Discussion on:

How do I... Uninstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 7?

Personally, I like IE7 just fine and will continue to use it. Mozilla Firefox is okay, but I have never fallen in love with it the way so many have.

What browser are you using? Are you satisfied with it? What feature is missing from your browser that may be in one of the alternatives?

I have settled on Firefox. The single best feature of Firefox, according to me, is the layout+behavior of "Find" feature.

I just don't like the IE's pop-up (intrusive) box to do the finds. The finds have never been smooth all the time in IE.

I have been a longtime supporter of the MS browser, however I have recently explored (excuse the pun) the other options available. I have checked out Firefox 1.x, Firefox 2.x, Netscape 8.x, IE7 (Beta 2 and to a lesser extent RC1) and Opera 9.x.

Wasn't much impressed with IE7 Beta - but the final version appears to have sorted out many of the reliability issues.

In order of preference (for me):

Opera
IE
Firefox 2
Anything else I haven't looked at yet
Netscape.

I could not agree more. The find feature is my fav of firefox as well.

I use firefox all the time except for the 1 in a 100 websites that requires IE for some dumb reason.

I can't stand the new layout of IE7 or Vista. I miss the drop down menus and the "standard" way of doing things. I feel like I'm new to computers all over again.

Just get the IETab extension for Firefox and you will never have to use Internet Explorer again.
Once you install it, you will need to customize your tool bar and add it. If a website requires IE, then just click on the icon and it will emulate IE.
I love it!!

Just get the IE TAB extension and you can bypass the 1 out of 100 as well.

Your comment on Dumb websites that need IE have long gone !!!
Try the Addon IE Tab which enables you to use the embedded IE engine within Firefox.
it can be found using the following link

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/

Just leave it on. IE7 is better and should be more secure. IE is integral to the Windows desktop and the system. Probably why they've made it a critical update. Just pretend it isn't there and keep using Firefox. I do.

"IE7 is better and should be more secure" - you mean "than IE6", right?

Yes, sorry, better than IE6. I usually tell people to use Firefox. But some websites you need IE for, so best to have the latest version.

Cant' just ignore it, Microsoft makes sure of that by reminding you of security vulnerabilities just about every day...

IE7 is better than IE6 in terms of security and MS makes sure it's deeply rooted and fundamental to the OS (for the reasons we know already). In that regard, accept the critical update and let it install.

I think what was meant by the post was; once installed, forget you have IE7 on your machine and just use Firefox for all your browser needs.

Sometimes you HAVE to uninstall IE7. We support a number of real estate office clients who use a web based application called Paragon.
It can only run under IE and IE7 breaks it.

Yes, our product breaks under IE7 also. Nothing huge but some fixes before the customers implement IE7. But in general, I recommend my users install it but then use Firefox as much as possible.

I've found that IE7 breaks some things in CSS such as layers. This has been a major headache. Anyone else experience this?

god yes. i hate ie7. what a steamy pile o' poop. my only dislike for firefox is how slow it is, and ie7 is much slower. ie7 breaks css with seemingly more disregard for the standards than before. is ie7 better. hell no, it's just a bigger f-u finger to the user than ie6. go to hell microsoft! you go to hell and you die!

The IE tab plugin for Firefox may work though I'm basing that on not having a clue what part of Paragon breaks.

One of the embedded reasons for IE7 recent release is it traps sites that have unlicensed versions of the the Operating System. There are none out there surely :>) see http://www.pcprofile.com/Update_Now_Managing_Clouds_and_Moving_Goalposts.pdf

to enforce MSFT license agreements. I so seldom use IE7 that I've never noticed this behavior, but deliberately crippling MY browsing in order to enforce THEIR licensing agreements means that the browser itself is broken.

Let a bot go search these out, if they wish, but leave my browser out of it ... I don't have a dog in that fight.

Opera

GreenBrowser = http://www.morequick.com/indexen.htm

Firefox

Tablane == http://www.tablane.com/home.php

IE

Offbyone Browser = http://www.offbyone.com

I'm one of the converted. Used to use only IE for all my browsing.

Recently I switched over to Firefox 2.0, and I really like it! One of the advantages is all the plug-ins that have been developed for Firefox like AdBlock plus. No more irritating pop-ups, bad Flash animations, etc for me

I still use IE for sites that do not display properly in Firefox, although the number will become less as more and more developers cater for it.

As most readers are probably aware, don't forget about the internet explorer convenience extensions that you can install:

IE Tab:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/

IE View:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/35/

IE View Lite:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1429/

And, just to be thorough;
Firefox View:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/223/

No reason to change noticed by me at all.

I use IE when I can find it on my machine. Other times, I use Firefox.

Start, Run iexplore.exe
?

and, to hear the Linux nay-sayers tell it, a decidedly neanderthal approach.

Ooooh, ickies!

In the beginning there was Netscape. Then there was IE. Then you had every little CIS students final project in college creating a new web browser. Eventually we had other more organized browsers such as Mozilla. Mozilla then created the gift of all browsers......FIREFOX.
Ok, so maybe a bit melodramatic, but what the hell, tis morning and i have not had a complete cup of coffee, but you get me point. Firefox in my experience, and with many of my clients has proven to be the best browser. For tabbed browsing and pop-up blocking, managing passwords, form filling! There are some sites that IE is required for (IE TAB PLUGIN, Yeah i cheat) so i have that plugin installed and show them how if the site does not load, how they can load it using IE in FFX. Even some clients who are not computer savvy catch on real quick and like the ease of use.
So from me, Firefox and from all me clients.....many, many, Firefox.

My main browser now is IE 7, but I still have FF 2 installed for a little diversity. In my opinion FF doesn't come close to the new IE, but it does have a couple of things IE doesn't like the built in spell-checker and extensability. The interface looks like alpha rather than public release in FF...

In my limited and recent experience with IE7 I have seen it cripple Mcafee Antivirus 10, and not work with banks such as Fidelity Investments and ING Direct. Uninstalling it first requires the removal of the Google Toolbar, which it automatically installs, and then you can uninstall IE7. But that isn't the end of it. You then need to reinstall Acrobat Reader for it to be properly integrated with IE6 again. Who knows what else need to be reinstalled. Thanks to Microsoft for giving technical support people more unproductive busy work because of another shotty product.

The worst part of uninstalling the IE7 is that any settings under Security that were present when you upgraded to IE7 (other than defaults) are lost to IE6 when you uninstall. Then you have to re-set up IE6 so it can work again in your environment. We have several applications in our shop that are not compatible with IE7 and probably won't be for a while. Therefore IE7 is not a product we will use for quite a while. Oh, good luck with that uninstall!

First off, the upgrade to IE 7.0 does NOT include the Google Toolbar. Only a complete moron would believe that has they are pretty much mortal enemies competing for web dominance.

I might also mention that hundreds of other pieces of software now include the option to install the Google Toolbar along with some of their other annoying software. Google has gotten as bad as Microsoft with marketing their crap.

Second off, I've installed IE 7.0 no less than 50 times plus and have yet to have to reinstall the Acrobat Reader even once.

Not sure where that came from.

wasn't the adobe problem related to trying to uninstall IE7 and go back to IE6 - not just installing IE7?

I installed IE7 in beta and the final release. It's even more of a bloated and stupid browser than it was in version 6.

There is no reason to use ie7, in my opinion. With firefox and ie tab you have the best solution for browsing the web. Those that use IE for everything obviously have never used firefox for any length of time. The sheer volume of popups in IE (yes including version 7) is enough to switch to firefox (granted you want to use the adblock and flashblock extensions).

With the right extension (the ones I mentioned already) you have a lean and mean browser that just works.

...simply the best setup. You'll have to dig in the forums a little to get 2.0 which is still in beta...oh wait, I guess I could just put a direct link here

http://passport.maxthon.com/max2/

My browser of choice is Maxthon .. and yes, I also run IE6 and Firefox. Well .. I really don't 'run' IE6, but it's on my system. I use FF for some of the features I need.

Maxthon's handling of tabs is SO far superior to Firefox and the excuse that is IE7. Even with the tab plugin for tabs on FF, it's still not worth a darn. In Maxthon, I can create new tabs 'on the fly,' open specific groups on startup, move tabs around, and not be limited on the number of tabs. I've run up to 20 with all of them still being readable.

IIRC, IE7 has this absurd popup that shows you what your tabs are .. little cutesy screen shots .. all the mass-market, end-user garbage that drives me nuts.

Maxthon *does* need to catch up with some plugins like 'noscript,' tho' .. or I haven't found them yet!

"Maxthon *does* need to catch up with some plugins like 'noscript,' tho' .. or I haven't found them yet!"

It's been a long time since a third party counted my visits to a web site and collected a cookie trail. I don't mind a website that I visit keep track of how often I come / how long I stay but I FER SURE don't want a third party, one I have not elected to associate with, keeping score.

Go Firefox!

Sorry, I don't speak or read Japanese...

I finally installed Firefox this past year as I had long been intending to, and I'm very glad I did. Firefox has superior features, liked tabbed browsing and terrific add-ons, that IE either doesn't have or offers only after Firefox implemented them. Perhaps more significant is that Firefox is much better than IE in supporting the W3C specifications (XHTML, CSS, etc), even with the latest IE7. I feel for those website developers who now have to rework all of those IE "hacks" (see positioniseverything.net, for example).

Many third party software products depend and rely upon the shared libraries provided by ie6. Perhaps most notably, symantec anti-virus and quickbooks. Oddly enough, those two are flagship products representative of market segments that microsoft is currently expanding into.

I recently _had_ to uninstall ie7 from some clients' workstations for this very reason.

Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

In my recent and limited experiance with IE7 installed by gulable and trusing soles, I have seen it break Mcafee Antivirus 10, and fail to allow uses to log on to Fidelity Investments and ING Direct on line banking services.
Uninstalling it first requires uninstalling the included and new version of the Google Toolbar. Then once back to IE6 you at very least need to re-install Adobe Acrobat to get integrated properly with IE6.
Soon we we see what other messes it creates.
There is no way a logical person could call it 'better'. That is completley subjective. Breaking applications is not 'better.' Unable to use familar sites is not 'better.' And demanding that users learn a new interface wihtout warning is certainly not 'better.' Thanks again to Microsoft publishing another half-baked application and making tech waste their time on more uninteresting and unproductive damage control.

Only use Idiot's Excrement ...er... Internet Explorer with Microsoft Update and the occasional site that insists on IE, which IE View takes care of nicely:

*Mozilla Backup:
http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

*Adblock Plus:
http://bene.sitesled.com/adblock.htm

*Flashblock:
http://flashblock.mozdev.org/

*Forecast Fox:
http://forecastfox.mozdev.org/

*IE View:
http://ieview.mozdev.org/

*MapIt:
http://home.comcast.net/~astrotronix/files/ffext/ffindex.html

*TabX:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/785

I have both installed and both set for different things, but the one thing I found that I really like is with Firefox, I yanked it out of the other 2 acounts on this 'puter, and hid the install folder in Prog Files. So needlesss to say all my bookmarks and saved pages and **** are all mine and I don't have to sort out how has what where every time I sit at this fool machine

In order..
1. Firefox
2. Opera
3. IE

Ive used FireFox off and on since beta and been pretty much with Opera up until FireFox 1.5
Plugins make all the diffrence and its still not a perfect browser though. But it is the best in my opinion.
I now use FireFox/IE side by side.
IE for work related things and pages that dont render right in firefox.
Firefox for everything else.

Have been for years. Running 9.2 now, and is my primary browser at work and home. IE is still required for some things I need to do, although fewer than used to be the case, so I do run it as well. Firefox? I like it well enough, I guess, but never found anything in personal use that put it above Opera.

As far as uninstalling IE 7.0, don't bother unless you're just a die-hard IE 6.0 fan (in which case I'd have to ask why? :-)) If you use Firefox, Opera, or any other alternate, just ignore IE, as someone else has posted. For those times when you do need ActiveX, 7.0 is definitely superior to prior versions.

I did find one legitimate reason to uninstall 7.0 actually, at least temporarily. It causes a conflict with certain functions of our GIS mapping software, so until we get that upgraded and patched, IE 7.0 is not on those particular machines. FWIW. . . .

I have not seen enough benefits of IE7 and FF2 to warrant changing to either of them yet, both at home and at work. With regard to work, some of our banking done over the internet is not yet IE7 friendly, and I am prone to leave everything alone until those compatibility issues are resolved. I am possibly interested in the revised print features, but will wait for now.

Better have your recovery disk handy if you use the uninstall method described by the author in XP Media Center.
davyjones

When I upgraded to IE7, my HP scanner no longer worked. HP is working on a patch/fix but doesn't have one yet. I removed it with the add/remove programs utility in the Control Panel.