GRRR Internet Explorer7

[AquaScaper]

Ok so I've had the little upgrade button bugging me on my browser so I thought that today I would press it and update my IE. Well I hate it :realmad: , not only did it not install properly and the troubleshooting tells me I have to edit my reg which I refuse, but it won't let me keep shaw as my homepage doesn't matter what I do, every time I click the home button it plops me right at the stupid Yahoo homepage.I tried editing in the tools tab and it didn't work. Yahoo homepage is useless to me, it's not local and I could really care less about their pretty page with it's bells and whistles, how do I go back to my shaw homepage? Better yet, how do I go back to IE6? :confused:

[Soggybottom]

try firefox, I like it a lot

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

[AquaScaper]

If I have firefox do I still have to have IE installed? I'm thinking of removing it out of my system all together to see if it'll fix all the bugs I'm plagued with now lol.

[AquaScaper]

try firefox, I like it a lot

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/


Ok I downloaded it and I love it!

thank you thank you....:notworthy:

Now to figure out how to axe IE :DevilGrin:

[Soggybottom]

Tabbed browsing is the best part, especially when surfing forums :)

You won't need IE to run it properly, but the odd time you run into a site that only works properly with IE. Usually crappy sites that can't be bothered to test properly...

[Melody]

Hmmm... Microsoft would not have a Yahoo homepage default - they have MSN. I have never seen an upgrade prompt for IE alone, but that may be in my settings somewhere. You shouldn't have to edit your registry manually to fix a program. Scan your system for spyware my dear, just on the off-chance. You don't have the Yahoo toolbar, right?

That said, clear the cookies, uninstall the entire program and then reinstall. Use the proper 'uninstall', don't just delete it. That will edit the registry in case it has to be done.

Or you could use Firefox, even though nobody else does because it makes websites look funny. Except Mr. SB, who just finds websites that look funny to be that much more entertaining.:DevilGrin:

[AquaScaper]

Hmmm... Microsoft would not have a Yahoo homepage default - they have MSN. I have never seen an upgrade prompt for IE alone, but that may be in my settings somewhere. You shouldn't have to edit your registry manually to fix a program. Scan your system for spyware my dear, just on the off-chance. You don't have the Yahoo toolbar, right?

That said, clear the cookies, uninstall the entire program and then reinstall. Use the proper 'uninstall', don't just delete it. That will edit the registry in case it has to be done.

Or you could use Firefox, even though nobody else does because it makes websites look funny. Except Mr. SB, who just finds websites that look funny to be that much more entertaining.:DevilGrin:

The new IE7 comes with a whole whack of yahoo garbage unfortunately, at least the upgrade which I got does.

I can't uninstall the program b/c it does not show up on my add/remove programs list and I can't find it using the search tool. This is the troubleshooting website that it gives you when u encounter installation problems and it's rather scary so I'll just use firefox, much less hazardous than me having to re-install my whole OP because I goofed somewhere :confused:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917925

[Melody]

The garbage should be elective. This comes from the wonderful court battles I suspect, where everyone whined about Microsoft having a monopoly. I found it amusing actually. A company is penalized for being successful - interesting concept. Anyways, that's where the AOL garbage comes from by default too.

As long as you're happy with it and it doesn't conflict with IE, you should be fine with it. You should shoot off a letter to Microsoft about it, just to vent. You'll just get a standard outgoing message which chances are I wrote....lol....but it will make you feel better.

[AquaScaper]

The garbage should be elective. This comes from the wonderful court battles I suspect, where everyone whined about Microsoft having a monopoly. I found it amusing actually. A company is penalized for being successful - interesting concept. Anyways, that's where the AOL garbage comes from by default too.

As long as you're happy with it and it doesn't conflict with IE, you should be fine with it. You should shoot off a letter to Microsoft about it, just to vent. You'll just get a standard outgoing message which chances are I wrote....lol....but it will make you feel better.

I got no choice when I downloaded it, it automatically loaded yahoo homepage, yahoo toolbars, yahoo searches, blah blah blah yahoo this and yahoo that. The only choice it gave me was whether I wanted to add an antivirus program by you guessed it YAHOO...:rolleyes:
It's a joke and yes I fired off a letter to Microsoft and they sent me one of those, standardized letters with links to self help pages and group help chat and other garbage that does me no good at this point. They never actually told me how to remove this Yahoo diseased program from my computer.:realmad:

Whatever, hopefully firefox will work nicely. So far so good haven't had any problems and actually it seems to be making the pages I've visited so far look better than IE. If I run into probs, it won't be anything new either, IE isn't fool proof and has had it's own issues too. I just wish that Microsoft didn't make it so difficult for me to continue using a Microsoft program seeing as their software cost me an arm and a leg to begin with. It's rather disappointing.

[Soggybottom]

Browser stats as percentage of internet users:

2006 IE6 IE5 Firefox Moz
Oct 54.5% 3.2% 28.8% 2.4%
2005 IE6 IE5 Firefox Moz
Oct 67.5% 6.0% 19.6% 2.6%

I'm noticing a trend here...

[Soggybottom]

If anyone is wondering what happened to netscape, you might find this funny:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a348/casual_ties/browser_central.jpg

[Melody]

I've never had the Yahoo thing... wonder what I do differently? Haven't a clue. I never install defaults, even if they tell me its 'recommended', maybe that's it. If you're so inclined, try this:

1. Click 'Tools' from the IE menu.
2. Select 'Programs'.
3. Select 'Manage Add-ons'.

I knew I'd seen it somewhere but I've never used it so I had to go looking. It lists all of your browser add-ons, such as toolbars. The homepage is being controlled by the toolbar, once that's gone, you'll be able to change it through the regular IE options. Otherwise you can keep the toolbar and usually change the homepage in the toolbar options.

Mr. SB, definitly a trend there. Its nice to have a choice in browsers. Personally I think IE is one of the few things Microsoft has done right...lol...but obviously its not for everyone. If I had a decent choice for an entirely different operating system, I would have dropped Microsoft long ago, so believe me, I speak from no great love for their products.

I read a couple of years ago that Netscape was not going to be offering updates for their browser any longer, but I believe they still are. I don't know what changed there. I think a lot of former Netscape fans went with other browsers after that, so the IE haters distributed amongst the other choices. Certainly positve user experiences has helped to increase their popularity. Monopolies and big advertising budgets can only coast a company so far. I think another difference is the level of expertise of people online now. Kids grow up on computers these days. They're not intimidated by it so they think nothing of doing things like using an alternative program.

[AquaScaper]

Well the answer to my IE7 problem appears to be fixable with something called a recovery console....only one teeney weeney problem with this. You need the WinXp cd to install this program and while my puter came with winxp already installed, the cd was not supplied to me :(. Using this recovery console is apparently not for beginners either, but it's my only option for uninstalling this dreaded yahoo filled disease out of my system lol.

Recovery Console Info link: http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/917964/en-us?spid=8722&sid=186


:eek: I hate computers.....

[Melody]

Recovery isn't difficult, you just have to be sure its what you want to do. It takes you back to the point before you installed IE7, that's all. So anything you installed since will be gone, possibly some stored items, etc. If there's nothing you care about losing, its no big.

I can lend you my Windows CD, but you may have restore already installed. Try activating it as outlined in the tech support pages, or search your computer for it.

I was on Yahoo yesterday and they're pushing IE7 BIGTIME, wonder why? LOL Very strange partnership, considering they compete with the MSN portal... strange bedfellows indeed. My apologies for not being aware of it when you first inquired - things change far too fast in this field.

[Soggybottom]

http://smileys.sur-la-toile.com/repository/Firefox/firefox16.gif

[AquaScaper]

http://smileys.sur-la-toile.com/repository/Firefox/firefox16.gif

OMG! too funny

I LOVE IT!:yes:

:notworthy:

[Melody]

LOL Even I haven't seen that smiley before, or if I did, I didn't get it - he looks like he's snuggling a pumpkin that's past the due date:laugh: . NOW I get it though.

Such a nice girl, little slow.:twitcy:

[Soggybottom]

I just figured out the whole off-site smiley thing, what fun!

[fishenthusiast]

You can uninstall IE by going to Add/Remove Programs. Then click on Add/Remove Windows Components(it is on the left hand side of Add/Remove Programs). Uncheck IE and it will uninstall it.

If you like the other browser you are using you don't have to reinstall it. I think to add it again you need the CD (don't quote me on that though cause I'm not sure).

[Melody]

I just figured out the whole off-site smiley thing, what fun!

Send your faves to Jay and nag him until he adds some. That's what I do and I know he appreciates it. :Angel:

[Melody]

If you like the other browser you are using you don't have to reinstall it. I think to add it again you need the CD (don't quote me on that though cause I'm not sure).

You can grab it online, but it will be the latest version.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx

If you get it from the CD, however, it won't be the latest version. If you choose not to auto-upgrade the browser, you can stay on the old version forever.:)

[AquaScaper]

You can uninstall IE by going to Add/Remove Programs. Then click on Add/Remove Windows Components(it is on the left hand side of Add/Remove Programs). Uncheck IE and it will uninstall it.

If you like the other browser you are using you don't have to reinstall it. I think to add it again you need the CD (don't quote me on that though cause I'm not sure).

I actually went in there and checked it out, but it looks like all it actually removes is the shortcuts and the link from the start menu. At least that's the impression I got when I clicked on it and read the description.

I think I'm going to just leave it all alone for now till I can get some help from someone who knows what they are doing otherwise I'd be terribly upset if I did something wrong lol.

[fishenthusiast]

I actually went in there and checked it out, but it looks like all it actually removes is the shortcuts and the link from the start menu. At least that's the impression I got when I clicked on it and read the description.

I think I'm going to just leave it all alone for now till I can get some help from someone who knows what they are doing otherwise I'd be terribly upset if I did something wrong lol.

Goes to show you what I know :laugh: . I have uninstalled other components from that panel so a assumed that IE would be the same. I read an article about uninstalling IE6 and I was surprised to learn that it is pre-installed in windows XP. In order to reinstall it you have to do some funky things to your registry. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318378/EN-US/ for more details.

Have you tried to do a system restore? If you are like me and use a limited user account to run your computer (makes it more difficult for spyware to be installed on your computer) make sure you are logged on as adminstrator. Click start/control panel/performance and maintenance. On the left hand side at the top is a link for system restore. It will allow you to "roll back" your computer to an earlier point in time. You should be able to roll it back to before you installed IE7. Worth a shot if you haven't done it already.

[Melody]

It would seem that there has been many complaints. The latest upgrade to IE7 states the following:

This free upgrade to Internet Explorer for genuine Windows customers offers improvements such as: enhanced security to help protect you from malicious software and fraudulent websites; a cleaner look, including tabs for browsing multiple pages in one window; features to make everyday tasks such as printing and searching the web easier. This upgrade preserves your current home page, search settings, favorites, and compatible toolbars, and can be uninstalled if you decide to do so.
More information for this update can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=71727 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=71727)

So either the complaining worked, or you're not a 'genuine Windows customer'.... whatever that means. :rolleyes:

[AquaScaper]

LOL I've long since given up trying to get anywhere with it. Firefox is my new Internet buddy :yes:. I :wub: Firefox.

[Melody]

I just do not get that wubby thing....lol.

Anyways, just thought you'd find it interesting. I can't believe they didn't anticipate mass objection to that move.

[Corbin]

im a cerifited computer expert :D, use firefox 2. but dont uninstall IE7. why? because you still need it to do a proper windows update, and its more secure. and if you dont do windows updates often or ever, well go ahead and use IE6, its not gonna do any worse ;)

[AquaScaper]

I would so love to go back to IE6.....apparently you see I don't have that option since the very poor and erroneous install of IE7 which prevents me from deleting it or reverting back to IE6 which seems to have vanished off my system...It's complicated and yes I've tried every possible fix that has been suggested and a few others I've just dreamed up on my own but nothing worked, so I've left IE, dumped it for Firefox. Does Microsoft care? don't know, don't care, they didn't try to help me solve my problem even though I paid $299 for their software so now MS can kiss my hiney. If I can help it I'm not going back at all, who wants to support a company that doesn't support the hands that feed it?...

:nah:

Thanks for posting that Mel, it would appear that I'm not the only one who's not a happy camper, it's too late to get me back with a link to a quick fix though, the damage is already done, my computer has never worked properly since I installed their first screwed up version, I'm not going to take chances on a complete meltdown just b/c they're giving out a link lol.

[Corbin]

yeah its good your on the f*** microsoft bandwagon, but to bad we cant just switch to linux :( if only they made programs for it.

you always could manualy remove IE7 then reinstall IE6, but thats not a good idea. but i sense greater problems if you had errors installing 7

[AquaScaper]

What it comes down to is I would have to do a complete re-install of WinXp from disc in order to rid myself of the disease IE7 has infected my system with. My original disc went missing so I would need to use a different one and then just input my code, which I already know thanks to a handy dandy little tool lol. I'm not having any problems with Firefox, so why fix something that isn't broken. If Firefox stops working all of a sudden then I guess I'll be forced to take drastic measures to fix the MS problem, till then it's happy surfin for me:yes:.

Removing it manually might work if my computer even recognized that IE7 exists in the system lol. It is there by all accounts, but it is not there when searched for using various methods so how can you remove something that apparently isn't there? What is there doesn't work properly so it makes it that much harder lol.

Also, my computer is only a couple of years old, I think I've only used like 3% of it's capacity and before I tried to upgrade to IE7 everything worked mint as it should. :(

[Corbin]

a couple years is a bit much, you should reinstall windows every 6months at most.
thats weird that IE isnt there, you went to .../program files/internet exporer?

[AquaScaper]

Oh yes, I've been to every part of this computer and it's there, you just can't remove it because it is not there LOL. The entry is right there in plain sight, you can click on it, run it as normal do what you will but the moment you try to remove it from the system it is not recognized as being there to remove. It does not show up in Add/Remove programs list either, not even when you click on the show updates box. Anyways, I've had several pros try to help me resolve the issue and everyone has been stumped lol. What I need to do is save some pennies and have someone come over here and do it by hand rather than coach me from msn or by phone because it is hard to fix something if you're not right there looking at it and seeing what I'm seeing. Something definitely went screwy and it's going to take someone who knows Safe Mode and Winxp better than I do to fix it lol.

My old computer ran for 10yrs and never had windows re-done in it once so I really don't think that it should be necessary to re-install the program every 6mo. if you keep your system clean with regular maintenance. I'd go crazy if I had to re-install the stupid program that often lol. If the old computer's hardware hadn't finally fried I'd still be using the same system with the same Windows 98 in it lol.

[Corbin]

its not that you should redo it, its that it helps. problems just keep building up. but it really depends on what you use your computer for, if you do lots of high powered things like making games, playings games, coding, video editing, photoshop stuff,etc. and when you spend a enough money on your computers you probley could get a second hand car :laugh:. and it just keeps things fresh and running smooth.. if you used your computer for high power things you notice the littlest differences. id rather redo my computer and have it runing fine then have to wait an extra 30mins to compile some code or render the lighting in a map im making.

reinstalling windows is easy after so many times its a habit, i can have my computer redone in under 2hrs if murphys law doesnt bug me

[Witchlight]

Removing IE is tuff. :mad:
If the IE 7 or IE updates are not listed in add/remove programs. The way I would do it is to goto add/remove programs then on the left add/remove windows components and uncheck Internet Explorer.
Then you reboot.
Then go back to add/remove programs -> add/remove windows components and recheck IE again and again reboot
that should have IE back as IE 6... You'd ONLY do that if you have a REAL windows xp disk not a recovery disk from the mfc as those are garbage. You could get away with the IE6 network installer if your more advanced.

again I disclaim i take no responsibility here.

Really you do need 7 as once MS decided to roll something that big everything follows suit and we got no choice. :(

Using another browser like firefox or Opera is a good workaround but some sites will still be IE specific if they use activeX controls. you cant really get around that although there are plugins that are getting close.

*not that it matters but A+,net+,Novel and UNIX system administrator
*also havent run a windows OS on my pc in over 2 years straight linux and have never missed a beat. no problems finding programs I want. :D