Windows XP’s SP3 Makes Reverting to IE6 Impossible

According to recent findings, once a Windows XP machine is upgraded to service pack 3, it’s impossible to uninstall Internet Explorer 7, if it happens to be installed. It’s a truly odd bug, though, because if you install SP3 with IE6 installed, you can install IE7 after the fact and then proceed to uninstall it if you want.

The reason is because SP3 conveniently overwrites the IE6 backup directory, which is created during the IE7 installation. Once SP3 is installed, it voids the folder, making it impossible to revert. It may be possible to perform a System Restore, but that’s usually a last resort. The moral of the story? Don’t install IE7 if you don’t want it, and just make sure that it’s de-selected under Windows Update so you don’t accidentally find yourself with it.

Of course, if you don’t use Internet Explorer as your primary browser, then it really doesn’t matter how you do things.

If that’s all a bit confusing, here’s what you should take away: If you don’t plan to use IE7, don’t install it. Period. If you do plan to install it, but want to be able to uninstall it, then you should load Windows XP SP3 before upgrading from IE6 to IE7. If you upgraded Internet Explorer before installing XP SP3, the only way to uninstall it would be to uninstall the entire service pack, which is really far more trouble than its worth.

Source: Download Squad