How to Uninstall Windows Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) in Vista
Fed up with Internet Explorer 8 which is unstable at best? IE8 IE8 Beta 1 may occasionally crashes or not responding when browsing websites, and users have to close the browser with request to send the error report to Microsoft. The bugs or crashes happen more frequently especially if users using third-party add-ons such as Google Toolbar. This is generally expected as this is the first beta of IE 8.
Beside, user interface of IE8 is generally similar to IE7, reducing the enticing for users who face problems when using IE8 to stay using it. If you decided to rollback and revert back to original IE7 or IE6, it’s possible to uninstall IE8 to do so.
IE8 can be uninstall by using Add or Remove Programs module in Windows XP, but in Windows Vista, Windows Internet Explorer 8 is not considered to be a ‘program’. Instead, IE8 is categorizing as an ‘update’. Thus, users will not be able to find Windows Internet Explorer 8 in “Programs and Features” of Windows Vista.
To uninstall Internet Explorer 8, go to Control Panel, and click on Uninstall Programs link or Programs and Features icon. Then on Tasks pane on the left, click on View installed updates link. Locate and select Windows Internet Explorer 8 in the list of installed updates, and then click on Uninstall button. Click on Yes when asked that are you sure want to uninstall the update.
If there is no option of IE8 been found on “Programs and Features” or “Add or Remove Programs” dialog box, or uninstallation of Internet Explorer 8 is unclean (causing error message such as setup cannot continue because a more recent version of Internet Explorer has been detected on this computer when trying to downgrade to IE7), try to manually run the spuninst.exe.
To do so, go to C:\WINDOWS\ie8\spuninst\ folder (your drive letter may be different), and run spuninst.exe. Restart the computer after uninstallation completed.
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Entries (RSS)
April 2nd, 2009 10:02
God bless, thanks – this this really REALLY hosed me – restarting now, wanted to say thanks.
March 29th, 2009 02:53
Great post!
IE8 started annoying me as it rendered many web sites wrong. But the drop that spilled the glass was that embedded Real Player (as used by the BBC iPlayer and others) won’t work with IE8 unless you re-install IE8 after installing Real Player.
I really think that’s insane! I’m much happier now that I’m back in IE7.
March 29th, 2009 00:55
I must say ie8 so far demostrated to be a piece of crap, at least on my systems.
Too bad I’m forced by my home-banking to use ie, they don’t support neither FF or OP, can you believe it, and they talk about security. I also had bad luck with IEs4Linux, again because the home-banking.
Ahhhhhh ie7 seems so fast and stable compared to ie8!!!
March 28th, 2009 10:47
Well IE8 is crap…diarea crap.
My Dell xps 720 running Vista Ultimate became so unstable it would not shutdown. So I powered down and it never recovered on power up. So I used system restore to go back to the date prior to the install of IE8. It booted fine, but IE8 is still there. I found an IE8 unstall program from the Microsoft Fix site, but it did not work
So now that I read this thread, I looked for a patch or update. Its not there !!!
Any ideas ????
IE8 should never been released in i.ts condition
March 27th, 2009 02:43
After installing IE8 and having my laptop all messed up I tried the following procedure that was mentioned above.
First I went to add/remove and uninstalled Windows Service Pack 3. After it rebooted I then uninstalled IE7 and after all that(which was a lengthly process) I rebooted again and tada the older version of IE was there.
Funny part was before I found this page, I had called Microsoft Tech Support(or lack thereof) and was on the phone for over an hour and they couldnt get nowhere with it. They still say its the best yet. Oh boy.
Thanks for the advice
March 26th, 2009 21:41
Awesome post THANK YOU…really didn’t know IE was considered as an update until I decided to uninstall it…thank god I bumped into your website thanks again
March 26th, 2009 20:00
Cool, but dont work on my sys :/
March 26th, 2009 04:35
Thank You. Worked for me too. IE 8 is horrible!!!
March 24th, 2009 20:47
THANKS!!! Worked like a charm to remove IE8. I should have known better. It hasn’t been out long enough to get rid of the bugs.
March 20th, 2009 18:44
I even called the Windows helpdesk but still I can’t uninstall IE 8. I tried the above.
March 15th, 2009 21:33
dustn
March 11th, 2009 07:06
136
What does it mean if windows internet explorer 8 is not in the list of updates, but its still on the computer.
$$$ Check the update box when in the add/remove program and you’ll be surprised what hidden but IE8 will appear.
March 15th, 2009 20:21
Tank you for this I almost gone mad.
March 11th, 2009 18:38
Cool. Thx very much. It works now !
March 11th, 2009 18:36
Hmmm it doesnt work on my computer
March 11th, 2009 07:06
What does it mean if windows internet explorer 8 is not in the list of updates, but its still on the computer.
March 6th, 2009 04:24
Microsoft has a uninstall tool for ie8,
http://www.ie8rt.notlong.com
It worked for me. Link came directly from Microsoft tech support.
March 5th, 2009 06:31
ah man finaly i can start enjoying my internet sessions again. ie8 is shit!
THANKS!
March 5th, 2009 04:43
Thanks for great instructions. I am running Vista Home Premium SP1 and uninstalled the update. After a few seconds I get this Windows Update message, “An error has occurred. Not all of the updates were successfully uninstalled.” I disabled all virus and firewall progs before uninstalling. Normally I use Mozilla Firefox anyway but this is messing up my McAfee anti virus program. McAfee is still working but I cannot see any menus. Please help.
March 4th, 2009 20:30
Thanks so much! I see it’s ver easy but didn’t know how to get to the link “uninstall”. I wouldn’t find it into “installed updates”
March 4th, 2009 09:25
IE8 is garbage. Loads incredibly slow, renders pages slow, hangs often.
Reverted to IE7 and wow, so fast!! Whew !!
IE will never be my default browser.
Thanks for the simple instructions.
March 2nd, 2009 13:58
Thanks heaps !
I can now go back to enjoying my browsing.
Tom Brown
February 21st, 2009 08:45
Thank you so much, you made my day.
February 19th, 2009 22:34
i cant find it in updates is it diferent for vista
i do not see uninstall a program on control panel
February 18th, 2009 10:08
thanks so much; I really appreciate it!!!
February 17th, 2009 22:33
Thank you so much, I stewed over how to uninstall for hours and this post cured the problem.