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http://www.litepc.com/ IE is not impossible to uninstall... it's just difficult

MS takes WinXP Professional SP2, uses XPLite 1.3 to do a PowerStrip then they sell the result at the price of Starter Edition.
Brrrriiiing... the alarm clock rings... well... back to reality.

You want "Windows-Lite" ? just install XP Lite and remove any windows component you don't like.

"I'd like to see Internet Explorer gone, but it's too well embedded."

Uh, no, it's not. Take a look here: http://www.litepc.com/

http://litepc.com/

http://litepc.com/ is your answer.

better still, assuming that you are not using it for testing internet explorer, use 98 lite

IE is built in to windows at deep levels.

The GDI is set up such that a crash in the video routines kills the whole kernel.

By contrast, it is possible to run Linux without a single line of browser code anywhere on the system, or without any gui of any kind if you like.

Predictably, you've already gotten an 'authoritative' no answer. That poster is wrong. There is a way. I use it, and it's great. LitePC makes 98Lite (for DOS based Windows versions 95, 98, 98SE, ME) and XPLite (NT based Windows 2000 and XP.) It's a WONDERFUL thing if you have to use Windows.

Actually, the makers of 98lite (which was great for stripping out the bloated win98 internet-explorer integration) now have out XPlite which lets you cut down a lot of the cruft in 2000/XP - http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html

Now if there was a button to make IE just disappear completely..

A reasonable wish, as otherwise it is still there in your system, waiting to be compromised (and it can easily be compromised, even when you're not consciously using it.) Try one of the fine products from LitePC.

BTW, anyone know how to recover a slashdot UID when the associated email address is no longer accessible? :(

Download IEradicator (IE required). It runs on 98 and before, and it can be made to work on XP/2000 despite the warning.

What are their marketing geniuses going to call this monstrosity? Windows XP Lite?

There already is an XP Lite...And it's pretty handy too...

Commersial program to remove components from Windows XP http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html

Free programs to reduce the size of Windows XP before installation: http://nuhi.msfn.org/ and http://jdeboeck.msfnhosting.com/

And of course, my project that reduces the size of Windows 98 to less than 5MB http://www.etek.chalmers.se/~e8gus/nano98/ ;-)

hey, looks like XPLite supports SP2 too. Say bubye to Windows File Protection (WFP), IE and OE! :D

Very separate. I quite like the ability of the LitePC software to allow you to uninstall 'essential' windows components - and still have a working system. Well, kind of. Uninstalling IE in XP pretty much guts a lot of the interdependant stuff, but it's faster and more secure...

A while back I used 98Lite to get rid of alot of windows junk that I didn't use. This left my computer faster and much cleaner than before. I belive that the same company has a product that works on WindowsXP called XPlite that you can find here.

Actually you can remove it:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=312451
http://www.litepc.com/ieradicator.html
http://www.tweakxp.com/tweak1241.aspx

...for a start.

Or you can do what we do here: Install Firefox as the default browser, bury or remove IE icons, and change the start page of IE to an internal page which explains why IE is so bad.

You can remove IE.

Linky

Removes IE from all versions of Windows 98 and up.

Kicks ass. Makes Windows tolerable.

But I do not recommend removing IE, because you may have to purchase/locate networking components that IE already does for free, and for convenience in keeping Windows patched.

1) Windows Update only runs on IE. If you remove IE, you have to update windows manually. With Critical Security Updates coming in at an average of once a week, this could become tiresome. Windows can be set to download and install patches automatically.

2) The javascript utility Windows uses to detect network settings is tied into IE. When you have trouble connecting Windows to a network, it comes up automatically in IE, and you are given the option of having it detect your proxies, etc and try to reconnect. Especially useful if you have a DSL/Cable connection that likes to pull the rug out from under you at random intervals with DHCP changes.

Unfortunately the guy who crammed WOAF (Windows on a Floppy) took his information offline due to some sort of conflict with his employer. There was an article on shrinking windows on /. a year or two ago that mentioned this project. There are programs you can download to remove a lot of components from windows like litepc. I always knew someone would make a living out of decrufting windows! I have an old notebook I installed windows 2000 on so I can use Microsoft Mappoint on the road. Mappoint is a pretty big program. North American maps are like a 1.2GB full install so I needed to trim space, and litepc saved me a lot of time. Unfortunately most of my problem is usually introducing my own cruft on systems, which is why I like debian's cruft utility, debfoster and deborphan. If anyone knows any similar tools for FreeBSD I'd appreciate suggestions. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but all other apps I used on Linux were already supported in FreeBSD.

Dude, getting rid of IE is piss.

Linky

I run Win2K and I don't have IE. At all. It runs great!

Go to LitePC.com and try 2000/XPlite. It'll let your remove IE while retaining shared files such as shdocvw.dll.

You already can remove IE completely.

I have never needed IE and never will.

Not true. There are ways to deal with that.

You can try IErad.
!!! Not for use with Windows 2000sr2 or Windows XP
You may not be able to run windows update any more (that is the only reason I keep IE around on my windows machine).
It doesn't remove 100% of IE, but close enough.

So that's why you can yank IE and outlook out of windows if you wish, because it's so tightly integrated!

the other browsers would have that much reach if they wanted, hell, they could use the activex crap as well like any other windows application.

pulling IE out of the system is possible for example with http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html .

the system works without ie just fine(sure you better not use anything that's dependant on mshtml)..

Internet Explorer isn't as integrated as everyone wants to believe. Actually, it's just installed without the option to uninstall it. There is some shell integration with the desktop but that's just the GUI. And that can be turned off.

Some programs use IE's browsing engine as part of their GUI (usually shdocvw.dll).

Both 98lite and 2000/XPlite prove that IE can be removed from Windows.

For the purposes I use my Windows box for, 98SE is definately the best version around.

First off, it's easy to easy to disinfect IE from it, which seems to greatly reduce the stability problems, in addition to taking care of the most commonly exploited security holes. Second, it supports a lot more games than 2000. You can also use 98lite to install the old '95 explorer.exe, which is a HUGE gain in usability over the later more annoying explorers. Unlike XP, it doesn't call home. And it's hellaciously fast on my fairly modern equipment, where XP would be just slow enough to make me want to waste a bunch of money on new components.

When I installed NT4 with SP6a there was a big improvement! Getting all the right drivers was a pain, and until I got that there was some instability, but now it's rock solid. Explorer is amazingly fast. (The "desktop upgrade" that you can get with IE4 makes it slower but it's still faster than Win98SE. I uninstalled it.) IE seemed to run faster. Applications in general don't crash, and if something crashes it won't mess anything up and can be run again without a reboot.

I ended up IERadicating IE and installing Opera and then web browsing was fast. For IM I installed Miranda IM and that is fast too. It's almost like I never needed to upgrade from a 133 MHz Pentium. NT4 may be a pain to install but it's fast and quite usable.

The only bad things about NT4 are the poor DirectX support and worse support for DOS games than Win9x. In this case I can live with that. That computer is too slow for most DirectX stuff anyways, and I don't care about old DOS games nowdays.

You poor soul... ;-)
Let me introduce you to my friend in the windows world when I need to go there...

www.litepc.com/

Formerly known as 98Lite. It Removes what you don't want to install, before its installed. At least it did when it was 98lite. I haven't checked out the more recent versions for win2000 and winxp, but they look pretty good too.

That's my vote for MVP on Windows...

I don't have WinXP but XPlite should replace the web integrated shell with a more secure version. I put the free 98lite version on every Win98 I have used. The free version is not shareware but the paid version does a lot more. It looks like I will be trying this soon as my mother runs WinXP pro and she already got the blaster worm 1 day before it was discovered. She doesn't use IE but who knows how long it will be till she gets hit again.

Since IE is the shell it is already loaded, notice that the favorites are available in windows explorer. For a true test get XPLite (litepc.com) and remove IE as the shell. Then see how fast IE comes up. On my wife's it is a good 30 sec.

I did the same thing... only the pc is waay to slow for Moz/Fox.

If you want to eradicate IE form your windos install, use 98lite

Last time I installed XP (about three weeks ago), you don't have a choice in installing WMP. It's there by default, with no way to remove it (well, you can remove the shortcut, but the DLLs and stuff are still there). If I recall correctly, Windows 95 and 98 allowed you to remove it, since they presented an itemized list of what to install.

2000-XPLite, on the other hand, does look very promising in that it did wonders for Windows 98. But, back then, everything wasn't as dependent on Internet Explorer (and WMP).

-- Joe

remember 98lite? i used the micro option on some party p75-mp3-box to get w98 under 50mb (!)

the company now offers 2000/xplite

just look at the page what can be stripped out, looks pretty amazing.

remember 98lite? i used the micro option on some party p75-mp3-box to get w98 under 50mb (!)

the company now offers 2000/xplite

just look at the page what can be stripped out, looks pretty amazing.

No. You can already have something very similar.
Find it here (Their clame to fame is getting a working copy of win98 in just under 8mb, which not even Linux can top)

Those same guys have, after many moons of hard work, managed to pull the same sort of trick with 2000 and XP.

For those wishing for a reduced install, LitePC lets you 'uninstall' a great many things - IE, OE, Messenger, Windows Update, MSN Explorer, Media Player, etc. Disclaimer - I am NOT a LitePC employee, just a user, who was impressed.

For those wishing for a reduced install, LitePC lets you 'uninstall' a great many things - IE, OE, Messenger, Windows Update, MSN Explorer, Media Player, etc.

Disclaimer - I am NOT a LitePC employee, just a user, who was impressed.

You can get rid of most of the bloated interface with 98lite. You can strip it all the way down to a CLI if you want.

Did you mean IEradicator? Alas, it works with neither Windows 2000 nor Windows XP.

I remove automatic system file restore and delete few IE and Outlook files. I shut down and disable every service windows doesn't need to work (msoffice might not work but hey, they can use that openoffice I installed for them) leaving only 10 or less running.

You could also block ms messenger and update apps, etc. In essence, if all things microsoft are stripped to the point that they do only what ms (originally?) set out to do, to make a operating system then everything you do with computer go so much smoother. No ms offices, ms utilities, ms patches, ms licenses(haha), ms servers, ms deployments or ms supplements. ONLY ms os for games and other such small useless time wasting shit that it's made for. 98lite was great help for accomplishing this and I hope something similar comes out for XP so that I don't have to do everything manually.

hmm, try XPLite from Litepc.com... one of the things I found through tinyapps.org remove IE and many other things from your XP, 2000 or 98 flavoured DOS...

...and remove iexplore.exe from their system.

There is a program which safely removes IE from Windows. I used it in my Win98 days, and it was great. I think it's called Win98Lite. This may be the XP version, though I'm not sure it is from the same guy and I'm not sure if it is really free anymore (trial version????). IEradicator's description sounds like the program, but I'm certain the name was somethingLite...

I used it a long time ago, so I don't remember the name. Who knows what state it is in now anyway. May be worth checking out though...I'm sure it is better than just deleting the executable.

...and remove iexplore.exe from their system.

There is a program which safely removes IE from Windows. I used it in my Win98 days, and it was great. I think it's called Win98Lite. This may be the XP version, though I'm not sure it is from the same guy and I'm not sure if it is really free anymore (trial version????). IEradicator's description sounds like the program, but I'm certain the name was somethingLite...

I used it a long time ago, so I don't remember the name. Who knows what state it is in now anyway. May be worth checking out though...I'm sure it is better than just deleting the executable.

I haven't tried it (no such machine to run it on), but XPlite is a utility that should be very good at removing unwanted "features" from WinXP. (There's a Win2K version as well.) This is by the same guy who created 98lite, which removes all traces of IE from Win98 (which MS had said wasn't possible) and replaces it with the file browser from Win95 (and the web browser of your choice). So when he says it "removes" a feature, I'm inclined to believe it really does.

With the source code there would probably be an NTFS kernel patch inside a week that worked perfectly.
I doubt it. I know very talented people who have written their own proprietary NTFS drivers that support write operations, and who did it by reverse-engineering, despite having access to the source (under one of the new licensing plans). MS' NTFS source code is a big, tangled mess tied up with everything else in Windows and it would be harder to try and make sense of it than to start from scratch yourself.

a) obvious security holes that anyone who looked at the code could pick out
Again, the source isn't nearly as much help as you'd like to think it is. Much more useful here are the efforts of people like the Samba developers to document the protocols, because then it's easy to write a packet constructor to try and
overflow buffers on the recipient. (Yes, I'm a security researcher, and I've done this in the lab :)

b) the source code to IE, so people don't release a patched version that doesn't suck.
Wouldn't know... haven't ever reverse-engineered IE personally, although I know some folks who have.

c) DirectX, so windows will always remain the system to play games on. Imagine if we had the directx source. Within a couple months there could be a stable linux fork of directx and all windows games would work perfectly in linux.
That strikes me as a bit ambitious, don't you think? I mean, the folks at MS have spent years developing the DirectX API; I think it might take a little more than a few months to build a compatibility layer for Linux. (Of course, you'd be able to fix lots of bugs in DX while you were at it :)

d) Secrets. [...] Maybe there's some hidden precursor to some spyware or some DRM. If the source stays secret they can't get in trouble for what is or isn't in it.
Did you install the last Windows Media Player update? You installed Windows DRM support with it. It was mentioned right there in the EULA and on the download site for the service pack.

e) The #1 reason is really money. If the source for windows was open it would be just that much easier to get free copies of windows. Even better than that, they would get Windows Lite. [...] If the source for windows was open there would be a no IE no Media Player stable version roaming the net. People would switch to it so fast. [...]
i) I agree with you on the money thing entirely :)
ii) There already is a Lite version of windows which is exactly what you describe. Check out at LitePC.com.

f) File formats. If we had the source to office the doc file format would be wide open among others. [...] With the file formats open nobody would have a reason to use office.
Actually, Microsoft just published it's XML document schemas for Word, Excel and InfoPath from Office 2003 (see here). So now anyone can read and write Office 2003 documents.

g) Driver database. This kind of goes with the NTFS thing I talked about, but windows has a huge database of device drivers in it. With access to the source for all these drivers linux or any other OS (SkyOS or BSD) would have equivalent hardware support to windows.
Except that said huge driver database consists of third-party drivers and is not part of the source code database, but rather distributed with Windows in the installer package. Sorry to burst your bubble there, but Microsoft couldn't open-source most of those drivers even if they wanted to.

...forcing users to upgrade "or else". I personally would rather use 98 than XP. Well, make that 98lite .

Again, this is Billy Boy's friendly way of saying "I don't give a flyin' cow pie what YOU think. I am the head of Microsoft. You will upgrade and send me more money that I can use to screw my customers over or I'll devour your heart and banish your soul."