How to Uninstall Internet Explorer 8 & Reinstall IE 7

Moving from IE8 to an earlier version can be tricky.

Microsoft's web browsing software, known as Internet Explorer (IE), is still one of the most popular among computer users. It has been around long enough and evolved enough times that some people have even developed loyalties to particular versions of the program. If you have a machine that has IE 8 installed and you want to revert back to IE 7, there is a particular way you must go about the uninstall and reinstall process.

Instructions

1. Go to the Windows Desktop and click the "Start" button. Select "Control Panel," then double-click on the icon labeled "Add/Remove Programs."

2. Locate Windows Internet Explorer 8 in the list of programs and click on it. Click the "Remove" button. The IE 8 Removal Wizard will launch. Click "Next."

3. Look over the programs that the Removal Wizard identifies as possibly being dependent on IE8. Click "Yes" to confirm that you want to continue with removal.

4. Allow the removal process to continue. Click "Finish" to restart the operating system when prompted to do so. Upon restarting, your browser will automatically revert to IE7.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have installed Service Pack 3 on your Windows XP operating system, you will need to uninstall it, uninstall IE8, then reinstall SP3.

References

• Microsoft: You Cannot Uninstall Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8 After You Install Windows XP Service Pack 3
• Question Defense: Downgrade IE8 to IE7, Downgrade Internet Explorer 8 to Internet Explorer 7

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Internet Explorer 7 Support