Killing Internet Explorer Permenantly?

[shassouneh 0]

Hi All,

First of all I appologize if this is in the wrong section. I consider this threaf to be indeed security-related since IE is notorious for poor security.

Also, I would like to point out that I DID a search before posting this. Anyone who has used the search here at ntcompatible will know that it generates far too many results that have nothing to do with the seacrh query.

 

That being said, on to the fun..

 

I wish to COMPLETELY disable Internet Explorer. That is, the following wo tasks MUST be accomplished:

 

1.) Internet Explorer should not be allowed to run. PERIOD. Neither by start menu, nor by manually running iexplore.exe

 

2.) Windows Explorer should NOT automatically transform into IE when a URL/web address is typed in

 

This being said, please do note the following:

 

a.) I'm running Windows XP SP2, and YES I did disable IE from the Set Program Access and Defaults

 

b.) I am NOT interested in setting up a fake proxy. As a matter of fact I do not want iexplore.exe to run AT ALL.

 

I consider IE to be a security threat by itself. My father frequently uses my machine, and I do NOT want him to have access to IE. I know this is harsh, but I have other web browsers installed, and would rather keep my machine intact than risk using IE to ruin it.

 

Thanx for any assistance you can offer with this problem

[American Zombie 0]

http://sillydog.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2677

[shassouneh 0]

Originally posted by American Zombie:

Quote:

http://sillydog.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2677

 

Thanx but this solution DOES NOT Work. All it accomplishes is that now I am prompted with a dialog to re-install critical file (which the link you provided says it can be safely ignored). However, item 2 above (going online with IE using Windows Explorer) STILL takes place, so we are essentially back to square one. As a matter of fact, choosing "cancel" at the dialog, and typing www.yahoo.com and then enter will actually load up yahoo in IE.

 

Short Conclusion: The workaround provided does not do the job.

 

Sorry.

 

Any other suggestions ?

 

[shassouneh 0]

Originally posted by American Zombie:

Quote:

http://sillydog.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2677

 

Thanx but this solution DOES NOT Work. All it accomplishes is that now I am prompted with a dialog to re-install critical file (which the link you provided says it can be safely ignored). However, item 2 above (going online with IE using Windows Explorer) STILL takes place, so we are essentially back to square one. As a matter of fact, choosing "cancel" at the dialog, and typing www.yahoo.com and then enter will actually load up yahoo in IE.

 

Short Conclusion: The workaround provided does not do the job.

 

Sorry.

 

Any other suggestions ?

 

[Sampson 0]

I hate responding to you, shassouneh, since you rarely read or follow what is asked of you, but since this involves your Dad. If you had read the whole discussion that American Zombie suggested you would have seen the following:

 

"I have found the best way yet to disable IE. This will allow you to disable Internet Explorer for general browsing, but still have it work for WindowsUpdate.

 

First open IE, and open the options screen by clicking on 'Tools' at the top of the screen and clicking on 'Options'.,

 

Click the 'Connections' tab at the top of the new options window that has appeared.

 

Click the 'LAN Settings' button that is towards the bottom of the options window.

 

Check the box that says 'Use a proxy server for your LAN'.

 

In the 'Address' field, enter anything - I put 'fakeproxy'.

 

Click the 'Advanced' button, then in the 'exceptions' text box enter '*.microsoft.com' and then click OK.

 

Now IE will only function on pages at Microsoft.com, and WindowsUpdate."

 

I would add that rather than putting in 'fakeproxy' you put in 127.0.0.1 in the address and a number like 5555 in the proxy. Next, when it comes up that it can't connect and gives you the page about retrying or DNS is down - Click Tools and make that your Home page for IE.

 

[mctonale 0]

UseSetBrowserto change defult browser settings.

 

Just tryed setting up a defult proxy. worked but you can not do a microsoft update.

[Sampson 0]

Did you enter into the non-proxy or exception box:

*.microsoft.com

or you could do it like so: microsoft.com ; update.microsoft.com

Make sure you place a semicolon between entries

[mctonale 0]

I have it set up like this:-

 

But activeX control won't run in microsoft or windows update (but office update does). [Error number: 0x80072EE7]

 

Works ok with proxy disabled.

[Sampson 0]

You are correct. The activeX controls won't work through the proxy. It is easy enough to Uncheck the proxy to get through as you said.

[mctonale 0]

Got it working added '*.update.microsoft.com ; download.windowsupdate.com' to proxy.

 

and my only trusted sites are:

 

http://*.update.microsoft.com

https://*.update.microsoft.com

http://download.windowsupdate.com

 

Realy useful. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

[mctonale 0]

Just noticed this also affects wmp.

[Sampson 0]

mctonale, you are having way too much fun with this. It will affect Outlook Express probably (though you may be able to set it up independent of IE) and any of a number of Browsers out there that build on IE.

[Edited by Sampson on 2005-12-10 05:12:58]

 

[shassouneh 0]

Originally posted by Sampson:

Quote:

I hate responding to you, shassouneh, since you rarely read or follow what is asked of you, ...

 

I really don't get why you claim I never apply what you ask me to, especially when in the first post I make it clear what you have in mind does nto work for me! I indeed DID try what was asked of me, and I made it VERY clear that I do NOT want to set up a fake proxy or a proxy of any kind!

 

 

Originally posted by shassouneh:

Quote:

Originally posted by American Zombie:

Quote:

http://sillydog.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2677

 

Thanx but this solution DOES NOT Work. All it accomplishes is that now I am prompted with a dialog to re-install critical file (which the link you provided says it can be safely ignored). However, item 2 above (going online with IE using Windows Explorer) STILL takes place, so we are essentially back to square one. As a matter of fact, choosing "cancel" at the dialog, and typing www.yahoo.com and then enter will actually load up yahoo in IE.

 

Short Conclusion: The workaround provided does not do the job.

 

Sorry.

 

Any other suggestions ?

 

Originally posted by shassouneh:

Quote:

b.) I am NOT interested in setting up a fake proxy. As a matter of fact I do not want iexplore.exe to run AT ALL.

 

Sampson, if you had read the original post, you would have realized that I clearly stated that setting up a proxy, OR configuring IE to only open certain sites is NOT AT ALL satisfactory for me. I do not wish IE to run AT ALL. PERIOD!

What you are suggesting is that IE won't be ABLE to open pages, but it can still RUN. See my point? Furthermore I tried disabling IE but all that resulted in was a dialog asking me to re-install critical files. If I choose cancel, I can still type in an address in Windows Explorer and have IE navigate to it!

 

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Originally posted by mctonale:

Quote:

UseSetBrowserto change defult browser settings.

 

Just tryed setting up a defult proxy. worked but you can not do a microsoft update.

 

Please Read Above:

 

Originally posted by shassouneh:

Quote:

 

a.) I'm running Windows XP SP2, and YES I did disable IE from the Set Program Access and Defaults

 

b.) I am NOT interested in setting up a fake proxy. As a matter of fact I do not want iexplore.exe to run AT ALL.

 

 

 

Thanx for the replies everyone. Please keep them coming

 

NOTE: I do not use IE, OUtlook Express, or Windows Media Player. Opera, VideoLan's VLC and Nero's Showtime fit nicely to do all what they can do. So as far as I'm concerned if killing IE means killing WMP and/or OE so be it. I just do not want to be able to run IE. I do not want to completely un-install IE either since I might use it at a later time for my web development.

 

[Sampson 0]

Well, you have been given an effective solution to keep your Dad from compromising the security of your machine. This is what the folks at News Forge have to say about disbling IE:

 

"Once you've decided to get rid of IE, you can use the following process, provided you have Internet Explorer version 6 or later installed. Ironically, the easiest way to remove Internet Explorer versions earlier than version 6.0 is to first upgrade to 6.0 -- a process best done through Windows Update. If you're using Windows 95 and want to remove IE, Microsoft has instructions here.

 

In Windows NT 4.0, 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, and Advanced Server Limited Edition, open up your Control Panel, which is found in the Start Menu under Settings. Then double-click on Add/Remove Programs; a new window will appear with this same title. Select Add/Remove Windows Components from the left-hand icon column and then uncheck the box next to Internet Explorer. Click Next and IE will disappear from your system; click Finish to complete the process. All IE icons will be removed from your quick launch, desktop, and Start menu.

 

Depending on which operating system you're using and how it has been updated and configured, the option for removing Internet Explorer may alternately be in the Add/Remove Installed Programs section instead of the Add/Remove Windows Components section, but the basic process remains the same.

 

In Windows XP the process is exactly the same, except you have some further options to limit Internet Explorer. In the same Add or Remove Programs window, Windows XP has an additional option for those with Administrator rights: Set Program Access and Defaults, which is the last icon down on the left-hand icon bar. Click on it and you'll see some different profiles to choose from. Click on Custom; this will list some program defaults and access controls that you can change manually. The first group in the list is for your Web browser. Uncheck the box labeled "Enable access to this program" next to Internet Explorer. You'll notice there is a button for the system default -- you'll want to click the dot next to your new browser to make it the default if it isn't already set.

 

Internet Explorer is, unfortunately, built into Windows in all versions after 98 and can't be fully removed. No matter what you do, IE will still be available in a limited capacity for the purpose of running Windows Update, which requires Internet Explorer to run. It will not be generally available to users, however, and since you set your default browser to whatever you installed earlier, IE will never open on its own when you click a link offline. This is the best you can do; Windows security is all about reducing risk, rather than eliminating it. If you start Windows Update, an IE window will open and you can use it for browsing sites other than Windows Update despite the fact that it's been "removed" and "disabled." This is one of the main problems with Windows -- there are always loopholes like this one that compromise your system's security. A more effective long-term answer to such security concerns might be to switch to GNU/Linux."

 

As you can plainly read, and as a whole plethora of people have pointed out, IE is so integrated into the way XP works, it cannot be entirely removed without disabling XP itself. You don't think that Microsoft looked at 98lite and saw how he substituted .dll's from 95 and was able to "eliminate" IE? They fixed that in XP.

 

You've been given an effective way to frustrate your Dad's using IE as a browser. You have obviously Googled for a solution that fits your parameters and have found none. Until a disgruntled former Microsoft programmer leaks the info onto the internet (assuming that such a solution is really possible), your quest is pretty much a waste of time. You are trapped by Zeno's paradox - while in theory it is solvable, empirically infinity is unachievable.

[mctonale 0]

I have also heard that IE is too intergrated to be removed completly. (here I think)

 

Quote:

NOTE: I do not use IE, OUtlook Express, or Windows Media Player. Opera, VideoLan's VLC and Nero's Showtime fit nicely to do all what they can do. So as far as I'm concerned if killing IE means killing WMP and/or OE so be it.

 

Who uses Outlook Express (or msoutlook)? too many holes for me! would also like to kill.

 

As for media streeming VideoLan looks interesting I will have to have a play with it.

[sick 0]

shassouneh:

 

1. Under Add/Remove programs, choose Add/Remove Windows COmponents in the sidebar. Uncheck Internet Explorer. This will "remove access from the Start Menu and Desktop." Open your other browser and say yes, you want to set it as the default browser.

IE will never open again unless you specify so.

 

2. To completely remove all traces (except an empty folder): Back up your files. This will require a reinstall.

Use the method detailed at vorck.com.

Last I checked this wouldn't work later than Windows 2000.

But it is the best for reducing Windows to only its necessary core files. For XP:

nLite: http://nuhi.msfn.org/

 

3. For Windows Update: Daisy http://vtntug.w2k.vt.edu/daisy.htm

There are a few bugs in this program, but it is the best. All bugs are documented and can be fixed manually, you just have to read all documentation very carefully. Or:

windizupdate.com.

 

I have happily been working completely without IE for over a year.

[shassouneh 0]

Thanx for all the feedback and valuable input everyone. It seems as Sampson put it, I have little or no choice but to "cripple" IE and hope for the best using my default browser ( Opera ).

This really is a huge disappointment which I do not see (yet) how the courts have not managed to sue Microsoft for. Basically what we have here is "Internet Explorer will be forecibly installed on your machine whether you like it or not, will be a pain to remove or cripple, and will always be available (to run) in at least a limited capacity". This may work well (very well) for IE aficionados. But for the few of us who have seen IE with all its gory and bare teeth, this is troubling news.

 

Thanx again everyone for your input. It is certainly much appreciated.

 

 

PS: Thanx for the suggestion/guide to un-install IE. I do not wish to un-install IE simply because I may have to use it at a later time to check ym web development on it. I just would rather find a way to comletely disable it from running. oh well

 

Mods: Please feel free to close/move this topic at your own discretion.

 

 

[Edited by shassouneh on 2005-12-11 09:59:39]