How to Uninstall Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer remains the most commonly installed form of web browser. However, other browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, are becoming increasingly popular.

If you have changed to another browser, you may want to delete internet explorer from your computer. You may also wish to do this because there are reported conflicts, such as when both Internet Explorer and Firefox are installed together, and you are having problems. Alternatively, you may have installed a later version of Internet Explorer that is giving errors and want to roll back to the earlier version.

Uninstall Internet Explorer from the Control Panel

Microsoft’s general view of Internet Explorer is that it is a requirement and should not be uninstalled. Therefore, if you do uninstall Internet Explorer, at best you will only remove the current version and will roll back to using the previous one.

There are sometimes additional complications, such as when you have installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 after installing Internet Explorer 7. In this case, before you can uninstall Internet Explorer, you will first need to uninstall the service pack.

To uninstall Internet Explorer using the Control Panel, select Add or Remove Programs to display a list of installed programs. If Internet Explorer is among them, choose to uninstall it and, when you next load the browser, it will be the previous version.

Alternative Means to Uninstall Internet Explorer

If Internet Explorer did not appear on the program list, an alternative method is to click Run at the Start menu, type ‘appwiz.cpl’ and click OK. If Internet Explorer is then listed, click Remove to uninstall it.

Another thing to try, if this doesn’t work, is to firstly make sure all hidden files and folders are visible. At the Start menu, click My Documents and, at the Tools menu click Folder Options. Select the View tab and, under Hidden Files and Folders, click Show hidden files and folders followed by OK.

At then Start menu, select Run and type ‘%windir%\ie7\spuninst\spuninst.exe’ then click OK (this is for Internet Explorer 7; change the reference for a different version). Follow the wizard prompts to uninstall Internet Explorer.

Delete Internet Explorer in Windows Vista

If you use Windows Vista, a further complication is that Internet Explorer is considered an ‘update’ rather than a program. It will, therefore, not appear if you select Programs and Features at the Control Panel.

To uninstall Internet Explorer, you need to select Programs and Features, then click the View Installed Updates link. Select Internet Explorer in the list of installed updates and uninstall it to revert to a previous version.

Hide Rather than Delete Internet Explorer

Various parts of the operating system, especially from Windows XP onwards, use parts of Internet Explorer. Therefore, even if you use another web browser, it may not be a good idea to try to uninstall it. Additionally, your chosen browser may not work properly for certain websites and it may be useful to have Internet Explorer in reserve, even if it is not set as the default browser.

If you really don’t want to see Internet Explorer on your PC, the best option might be to hide it. To do this, select Add or Remove Programs at the Control Panel, then click Add/Remove Windows Components. Select Internet Explorer and untick the box. It then won’t show anywhere, although it is still present and you can re-enable it by ticking the box.