Most Windows users can uninstall the web browser from the operating system’s Control Panel applet. Some users have however reported that the uninstallation does not remove the Internet Explorer version from their computer system.

Finding out if the removal of Internet Explorer was successful is not complicated. You could first try and start the browser and check the reported version under Settings > About Internet Explorer.

If Internet Explorer 9 is listed, or if the browser does not start up at all, it is time for a thorough clean-up to remove the browser from the system.

Microsoft has released a Fix it application to resolve Internet Explorer 9 uninstallation issues. Microsoft Fix Its are lightweight programs that resolve specific issues on a system without user interaction.

All that is usually required to do is to run the Fix It with elevated rights. The program will take care of the rest on its own. The particular Internet Explorer 9 Removal Fix It creates a System Restore point before it starts the removal of the browser.

The Fix It app will remove Internet Explorer 9 automatically and prompt for a reboot once it is done.

Microsoft has furthermore posted a manual fix if IE9 cannot be uninstalled correctly on Windows.

To uninstall Internet Explorer 9, follow these steps:

• Log on to the computer as an administrator.
• Close all Internet Explorer browser windows.
• Start Notepad.
• Copy and paste the following HTML text into Notepad to convert the HTML text into plain text:

  FORFILES /P %WINDIR%\servicing\Packages /M Microsoft-Windows-InternetExplorer-*9.*.mum /c “cmd /c echo Uninstalling package @fname && start /w pkgmgr /up:@fname /norestart”

• Click Start, and then click Run.
• Copy and then paste (or type) the following command in the Open box, and then press Enter: cmd
• Copy the text from Notepad, paste the text into the Command Prompt window at a command prompt, and then press Enter.
• After the command runs, and the Command Prompt window returns, repeat step 7, and then go to step 9.
• Restart the computer to complete uninstallation of Internet Explorer 9. When you do this, the previously installed version of Internet Explorer is installed.

The Fix It hopefully resolves all Internet Explorer 9 removal issues for Windows users. Did you try out Microsoft’s latest web browser? What’s your verdict? (via)

The best you can do is to remove Internet Explorer 8 from plain sight. I can show you how you can do that, but keep in mind that Internet Explorer 8 is not completely uninstalled from the operating system.

If you’d ask me, I’d recommend to upgrade to Internet Explorer 9, configure it for maximum security and forget all about it if you work with a different main browser. That way you got the latest Microsoft browser which is good for your system’s security. And since you are not using it it should not cause any problems or issues. That is, unless you use third party software that is using the Internet Explorer rendering engine.

Windows XP and Windows Vista users on the other hand can uninstall Internet Explorer 8. I have published a guide about that a few years ago.

Back to Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8. To remove the web browser from your system you need to do the following:

• Open the Windows Control Panel. You can do that with a click on the start orb in the lower left corner, and the selection of Control Panel in the start menu window.
• Locate Uninstall a Program in the Control Panel listing and click on the entry.
• This populates a list of third party programs that are installed on your computer. Locate Turn Windows features on or off on the right sidebar.
• This spawns a new window with a listing of all available Windows features. Features with a checkmark are installed, those without are not.
• Locate Internet Explorer 8 in the program listing and remove the checkmark next to the Internet browser’s listing.
• This displays a notification: Turning off Internet Explorer 8 might affect other Windows features and programs installed on your computer, including default settings. Do you want to continue?. Select Yes if you are sure and then ok. You need to restart the computer to complete the removal of Internet Explorer from the system.

Please note that you can at anytime turn on Internet Explorer 8 again on the system by following the exact same steps. You may need your Windows 7 installation DVD though to add Internet Explorer 8 to the system again.

You should monitor third party programs closely after removing Internet Explorer 8 from the system.

Some users may have installed the beta of IE9 without knowing that, and some may want to go back to a previous version of Internet Explorer after testing the beta release on their computer.

The following guide explains how to uninstall Internet Explorer 9 from the operating system. The test system we used for this guide was a Windows 7 Professional system, keep in mind that it may look slightly different on Vista.

Windows Internet Explorer 9 has been installed as a system update in the operating system, and as such can be removed from the Uninstall an update control panel menu.

To get there click the start orb in the lower left corner of the screen, and then Control Panel in the right menu.

control panel

Locate Uninstall a program in the Control Panel and click on the entry.

uninstall a program

Windows populates a listing with all programs that have been installed by the user of the system. As we have mentioned earlier, Internet Explorer 9 is not installed as a program, but as an update. It is for that reason not listed among the programs.

To uninstall Internet Explorer 9 click the View Installed Updates link in the upper left corner of the screen. This opens a listing of Microsoft updates that have been installed on the computer system.

uninstall internet explorer

It may take a while before all updates are displayed in the list. Now it is time to locate the Microsoft Windows, and there the Windows Internet Explorer 9 entry. You can sort the listing by name or date, to make the identification easier.

uninstall windows internet explorer

Right-click on Windows Internet Explorer 9 and select uninstall from the context menu.

uninstall ie9

This initiates the uninstallation of the browser from the system. From that point on, follow the instructions to uninstall the browser. To complete the uninstallation, the computer needs to be restarted in the end.

After the restart open up Internet Explorer and click on Help > About Internet Explorer to verify that the old version of the browser is available again. You will probably notice that it is by looking at the design as well.

That’s how you uninstall Internet Explorer 9 from the Windows operating system. Please note that this instructions are for the beta of the browser. It is likely that it will also apply to the final release of Windows Internet Explorer 9. This tutorial will be updated otherwise once the final browser version is released by Microsoft.

For most users this is an easy and straightforward process as Internet Explorer 8 can be removed from the programs list in the Windows Control Panel. Only Windows XP users who installed the third service pack before Internet Explorer 8 were not able to uninstall the web browser unless they would uninstall the service pack 3 before.

Microsoft has created a script to remove Internet Explorer 8 automatically from a computer system where it is installed. The script is available as part of Microsoft’s Fix It initiative which tries to provide one click solutions to common problems on the Windows platform. The file UninstallIE8.msi can be executed right from the Microsoft website or by downloading it to a local computers system and running it from there. Please note that it is generally not a good idea to remove Internet Explorer 8 unless it is causing troubles on a computer system.

Users who experience those problems would probably like to uninstall Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 and go back to Internet Explorer 7. The following guide explains how to uninstall Internet Explorer 8 on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Some Windows XP users might not be able to uninstall Internet Explorer 8. This happens to the users who installed a previous version of Internet Explorer 8 and later on the Service Pack 3 for Windows XP. A warning is issued to those users during installation of Internet Explorer 8 that the installation will become permanent.

They might still be able to use System Restore to downgrade again if a System Restore point is available that dates back prior to the installation of Internet Explorer 8.

Uninstalling Internet Explorer 8 in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

• From the Start menu, open Control Panel and click Add or Remove Programs
• Click Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 and then click Remove.
• Your computer will be reverted to Internet Explorer 6 + previous IE6 security updates or Internet Explorer 7 + previous IE7 security updates depending on what you had before the upgrade.
• You can confirm that by clicking Help, then About Internet Explorer next time you launch Internet Explorer.
• Be sure to check for any new security updates.

Uninstalling Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

• From the Start menu, open Control Panel and click Programs
• Click Programs and Features and click View Installed Updates (located in the left side menu
• Select Windows Internet Explorer 8 and Uninstall
• Your machine will be reverted to IE7 + previous IE7 security updates
• You can confirm that by clicking Help, then clicking About Internet Explorer next time you launch Internet Explorer.
• Be sure to check for any new security updates.

The reason for this behavior is that the system would revert back to an older version of Internet Explorer 6 that would not contain the patches applied by the Service Pack. The Windows XP Service Pack 3 updates the version of Internet Explorer installed on the system during installation of the Service Pack.

The only possible way to uninstall Internet Explorer 7 that has been installed before installing Service Pack 3 is to uninstall the Service Pack first and then Internet Explorer 7. Microsoft suggests that users of IE6 should update their system with Service Pack 3 first and install IE7 afterwards. This would ensure that the browser could be uninstalled normally.

I’m sure that not many users will run into this problem but some surely will. An alternative would be to switch to another browser like Opera or Firefox if you do not feel like uninstalling the Service Pack to uninstall IE7 is worth it.