Was Internet Explorer 7 Pushed to Your Systems Prematurely?

Reverting to IE6 not only possible but relatively simple.

Microsoft's introduction of the latest iteration of Internet Explorer happened differently from the way the company used to present browser version upgrades. By including IE7 with routine, automatic Windows updates instead of allowing users to download it on their own schedule, Microsoft surprised many users who woke up one morning to find their familiar browser no longer looked familiar. Some also found it did not play well with one or more of their online applications.

Whether pushing a major version upgrade instead of letting customers choose it is a good or bad practice, many software developers agree the software giant pushed IE7 too soon. Developers had not had time to study it and adjust their online applications to work with it. Complaints coming from AOL, Symantec, Intuit and other significant software developers with online products fell on deaf Redmond ears, however, and the onus fell on those developers to quickly catch up. "Can't we just tell our customers to uninstall IE7?" many of them asked. The official answer was that that was not advisable even were it possible.

While we are loathe to contradict the powers that be in the great Northwest, we have heard differently. It is indeed possible to uninstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 7. Since we would never ask our readers to do anything we had not already tested, we followed the steps below and are, amazingly, successfully running IE6 now without apparent consequences. All of the online software we struggled with through the holidays is now working again and we did not lose our favorites or history. There are only a few cautions of which to be aware if you decide to try the process in our step-by-step guide.

Caution 1: Windows Update does not give up easily.
After replacing IE7 with IE6, Windows Update (WU) will examine your system every time your automatic update hour comes around or, if you do not have automatic update enabled, every time you manually visit the WU site. Upon examination, it will decide, once again without checking with you, that you need to download and install IE7 again. To avoid having to go through the steps below over and over again, you have to tell WU to stop doing that. It is fairly easy. After reinstalling IE6, simply follow this procedure:

1. Launch Windows Update and allow it to finish checking your system.
2. When it offers two options, "Express (recommended)" and "Custom," choose the latter.
3. At the next screen, uncheck the box in front of "Windows Internet Explorer for Windows XP" (or, if you are not using XP, it will identify your Windows version)
4. Install the other Windows updates as normal.
5. In the future, every time you run WU, it will warn you to turn IE7 back on. Don't worry, you don't have to do it until you are ready.

Caution 2: Security
The primary reason Microsoft introduced IE7 is that IE6 could no longer be made sufficiently secure against modern hacker attacks. Until you are able to reinstall IE7, be aware that other precautions need to be beefed up. Make sure your virus definition files are always current and that no one who uses your computer(s) visits any suspect web sites or click on any email attachments from persons unknown. Sometimes, even friends can inadvertently forward infected emails to you so you have to be more wary than usual of people you know as well.

Caution 3: Be careful out there
You will only be able to run the following routine on computers to which you have logged in with administrative rights. If you are not sure whether you have administrative rights and you are dealing with a company computer in an organization that has an IT support department, check with that department first. They may have to log into your computer with a password-protected account that has administrative rights and do the reinstall for you.

Uninstall IE7

If your installation of IE7 was successful and uneventful, then uninstalling it and reinstalling IE6 is a relatively simple process. If not, this simple process may encounter the same problems. You may want to enlist the aid of the same people who solved those problems for you.

1. Open Windows Explorer (usually by clicking "My Documents" or "My Computer")
2. Click Tools | Folder Options
3. Click the View tab
4. Make sure the radio button next to Show hidden files and folders is on
5. Click OK
6. Click Start, and then click Run
7. Type: %windir%ie7spuninstspuninst.exe into the text box and click "Enter"

Should you see the "specified user account" error message
In some cases, you may get an error message when you try to uninstall IE7 that says you cannot uninstall from a specified user account. To get around this check you will have to edit the Windows Registry. At this point, if you are not tech support itself, you definitely want to make sure you get the assistance of someone who knows how to edit the registry without disabling your computer.

Disclaimer: Editing the Windows Registry incorrectly can cause the Windows operating system to stop functioning completely. This is an advanced operation and you are encouraged to back up the Windows Registry before you attempt any editing of the file. If any of the above terms are unfamiliar to you, get help from someone for whom they are not unfamiliar. You have been warned.

Bypass the user account check with this Windows Registry edit:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet Explorer.
3. Right-click the Internet Explorer key, click New, and then click DWORD value.
4. Type InstalledByUser as the name, and then press ENTER to finish creating the new registry value.
5. Try to uninstall Internet Explorer 7 again.

More help

If worse comes to worst and you find yourself still needing help uninstalling Internet Explorer 7, you can turn to Microsoft itself. They have IE7 release notes on their MSDN Web site.