Uninstalling IE8 In Windows Vista
Written by Joe on October 27, 2008 – 10:03 am -
I’m all about trying the latest software, beta or not, and usually I keep it and work through the bugs as it reaches the official release. Internet Explorer 8 was no exception, and unlike many other folks in my industry I’ve never caught onto the whole Firefox thing. It’s not that I knock Firefox, it’s a great program (as is the upcoming Chrome), I’m just resistant to change.
What I liked about Internet Explorer 8
The program has loads of potential, and I believe it’s way better than IE7 or any other previous versions. It’s really fast, it crashes less (I was using Beta 2) than the previous version – and when it does crash it will recover itself and reload what you were previously viewing. Also, if one instance of the program crashes it won’t crash the other, as they run separately (very smart). It has some smart anti-phishing capabilities and highlights the domain you’re on (which actually I find kind of annoying but I see the usefullness for less savy surfers). Also, for developers it passes the ACID2 CSS test, which certainly helps silence some of those in the ”standards compliance” crowd that has been pushing Firefox for the last few years.
What I didn’t like about Internet Explorer 8
It’s not inherintly the current developers of IE8’s fault, though thanks to predicessors many CSS drivenb websites have had to serve different stylesheets to IE6 and IE7 users, essentially a ‘hack’ to make sure their websites display properly in the many different browsers. Unfortunately, now that IE8 is compliant, it’s throwing up false positives for those using different IE stylesheets thus rendering the page’s layout completely broken and sometimes unreadable. I found that about 1/3 of websites I visited looked broken in IE8 and were required to run in “compatability mode”, essentially running as IE7. I ended up just making IE8 just run in compatability mode as default because I got tired of having to push the compatability button. And since IE8 is still in beta, Google’s Toolbar (which I run for pagerank display) and a few other helpful toolbars I use for my craft, either work when they feel like or don’t work at all.
How To Remove IE8 From Windows Vista
So I decide, after two months of running IE8, to remove it until other programs catch up. I got tired of switching to Firefox to get information I was used to getting from Internet Explorer. So I figured it’d be as easy as going to Start => Control Panel => Programs => Uninstall A Program and remove it from the list. Wrong. Apparently IE8 isn’t a program – thus it’s not there. So, where the heck is it? Ahh, there it is – it’s an update.
To uninstall Internet Explorer 8 from Windows Vista, while in the Uninstall A Program area, look to the left for “view installed updates.” From there drill down and find “Windows Internet Explorer 8…” and you can now remove it. Doing so will automagically revert you back to IE7.
Posted in Other Stuff | 24 Comments »


May 13th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
thanks a whole lot. I’m really glad I found your site. I will add it to my fav 5.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
after uninstall of ie8 because settings did not stay ie clour ie7 does not work as i did. whats blank pages
June 18th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Love your site! You made uninstalling IE8 a breeze compared to windows website!
Will definetly bookmark your site for future reference!
March 28th, 2010 at 8:57 am
very useful tips…thank you..
April 28th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Internet Explorer 8 is very good because it is as stable as Opera. I hate the previous versions of IE like IE6 because it hangs frequently. ~
May 6th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Internet Explorer 8 have been my most used browser this year, it is definitely stable and fast loading too. -
May 9th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Windows Vista is good but it can hog your CPU and Memory.*`,
May 19th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Internet Explorer 8 have been my most used browser this year, it is definitely stable and fast loading too. -
July 2nd, 2010 at 12:56 am
it gives us access to so much goodinformation…just like this post..thanks will be back again A+
December 7th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
I am very happy that I found this posting! I enjoyed it very much! Thank you for sharing with us!
February 8th, 2011 at 4:17 am
I was searching for this solution from so long , thank you for posting this important method
thanks again
May 1st, 2011 at 9:55 am
Definitely, what a great website and revealing posts, I surely will bookmark your site.Best Regards!
May 1st, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Thank you a lot for giving everyone such a terrific possiblity to read from this web site. It can be so pleasing and also full of a lot of fun for me personally and my office acquaintances to visit your site no less than 3 times a week to study the newest items you have. Of course, I’m so actually motivated with all the extraordinary tricks you serve. Certain 4 tips in this article are indeed the finest we have all ever had.
June 3rd, 2011 at 1:34 am
browser crashing is really on of the things i hate about internet, after reading this blog i found something that opted my interest program crashes it won’t crash the other, as they run separately. i will try IE8.
June 10th, 2011 at 9:39 am
Hi! Great Post. I am using IE8 now and i like it lesser crashes and lots of features and also a lot faster than IE7.
June 14th, 2011 at 12:33 am
Hi! Thanks for sharing this information, i am still using IE7 and after reading this blog i think i like to try IE8.
June 16th, 2011 at 6:08 am
Uninstall IE is always a good idea!
August 7th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
dell inspiron 9100
August 8th, 2011 at 5:54 pm
I don’t think I’ve never learned anything like this before. So nice to find an individual with some original ideas on this subject. I really thank you for beginning it. This website is something that is needed on the internet, someone with slightly originality.
August 28th, 2011 at 1:08 am
[...] [...]
September 14th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Howdy I am so thrilled I found your weblog http://www.joehayes.org/uninstalling-ie8-in-windows-vista.html, I really found you by mistake, while I was browsing on Bing for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a marvelous post and an all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to go through it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the awesome effort.
September 28th, 2011 at 6:45 am
I cling onto listening to this news broadcast lecture about receiving boundless online grant applications and so i have been searching for the most excellent site to obtain one. Would you tell me please, where could i recieve some?
November 26th, 2011 at 8:21 am
Thanks for sharing this blog. I was about to install IE8 because IE7 is always crashing and i thought of updating it.
November 27th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
he blog was how do i say it� relevant, finally something that helped me. Thanks