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Windows 7 Kill Switch For IE Confirmed — For More Apps, Too

Posted by timothy on from the for-just-a-few-dollars-more dept.

CWmike writes "Microsoft has confirmed that users will be able to remove its IE8 browser, as well as several other integrated applications, from Windows 7. Jack Mayo, a group program manager on the Windows team, listed in a blog post the applications that can be switched off. They include Internet Explorer 8, Fax and Scan, handwriting recognition, Windows DVD Maker, Windows Gadget Platform, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Windows Search, and XPS Viewer and Services. He explained that the files associated with those applications and features are not actually deleted from the hard drive. The public beta of Windows 7 does not include the ability to 'kill' said apps. But a pirated copy of Windows 7 Build 7048 includes the new removal options, and has been leaked on the Internet." (We mentioned the reported ability to turn off IE8 yesterday as well.)

4 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A single step toward modularity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not only that, but having 2 apps to do the same thing is ridiculously wasteful and inefficient.

    I know. Why only have 2 apps to do the same thing when you can have 5, 6, hell maybe an even dozen?! Go Linux.

  2. Re:Why not? by nobodyman · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the article:

    If a feature is deselected, it is not available for use. This means the files (binaries and data) are not loaded by the operating system (for security-conscious customers) and not available to users on the computer. These same files are staged so that the features can easily be added back to the running OS without additional media. This staging is important feedback we have received from customers who definitely do not like to dig up the installation DVD.

    Best of both worlds in my opinion. I also like that there is one unified interface for managing features. This is just one example, but in vista you could use 'add/remove components' for IIS, but if you wanted to disable Media Center, you had to do it from the group policy editor. Extremely frustrating.

  3. Re:Why not? by Captain+Spam · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The only alternative here is for Mozilla or another OS browser to reimplement mshtml.dll from scratch - a daunting task of questionable logic.

    "Daunting" puts it lightly, apparently. WINE, for instance, attempts to reimplement mshtml.dll via the Gecko engine for all the things that use it for HTML rendering. Like, say, Steam. To date, I still don't think it's possible to complete a purchase or demo download from start to finish entirely within the Steam client under WINE/Crossover. You still need to start the purchase externally, enter Steam, and finish it there because they haven't fully reimplemented all the calls properly.

    So, yes, it has been tried, and it isn't quite perfect yet.

    --
    Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
  4. Re:Why not? by Sancho · · Score: 5, Informative

    Internet Explorer is a web browser. Trident is the layout engine. Other programs can make use of Trident to, in effect, allow for web browsing. Microsoft can use Trident in places other than IE where it makes sense to have a layout engine. Removing IE will not remove Trident.

    It's really not that hard, people.