Talk:Removal of Internet Explorer

Seems Pointless
This article seems to originated in a wave of 'FireFox, Yeah!' a few years ago, and the content here is a combination of outdated, crudely written material that would best belong in the main IE article itself, and verbatim replication of sources with conjection. This is like having different pages for diseases and their treatments, something highly admonished around these parts. Wikipedia is not a DIY guide for operating system maintainence, and if this kind of article is suitable next we'll have 'Replacing Gnome in Ubuntu' as an article...

-Steve Gray 81.105.191.57 18:43, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

It is notable since this was a central point in the anti-trust case. Many people have shown that Microsoft's claims were false. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.250.2.10 (talk) 15:25, 28 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Being a central point doesn't mean its worth a page unto itself. The citations are a mess of self-published sites which means it needs clean up.--Crossmr (talk) 06:12, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Firefox fancruft? The Junk Police (reports|works) 02:02, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Do people want to add material to this?
OK, I realise that this isn't terrible NPOV, but it's an initial stab. Do people want to add material to this? - Ta bu shi da yu 13:33, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)


 * an initial stab ? Trying to stab Microsoft is indeed POV. :-) Bogdan | Talk 13:45, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * lol! Silly rabbit :-) Ta bu shi da yu 13:51, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)


 * I wonder why the Internet Exploer article doesn't link to this article...... I suggest Vfd since the content of this article is essentially copied from Internet Explorer article. --minghong 18:13, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

While it's true you can drag Safari to the trash and flush it, it's nearly exactly the same as IE on the PC. Safari is just a frontend to "WebKit", which you can't readily remove without breaking a whole helluva lot of other stuff. We should probably mention this.
 * Yes, I completely agree. Internet Explorer is a thin client for the HTML rendering functionality built into the OS, which I'm sure parallels the functionality of WebKit. Look at browsers like Avant Browser(essentially another browser based on the same basic web rendering engine), and you'll see that this is true. This article hasn't changed recently, but I may try to bring it up to a higher level of technical correctness. Timbatron 17:33, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

I'd definitly like to see something on the extent of removal and (potential) damages caused by removing IE in the ways mentioned. That would be a good addition. fel64 21:02, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

I think article must have link to Fred Vorck's site. --LogicDaemon 14:04, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I added link to Bold Fortune's guide. I don't know if I'm allowed to do this, if not, then, please, remove it. --Vaidelotis 21:54, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs
Soo... I've been looking into upgrading my parents computer, Win98, to something else now that MS has removed support for it. So I stumbled upon Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs, apparently it doesn't even install IE. Haven't checked it out totally yet, but why does MS first say that Windows might become unstable if IE is removed, and then they remove it themselves. :) --ReCover 17:24, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

You get closest to the point. When most people say they want to remove Internet Explorer, they simply mean the web browser. When Microsoft thinks of removing Internet Explorer, they think of the web browser and every other program it uses. What most people never realize is that Microsoft had 3 different programs all called "Explorer". One was the GUI, or the basic blue screen, tool bar, cursor and all that most think of as "Windows". The second one was the File Manager. This "Explorer" is called "My Computer". The 3rd explorer is called "Internet Explorer", or the web browser. All 3 use many of the same programs, and if you take out all of the ones "Internet Explorer" uses, the computer is almost useless. IE isn't a program installed on the OS, it is the OS, much like a Chromebook. I say "was" in this because I stopped using Microsoft just after Windows 10 came out. I found a better solution to removing explorer, having mandated updates, and several other things I personally take issue with. I use Debian Linux now.-maxnort108.52.119.247 (talk) 19:17, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

Windows 7?
As Windows 7 and IE8 were now meant to be separated completely, I am unsure why thre is no possibility to uninstall IE in Win7. -NeF (talk) 15:56, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I have windows 7, the first thing I did was uninstall IE. Just go to 'Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features' and click 'Turn Windows Features on or off.' and turn IE off. Afterwards, it'll go through a quick loading screen and it'll permanently remove the executable from the 'Internet Explorer' folder. After that, just take ownership of the folder in program files and delete it. (九尾の氷狐 not logged in)65.191.181.113 (talk) 06:45, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Opinionated, uneducated guess
This statement (see below) seems biased, and whoever wrote this paragraph doesn't know the difference (please research b4 posting) between browsing engine (API, core) and web browser (GUI, thin client, shell). The core/engine is the API (unseen code) through which the OS can access the internet/network, and the actual web browser is the GUI/interface/shell/client that renders the core/engine into a graphical format understood by humans. The 2 don't have to be related, and should not be tied to each other [proprietary versus standard]. This is the same as Firefox/Mozilla/Seamonkey (browsers) using Gecko (engine), Safari/Chrome (browser) using WebKit (engine), and Opera (browser) using Presto (engine).


 * [quote]
 * "Ironically, to download another browser requires that some form of browser be installed to access the web - something the EU didn't take into account. The same applies to the request that Windows Media Player :be removed. An alternative free download would require some form of browser, and if Explorer had been removed it would again be impossible to install an alternative media player."
 * [/unquote]

Obviously removing IE (browser/GUI/interface/client/executable) or only the desktop IE shortcut (which does not remove any files, just the link to the exe) from Vista/2008/7 (they are quite similar in design) will not remove the browsing engine/core/API, which is tied deep into the OS, and cannot be completely removed without impairing functionality. So by just removing/uninstalling the exe/GUI, one can still access the internet, all one has to do is install another interface [Maxthon (popular IE skin = free) comes to mind, if IE-style UI is a personal preference] or an entire different core API + browser UI [Firefox, Mozilla, Chrome, Opera, Safari, etc], *before* uninstalling the IE executable/shortcut.

Even easier way... a plain word processor [OpenOffice, MS Office Word, AbiWord] or a plain text/ASCII editor [Win32Pad] can access web sites from embedded URLs [all that is required is the RTF (Rich Text Format) DLLs installed, and they are installed by all MS Windows OSes since Win95, and also by all Office-style suites], using the default browser [user configured], which does not have to be IE. Same goes for WMP (Windows Media Player), just another GUI to audio/video/DVD/multimedia playback, which can be successfully replaced with any other free(ware)/open source/GPLed/etc alternative. And even if one rushes to delete the IE executable before installing another browser, there still are many ways to install a new browser/UI: ftp a file [FileZilla (free GPL) comes to mind as a good ftp client/UI], Mozilla + Opera have public ftp sites, have a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM ordered thru the phone [i.e. Mozilla foundation + Opera LLC will gladly send you a CD for the tiny price of covering shipping expenses] and sent snail mail, or borrow a CD/USB stick/external HD/memory stick/etc from a relative/friend/coworker with internet access, or have some1 over for coffee with a connected laptop, etc, etc. HTH [Hope This Helps]

MDGx &#9785;&#9786; 10:09, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

removing POV tag with no active discussion per Template:POV
I've removed an old neutrality tag from this page that appears to have no active discussion per the instructions at Template:POV:
 * This template is not meant to be a permanent resident on any article. Remove this template whenever:
 * There is consensus on the talkpage or the NPOV Noticeboard that the issue has been resolved
 * It is not clear what the neutrality issue is, and no satisfactory explanation has been given
 * In the absence of any discussion, or if the discussion has become dormant.

Since there's no evidence of ongoing discussion, I'm removing the tag for now. If discussion is continuing and I've failed to see it, however, please feel free to restore the template and continue to address the issues. Thanks to everybody working on this one! -- Khazar2 (talk) 23:44, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

The first line of Overview
a) The first line of Overview "While a major upgrade of Internet Explorer can be uninstalled if the users do not deleted required backup files, the matter of uninstalling the stock version of the browser is not supported, " does not make sense. Maybe it should have read "if the users do not delete required backup files". b) Even so one wonders which specific backup files are required to be kept. c) Maybe uninstallation "is not supported" however it would be good to add under Overview that turning IE off is supported. viz "go to 'Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features' and click 'Turn Windows Features on or off.' and turn IE off." as a previous submitter usefully wrote.

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