How do I cleanse myself of IE?

February 28, 2005 2:46 PM

Internet Explorer has been on thin ice for a while, and recently it crashed through. I can't even launch the damn program. I've installed Firefox and several delicious extensions, but my knowledge is limited in this whole area. How do I get rid of the old plague?

Basically, I tried going to the add or remove programs thing, but there isn't a place for Internet Explorer. Knowing microsoft, i expected them to make it difficult for me to get rid of, and they succeeded. Please assume (most correctly) that I am a techno-idiot in this manner, and phrase your answers accordingly. One additional note: Right before IE died, I started getting "full cache" warnings or something like that. Whenver I tried to delete the temporary internet files folder from within IE, the program crashed. I could not find said folder manually. I'm worried that it's like a huge folder now (space is an issue with a 19gig hard drive), so instructions on how to make sure that is gone as well would be much appreciated.

posted by lazaruslong to computers & internet (14 comments total)

Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Delete Files.

You can't uninstall Internet Explorer without a huge headache. MS made it part of Windows, to avoid being ordered to remove it.
posted by Jairus at 2:50 PM on February 28, 2005

I don't think you can remove IE - it is embedded into the Windows operating system. You can remove it from your desktop, though. I have found this resource helpful. Scroll down to "Switched default web browser to Firefox" for instructions.
posted by MLIS at 2:52 PM on February 28, 2005

Everytime I try and delete files, that window crashes.
posted by lazaruslong at 2:53 PM on February 28, 2005

1. What version of Windows are you using? (e.g. 95, 98, XP, etc.)

2. If you happen to know off the top of your head, what version of IE were you using?

The long and the short of it is that it is not going to be easy to remove IE altogether from your system; it would probably be more of a pain in the rear than it was worth.

The cache is kept in different places depending on what version of Windows you're using; you could always just delete the items in it manually.

On Preview: what Jairus said.
posted by staresbynight at 2:53 PM on February 28, 2005

I am using Windows Xp Pro. No idea what version of IE it is, and I can't launch the program to find out. The error message I get when I try and delete the temp internet files folder varies, but the most recent was the rundll32.exe was non responsive, "run dll as an app".
posted by lazaruslong at 2:56 PM on February 28, 2005

Absolutely make sure you're up to date on your shots.

This list has those little trinkets that you'll need:

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities

Please update/check your antivirus software
Please make sure you have some anti malware/hijacking software
...for starters.

The rest of this list is nice freeware that is helpful.
posted by filmgeek at 2:57 PM on February 28, 2005

filmgeek: checking the link out now. as far as my shots go, i run AdAware and Spybot:S&D on a weekly, sometime more often basis, with the latest reference files installed.
posted by lazaruslong at 2:59 PM on February 28, 2005

If you can't delete the files through the internet control panel, use .
posted by Jairus at 3:20 PM on February 28, 2005

...and by . I mean CCleaner.
posted by Jairus at 3:20 PM on February 28, 2005

You know, if IE isn't starting, it sounds like you might have some spyware on your system. Try downloading some anti-spyware software (like Spybot search and destroy, AdAware, and microsoft's new thing).
posted by delmoi at 4:18 PM on February 28, 2005

I suspect malware of some kind, especially with the rundll32 error message.

Though it's much easier to use from IE, you might try going to Trend Micro's online virus scanner () with Firefox and see if you can get their online virus scanner to work for you. IIRC, you have to download a file and execute it on your end to get the scanner to operate under a non-IE browser.

I favor online virus scanners because they generally don't get corrupted, hijacked, or neutered by malware, and it's possible that it will find something that got past your defenses.

Have you installed any software of any kind at all lately? Anything unusual happen just before IE crashed?
posted by staresbynight at 4:19 PM on February 28, 2005

Er, that should be housecall.trendmicro.com.
posted by staresbynight at 4:20 PM on February 28, 2005

CCleaner worked great to get rid of the Temp files. Thanks for that. I was unaware that IE was so integrated. Guess I'll just delete the shortcuts and stick to Firefox from now on. Thanks for the help everyone!
posted by lazaruslong at 4:53 PM on February 28, 2005

I ran ccleaner and gmail stopped working. Hrumph. Anyway, I saw on another forum that if this happens you can try https://gmail etc. the https worked.

Strange, anyway, I updated my bookmark, a little janky but seems to work. Anyone know why ccleaner did this? Yes, I know, should have been a little more cautious before deleting all of those files.
posted by prettyboyfloyd at 9:02 PM on February 28, 2005