How to Delete Add-Ons with Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer can be customized to a large degree with free tools that expand its functionality while browsing the web. With new add-ons available available every other day, you will soon want to trim down which add-ons you want to keep and which ones to delete. This article covers the steps to disable or remove add-ons no longer needed.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or later
• An online Internet connection

Instructions

1. Add-ons can also appear as extra toolbars in Internet Explorer. To remove a toolbar, do the following: Look for an X on the left of the extra toolbar that has been added as an add-on. When floating over the X, it will turn red. Click on the red X to disable this specific toolbar.

   A pop-up window will appear showing a list of related add-ons that rely on this toolbar. This allows you to determine if disabling this toolbar will affect any other functionality.

   Once you've made your selections, press the "Disable" button at the bottom of the pop-up window. The add-on and toolbar will now be gone.

2. 

   To get a toolbar or add-on back, go to the Tools menu, and from the list select "Manage Add-Ons." On the left select the type of add-on, in this case a toolbar, and from the list across you will see a list of all toolbars currently and previously in use.
   Select the toolbar you previously disabled and click on the "Enable" button below.
   Internet Explorer will now suggest the previous selections that you saw in Step 1 and you can now enable them again. Click on the "Close" button to close the window.

   If the toolbar you have just re-enabled does not appear immediately, then simply go to "View," select "Toolbars" and click to put a tick back on the left of the previous toolbar name and close the window. The toolbar will now reappear.

3. 

   To disable add-ons which are not toolbar related, simply go to "Tools," "Manage Add-Ons" and choose which add-ons you no longer want and click the check mark and disable them. Once done, click on the "Close" button to close the window.

4. 

   Some add-ons might be interfering with your Internet Explorer performance and you may want to wipe the slate clean of all add-ons.

   Go to "Tools," "Options" and click on to the "Advanced" tab. You can now click on the "reset" button at the bottom, which will disable all add-ons and reset all changes. ( Note: This also clears any temporary files and changed settings such as customized home page or search engine defaults.)

5. If you are unable to even start Internet Explorer for some reason, you can also do the reset option for disabling add-ons by doing a right-click on the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop and choosing "Properties." From here you will gain access to the "Advanced" tab as described in Step 4. Repeat same steps for reset as in Step 4.

Tips & Warnings

• Write down which add-ons you are disabling before making changes in case you want to enable specific add-ons at a later stage.

• The reset option will give you a clean slate with no add-ons, however, it will also clear any temporary files and changed settings such as a customized home page or search engine default. These can always be put back to their customized settings after the reset option.