Windows Automatic Update

[Haibane]

I'm using XP, Service Pack 3. I downloaded and used IE8 for a while but it was dreadful and most web pages took ages to load, I don't know why but browsing the internet became excruciating. I uninstalled it but Windows put IE7 back in it's place. No matter, I'm now using Firefox.

Problem is that yesterday a Windows Automatic Update downloaded IE8 again and now wants to install it. I don't want it but there is no way to decline. The update installer icon is sitting in my systray waiting to be used and there is no way I can see to tell it to bugger off, I'm not interested. I only get the options 'Install' and 'Cancel'. Clicking 'Cancel' puts the Updater back in my systray.

Grrr. Can anyone tell me how to remove this silly thing completely? Thanks.

[Vekseid]

I really can't recommend that. 'IE8' also means the rendering, javascript and parts of the security involved. IE7 eventually won't be updated any longer, necessitating that, even if you 'only use Firefox', random applications you use (adobe products, for example) still depend on IE and can provide a vector that way.

[Oniya]

I've just been ignoring it.  I only use IE for one website (work) and I've heard that this is soon going to be made obsolete.  Out of curiosity, if you don't use IE at all, does having the update affect you in any way? 

(Per Veks's post, I think I'm going to let it update once I'm sure it won't affect my connection with work.  I like getting paid, and M$ doesn't give me enough benefit to make it worth cutting off that connection.)

[Haibane]

There is no way that I'll go back to IE8, my PC suffered all sorts of problems after I installed it and the problems went away after it was uninstalled. The web was practically unusable, it felt like going back to a 56k line... It was adverts that were the killer, especially animated ones. A page would often take 2 or 3 minutes to load... it really was impossible and frustrating. This only happens with IE8, not with IE7 or Firefox.

I'm sure something in IE8 was interrogating the adverts, or the source they were coming from?

So my only option is to ignore the annoying yellow shield in my systray? *sigh*

[Oniya]

My question, though, was if the web was still unusable with Firefox installed, but before removing IE8.  (That is, not actually using IE8, but having the updates installed.)

[Haibane]

I'm sorry, I can't answer that question. In exasperation I stopped using IE8 and moved to Firefox after I uninstalled IE8.

Rather weirdly the entire PC seemed to run slower when IE8 was in there, even Windows Explorer would hang for 10 or 20 seconds while selecting a folder... I have never seen it do that before unless the AV was doing it's daily scan.

I have run AV and Malwarebytes, both of which found nothing.

[Dakota]

Install it, just don't set it as default, i only every use fire fox for browsing, i only use ie when making modifications to sites to see if they are cross browser compatible   

[Haibane]

Duh. I discovered that by unchecking the 'Install IE8' checkbox and clicking 'install' to the whole update window did the trick. Sorry but I'm not going to have IE8 on my PC at all. It made my life a misery, worse than the worst malware I've been infected with. Even offline I'd have Windows Explorer lock up and only ctrl+alt+del and closing the process would unlock it. Had to do this 2 or 3 times a day.

Had Windows Media Player throw weird error messages at me indicative of viral activity. Had Media Player refuse to play .mkv files!

Removed IE8 and all these problems vanished. Maybe I have some piece of software on my 'puter that IE8 doesn't get on with - all I know for certain is I don't get on with IE8.