Trusted Installer

Hello Peacox,
Many thanks, I have saved the details of the link you offered and will try later. I shall return if I have a problem - which I doubt.
Colin

Many thanks for your post, Tara,
I am aware of the danger of deleting unknown programmes, which is why I wrote "If that is the way forward!" But thanks for your advice. I think I have succeeded in my search and was able to gain "Ownership" of the files - and , I hope, all the rest of them!

With regard to the printer question that I was going to return with. I managed to sort out the problem. The place where I bought all the new 'stuff' from had not installed the printer driver. It was downloaded and not installed. A quick check with the device manager found it and it is now installed and the printer appears to be working. Thank you for your links.

regards

Colin

Is it safe to remove the whole Internet Explorer folder? I'm techtarded, but I have a netbook and I want to free up all the hard drive and memory I can. I use firefox, but I've heard that a lot of windows programs rely on explorer. I have firefox set as my default browser, but will I shoot myself in the foot if I follow the tutorial linked above and delete the IE folder? Save me from my own ignorance.

If you prefer to use Firefox, I would just set it as the default browser, but keep IE around just incase you need an alternative browser for whatever reason. Here are some tips for getting the most out of Windows 7 on your netbook: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Optimize-Windows-7-for-better-performance. Hope this helps!

Some third-party programs still require Internet Explorer for their functionality and will malfunction/fail if you delete IE in its entirety. Thus, I concur with Cassandra: leave IE installed, but make your preferred browser the default browser, something most will prompt you to do upon installation.

John

Internet Explorer 8 cannot be uninstalled either in programs or updates on Windows 7. i went to that weblink on the above page of this forum beause I hate Internet Explorer and have 6 other Good browsers amoung them Pale Moon Firefoxs open source,Safefox browser and Chromium and others much better than Ie which is rubbish.Although you can disable Ie in Windows 7 by turning off Windows feature it is still there so thats not good enough. As I want it gone completly,so I went to that website that tells you how to change ownership of a trusted installer file. Because when I tried to delete the Internet explorer file I could not because trusted Install was the owner of the Ie file.Deleting the file is another way of removing the program. after much difficulty I managed to chane the Ie file on myc disk drive to me as i am an administer of my own laptop and have an administer account. I was then able to delete the contents of the Internet explorer file one by one as it would not delete altogether. Then I used UNBLOCKER a tool to delete the remainer of the Ie file contents. My computer is working as normal.I can browser the web in my other web browsers. true when I tested it out by turning IE8 back on the icon was there but the browser would not open and note I delted the new Ie8 file windows put back on my computer disk when I enabled IE8,it deleted no problem. I then unticked that box to turn IE8 off again. The IE8 file was put back on my c drive by windows but deleted again by me. so the file only comes back when I turn IE8 back on but IE8 does not work anymore. BUt this has not effected my laptop in the least as I am still doing everything I was doing before Windows Meda works and other Microsoft apps work, The only thing I dont have Is Internet explorer which I never wanted in the first place and may I add Green browser and Aol explorer the Ie browser shells are still working as good as before. BUT have I realy got rid of Internet Explorer for good or is it still there in my system some where? Andrea.

It seems you may have been fortunate in deleting files like that and still have a working system.

Here's the problem. Some years ago Microsoft integrated IE into Windows Explorer. Windows Explorer includes the whole family of the Windows GUI or Graphic User Interface, the file manager, My Documents, My Music, My photos, etc, the Desktop, and so on, as well as other hidden attributes and settings. Deleting any portion of those GUI files can seriously damage the Operating System, (OS), and is never recommended.

I find it difficult understand the need to completely erase any trace of IE from a system. There are millions of files installed on a system that we never see and never worry about, so what is the difference if IE remains on the system but is simply 'not used'? I just don't see what the benefit is in attempting to nuke IE. But I do see the problems that doing this can cause.

In your case it seems you have deleted some files, but the critical system files remain intact, and fortunately if you re-enable IE in Programs & features" the OS is able to re-create IE. That means no damage has been done.

Personally I would leave it as it is.

Mark

You're not very clear about what you did, because you talk about files where I think it should be folder ('delete the contents of the file one by one). So that's really amateuristic.

Maybe you only deleted the contents of the folder Program Files\Internet Explorer. That should be possible, I think, without negative consequences. Maybe you deleted more, but you didn't tell. I agree with Mark that - for an amateur - you have been lucky indeed if you touched anything else than that folder.

I don't hope you ever need to visit Windows Update or Microsoft Updates. Those sites only work in IE, as far as I know.

- But why care about just a folder (one of the thousands of folders present on your hard disk) whose content you don't use.
- Why care about the presents of parts of IE if you don't use the program. My guess is that there are many Microsoft programs you don't use and could delete, like robocopy.exe and edlin.exe and iexpress.exe. But you don't.
- What's so special about IE that you hate it and want it eradicated in stead of just not used. I think it's rather irrational.
- And why do you think IE is rubbish? You didn't tell.

Kees

Thank you for your response. I think you could be right in that some components of Internet Explorer are still on my computer. as when i opened the file or folder called Windows which contains my copy of windows which is needed to run my Windows 7 laptop. There was a file that said Internet Explorer but it was not the browser. there was just a desktop and computer icon and when I opened this I got re directed to my desktop again. So I am not going to delete that folder. And windows update is still working and installing updates i checked it.And as I mentioned in my above post,if I turn IE8 on again in Windows features settings Internet Explorer icon come back and so does the file but when I click on it the browser does not open any more. And even when I download IE8 or 9 from the Internet the browser still seems permanently disabled,even with Ie8 setting turned on. So I just delete the IE file in c drive after I turned off IE8 again. So it seems I HAVE removed the INTERNET EXPLORER BROWSER ONLY but-the other software componments of Internet Explorer that runs Windows is still there. But of course these are NOT the IE web browser. So it seems I have only removed the IE web browser and not anything else. And the good new is Avant browsers and Green browsers that are supposed to run of of Internet Explorer are still working. So I thing Green browser and Avent and all my other IE based browsers are running off of the Internet Explorer software componments in Windows not the ACTUAL browser. which it seems I have deleted and the file that is put back on my hard drive when I turn IE on is just a dummy file as either way. If I try to enable IE or disable it does not work anymore so I think I have done it. Or could it be because I renamed the Trysted Installer file for Ie in my name? But I dont think so some how. I look forward to hearing from anybody else with useful ideas of how they got rid of Ie. Andrea.

My Windows update is located in control panel in action centre settings menu on my Windows 7 laptop. When it downloads or reminds me it needs to install updates it does this automatically.It does not open up any web browser. And sometimes in control panel windows search in a help question query. It then does take me onto the web but it opens up Google Chrome or whatever browser I am using or just used at the time. so it seems Windows update my work different on Windows 7 from what it does on Windows Vista or windows XP. But I do not know as I have only ever used vista or XP in Internet cafes. I have never owned these 2 type of computers. This is my first computer that I only bought this year. Which is a netbook without a CD drive so it does not play CDs.There is nowhere to insert a CD disk into my laptop like some others as it is a netbook.And my laptop is windows 7. Andrea.

Well it has been a week now since I have uninstalled Internet Explorer IE by deleting the IE on my hard drive in programs. And I must say I have not noticed any change in my Windows 7 laptop.It has been said in some articles on the web that some functions will not work if you remove IE in my case IE8 which comes with all Windows 7 computers.My Windows Media player is working fine and I am playing videos in it and I am still getting updates from Windows update as I did before.And what is even more interesting is that Avant browser and Green browsers that claim that you must have IE installed to make them work,are running very good,even though my Internet Explorer browser is no longer on my laptop. I realise that by deciding to remove Internet Explorer by editing the file so I could delete it and then deleting the whole IE file. I had have taken the high risk option and got away with it.I did remove IE files from other Microsoft files on my computer hard drive by deleting them. But I made sure that it was ONLY the browser and it's files in relation to that I deleted,nothing else. Obviously files such as WINDOWS or WINDOWS 7 which contain my copy of Windows including my Windows 7 Ultimate I upgraded to from Starter I did not touch those. and anyway when I looked in the Windows files they did not contain the Internet Explorer browser anyway. and windows folders are the last files you would delete. so it seems that Avant browser and others that are IE shells are running OFF OF A WINDOWS COMPONENT OF SOFTWARE USED in Internet Explorer NOT the browser Internet Explorer.So it looks like I have only deleted the browser IE not a windows componment which I think is what avant browser is running off of.The only thing is I HAVe deleted Internet Explorer browser for good. i tested this out. as when I turn on Ie in windows features the IE icon is back in start menu. But the IE browser will not launch anymore and Windows just restores a blank or dummy file which I just delete as it is usless now. As IE browser will not work again,not even by downloading IE9. So it looks like I have got rid of the browser. But as long as I have other web browsers on my computer,which I do have,I can still access the Internet and web sites. Andrea.

Well,I am now an old hand at removing Internet Explorer from my computer. I was able to delete all of the Internet Explorer program files in programs on C drive,using a tool called UNLOCKER. Which I downloaded from the Internet.

Thanks to Unlocker I was able to delete the entire contents of the IE program file. So now IE is off of both of my Windows 7 Ultimate computers both Netbooks.

I was also able to uninstall Windows Media player the same way as well,Just by deleting the program file. If you delete the file,you delete the program.
And I have now replaced Windows Media player with VLC Media player. Which is fully compatible with Windows and does everything that Windows Media player did.

Yes,it CAN be done,I have completely uninstalled Internet Explorer and Windows Media player from both of my computers.

So it works on Windows 7 but I do not know what would happen if you did it on Windows XP or windows Vista or the older editions of Windows. As these may depend more on IE than what Windows 7 does.

But if you do want to completely uninstall IE you must only delete the IE file in programs on C drive. DO NOT TOUCH OR DELETE ANY OF THE REGISTRY KEYS. As this could cause Windows not to function properly. In fact you should never delete any registry keys as the registry is vital to make Windows work.

But now IE is off of my computers for good and I still get Windows updates just like before as the updates are coming from Windows not IE.And Windows Media player is also removed from my computers replaced with VLC player and I also have Gom Media player in addition to this.

So I have actually made my computers better by doing this. Internet Explorer is a backward browser in terms of software and most people,including myself hate Ie as it slows down the whole system.

But my computers are Windows 7 but are Internet explorer free. And some day all Windows operating systems and computers will be made this way. I hope so. Andrea Borman.