support and thousands of other software releases.

  3. argh says:

    1: Microsoft makes it impossible to remove IE
    2: EU puts pressure on Microsoft
    3: Microsoft makes it possible to remove IE

    Conclusion: Take That, EU???

    What kind of weird, twisted, messed up logic is that? How is it “take that, EU” if the EU got its way exactly?

    Geez.

  4. Well, they won’t be able to milk more money.

  5. argh says:

    @Vygantas Lipskas, give me a break. They have NOT GOTTEN A SINGLE DOLLAR from Microsoft in this case. Microsoft would only be forced to pay if they refused to follow the law.

    This is a HUGE SUCCESS for the EU! You are just angry that you always get the facts wrong and are ignorant about the reality of the case. You have always been spewing out FUD against the EU for upholding their own laws.

  6. Well, I have just a different view on this :-)

  7. hello says:

    You don’t just have a “different view”, Vyggie, your view is completely wrong :-)

    The authorities got their way. How is that not a success for the authorities?

  8. Daniel says:

    To argh.

    The EU accused MS of “unfairly using its operating system monopoly to squeeze into other software markets [the browser market]”. They wanted MS to bundle windows with MORE browsers, which of course would be at best a huge PITA for MS and at worst totally unworkable. So MS decided to sell windows in the EU with NO browser whatsoever, thus making it impossible for the EU to claim that they are using the OS to sneak in their browser. Basically, the EU’s brilliant plan backfired. Have fun with that.

    OEMs can still decide to bundle whatever browser they want.

  9. Daniel says:

    Consider this, argh.

    If MS were to include pre-installed browsers, which ones should be included? Just the “big” ones? Do you know how many browsers exist? A lot more than five. Who can they leave out? No one?

    And what about Notepad, MS Paint, Media Player, Paint, Calculator, Windows Explorer, Messenger, etc etc? There are many non-MS alternatives to those apps out there. Should MS be required to bundle all those as well? It’s really not fair for MS to leverage its OS to squeeze into those markets, is it? Hell, might as well include alternate OS’s in there too, right? We want CHOICE, and it’s MS’s job to spoon feed it to us!

  10. ron says:

    went to all programs and didn’t have a icon for turn on or off windows features where is it