Comments on: How to roll back IE by X to just IE

Question: How to roll back IE by X to just IE

clgregor — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:13:03 -0800

In setting up access to my cable internet the cable company's set-up CD installed Internet Explorer by "so-and-so." I hate this. I know (assume, I guess) it was created with Microsoft's Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK). I also know you can't really uninstall IE, but is it possible to uninstall these IEAK customizations? A free "IE-cleaner" download or step by step clean-up instructions would be great!

By: keswick

keswick — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:21:53 -0800

For the love of God, man; do you love exploits, spyware, malware, crapware, pop-ups, pop-unders, and ads? Run Firefox.

By: clgregor

clgregor — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:26:42 -0800

Oh I do run Firefox. But for the occasional site that 'needs' IE I want it nice and clean.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:33:00 -0800

See here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/176497/EN-US/

By: 517

517 — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:46:06 -0800

My DSL install cd gave me the option of installing their version of a browser or not. Before you go through the effort of fixing this, re-run the install cd and see if that option exist for you.

First, BACK UP YOUR BOOK MARKS. I didn't loose mine but I make no guarantees that you won't.

To get a normal IE back get your OS/recovery disk (you might not even need it to do this) and go to the control panel, add remove programs, add remove windows components. If you see the browser you don't want as an option, uncheck it. If you don't, uncheck IE and click next. When this is done go back in and check IE, then click next.

This should give you back the normal IE.

No, I use Mozilla.

By: BigFatWhale

BigFatWhale — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 12:41:23 -0800

SpyBot also offers a fix to change the "Internet Explorer by X" line.

Way back in the dark ages, Comcast did the same thing to me when they bought out ATT Broadband. I naively thought the fix would save me time over changing the pop3 mail settings and instead got stuck with that and a bunch of spyware.

By: TuxHeDoh

TuxHeDoh — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 12:51:45 -0800

If this were me, I'd search the registry for the string which shows up in your IE title bar "provided by Such-and-Such" and simply edit it. Beware messing in the registry is dangerous.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 12:54:45 -0800

You can access a lot of these settings by using the Microsoft Management Console (mmc).

Go to Start > Run, and type mmc

From there, choose Console > Add/Remove Snap-In. Click Add. Choose Group Policy. Click Add. Click Finish. Click Close. Click Ok.

Now, expand the User Configuration tree, go to Windows Settings, Internet Explorer Maintenance, and then Browser User Interface.

Here's where you can set the logo, the title bar, toolbars, etc.

Also visit User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Internet Explorer. Here you'll find other things, like "Disable external branding of Internet Explorer."

This is all from a Windows 2000 perspective. It should be similar enough to XP that you'll be able to follow along. Hope this helps!