How to Disable Internet Explorer


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Why keep Internet Explorer when you use another browser. It's just a security risk

Internet Explorer logoThere's no doubt that Internet Explorer has been a prime target of attack for spyware merchants and other ill-intentioned goons. That's why many folks have turned to alternate browsers for their web surfing.

If you are using another browser and don't use Internet Explorer anymore, there's a case to be made that you should remove it from your system. It is, after all, a potential security threat so, if you don't need it, why not get rid of it?

Except, getting rid of IE is not that easy. In fact, with later versions of Windows there's no satisfactory way of removing it completely without risking crippling Windows itself.

That hasn't stopped folks from trying to remove IE, however, and you can find several techniques documented on various web sites. Instead of removing IE I favor the simple and safer approach of disabling it. Sure, it may not provide the same degree of security as complete removal but that's a small price to pay compared to the cost of potentially de-stabilizing Windows.

There are several disabling techniques but I suggest the method below as it's simple, easy to reverse and doesn't interfere with the operation of the Windows Update service. Furthermore it should work with any modern version of IE.

Step 1. From IE select Tools/Internet Options/Connections/LAN Settings.

Step 2. Put a tick in the check box next to "Use a Proxy Server for your LAN ...”

Step 3. Type in "" in the address box and "80" in the Port box. Don't type in the quote marks of course, just what's inside them.

Step 4. Click OK.

What you've done is set up a dummy proxy server that goes nowhere. With these setting IE cannot make an HTML connection to the internet and vice versa. You have simply and effectively disabled IE.

There's no magic in the address, any dead proxy address would work just as well. I've used that particular address to keep things simple.

If you ever need to re-enable Internet Explorer start it up and select Tools/Internet Options/Connections/LAN Settings from the toolbar and un-check the box "Use a Proxy Server for your LAN ...”

If you really want to remove IE more completely then you can check out these resources but, as I said, I don't recommend it.


Windows 95 - Windows 2000 SR1

Windows 2000 and later.





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my HP laptop keyboard is showing double symbols when I press the keys k, ax dx
is there anybody who can help

Hi, sorry but we can't advise on such issues on the main site. If you would like to post re your problem in the forum someone may be able to advise on a solution. all the best, garth.

Whoa, whoa . . .

I've just tried out this little trick because I don't use Internet Explorer. I then clicked on the December Windows Update alert that's been sitting in my tray for a few days and, guess what: Windows Update wouldn't work. Error code edt something or other.

Trouble shooting the problem (which has never happened before) led to Windows suggesting a firewall setting or some other program was causing Windows Update download/ installation to fail. However. . . as only 5 minutes earlier, I'd made the and 80 change to the IE LAN setting,I assumed it had to be that, so I reversed the setting changes by deleting the and port 80 entries as well as unchecking the proxy box.

Result? Windows Update functioned normally again and, as I finish scribbling this note, it is reporting "all updates were successfully installed", restart now.

In view of my experience just now -- bearing in mind that I do *not* let Windows automatically download and install updates, but instead have it set to alert me when new updates are ready for downloading -- it seems that disabling IE along the lines suggested in this article *will* impact on Windows Update. (Mine's a Win 7 x64, by the way.)

I wonder if instead of confining itself to whether or not the computer user needs IE or not, the article might touch upon whether or not a newly installed program needs IE or not? I remember a post on another forum about someone who couldn't get his newly purchased software to work in anything other than demo / trial mode; turned out it had been trying to use IE to dial home for license activation, but IE had been disabled on that particular computer. Mind you, I can't see that many developers being daft enough to specify IE and IE alone.

My wife and I have been married 37 years. She has been ill for along time and felt trapped at home until our son bought her a new Laptop(with Vista). It gave her a window to the world. I helped her set up Mozilla Firefox, but never removed IE9. She gets easily frustrated with her computer, so when she kept getting updates for IE9, I used the add/remove tool to remove IE9. After doing so, updates for IE8 started popping I removed IE8...but then updates for IE7 started popping up, but IE7 does not even show in the add/remove program list, but numerous, "cumulative updates for IE7" keep appearing for IE7. I found a blocker on the Microsoft site for Automatic updates, but we still get the update offer from IE7 when we manually update. How do I get rid of IE7 asking for any kind of updates...for manual or automatic installation. It really frustrates her. Thank you. God bless.

You cannot uninstall Internet Explorer. It is an integral part of Windows. Most likely what you did was uninstalled the updates from IE9 to IE8 but you can't uninstall IE7.

The most you can do is disable IE but you will still continue to get Windows updates for it. That can't be helped. If you want to disable IE please follow this article:

Additionally, make sure you set Firefox as your default browser so that if you click on any links it will launch Firefox and not IE.

Also, for most people, it isn't advisable to turn off automatic updates for Windows. Only advanced users who know what they are about and understand the implications should do that.

If you require any further assistance please post in the forum here:

Your information to disable internet explorer worked fine but now my new browser ( Mozilla Firefox ) does not respond. How do I fix that?


It is a bad news. I need to remove IE because it's hijack by Qv06 search engine and I want to reinstall the clear browser.