How to reinstall Internet Explorer?

[TimTimSalabim]

Question for you Windows experts:

Is there a way to completely wipe out IE and start over? I've been using a popup blocker for awhile, which worked great for a long time, but now recently I'm getting "Adult Friendfinder" and "TrafficMarketplace" popups sneaking through, and God knows what other stuff is happening I'm not even aware of. I tried numerous freeware like Spybot and AdAware and removed everything it told me about but it does not seem to fix the problem.

[adios]

I've tried it but with little success but I'm fairly certain it can be accomplished. One thing you could do is back up all the files you want, wipe your hard disk clean and re-install Windows.

[Jim Kuhn]

Do you have a free pop up blocker?

Thank you,

Jim Kuhn
Catfish4U
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[TimTimSalabim]

[ QUOTE ]
I've tried it but with little success but I'm fairly certain it can be accomplished. One thing you could do is back up all the files you want, wipe your hard disk clean and re-install Windows.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was hoping to avoid something that drastic, but it seems like there's no other way to remove IE from your system. Now if I can just find those disks...

[TimTimSalabim]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you have a free pop up blocker?

[/ QUOTE ]

At one point, I actually had *two* popup blockers running, Google and WebSearch, and stuff still got through.

[Mano]

Try clicking on the down pointing arrow to the right of the "Pop-ups Blocked" icon on the toolbar and select Pop-up guard settings. Then choose the Allow List tab, and remove any sites from the allow list that seem dicey.

[BadBoyBenny]

What version of windows do you have?

Try going to control panel, add/remove programs, and browse through Windows components.

[snakehead]

I don't see how this problem is related to ie. it seems to be a problem with your blocker. you can go to control panel, add/remove programs, and uninstall ie. then reload it with a disk, or download it from microsft.com.

other alternative is to use the system restore disks that came with your computer.

[ACPlayer]

If you really want to remove IE and install again, reinstall the whole OS. Windows gets very angry if you try to remove IE.

Buy zone alarm pro, you get a firewall and a good popup blocker. It is only a few dollars.

[ericd]

Internet Explorer is not the problem. You have some spyware on your machine. Freeware is good but it is free, so ... Try buying one. I've used Pest Patrol. There are probably others that work. Check out cnet.com for reviews.

[TimTimSalabim]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm using Windows XP, in answer to one of the questions, and yes I do use a popup blocker. It looks like there's no easy way to uninstall IE, Add/Remove only lets you install one of the updates, but not IE itself. I guess that sorta makes sense, because if you remove it, you couldn't get on the web to reinstall it. So I'll either have to wipe my drive clean or try one of the more sophisticated spyware removers.

[ericd]

Reinstalling Windows is simple if you know what you are doing. However, if you don't it can be a nightmare. Keep in mind that once you've reinstalled Windows you would have to:

1. Apply all required Windows updates
2. Install all of your software and their updates
3. Get all the hardware (printers, scanners ...) to work
4. Copy from back-ups all documents, bookmarks etc.

Saved emails, "good cookies", registration requirements etc. will cause issues. The aggravation you are setting yourself up for goes on and on. I'd buy a good spyware program.

Good luck,

Eric