I have been recently noticing that Windows Update wants to install Internet Explorer 7 on my system. It even has it marked as a High Priority update!
After what I discovered in Is Internet Explorer 7 Spying on Me?, I’m not really interested in IE7 being automatically installed one night on my computer. After a little research, I discovered that Microsoft wrote a tool to block the automatic delivery of IE7. But, guess what? In order to download the tool, you need to validate your copy of Windows!
So, I discovered that there is a registry key that you can change to tell Windows Update how to deal with Internet Explorer. Rather than getting people to mess with their registry, I wrote a tool that will allow you to set how you want Windows Update to deal with Internet Explorer 7 (all without Windows validation).
Get And Use The Software
Download DisableIE7Update.zip and extract the contents to your hard drive. Double click on DisableIE7Update.exe to start the program.
The program interface is very simple. Just select the option that you would like to use and click the Set button. You will then get a message indicating that the change has been made.
If you want to check your settings or change it at a later date, just rerun the program! It’s that simple!
The Code
Of course, for those of you whose beanie propeller spins just a few RPMs faster, here is the source code:
#include <GUIConstants.au3> #NoTrayIcon $IE7Setting = String(RegRead("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0","DoNotAllowIE70")) $frmMain = GUICreate("IE7 Windows Update", 185, 143,-1,-1,$WS_CAPTION+$WS_POPUP+$WS_SYSMENU) $grpType = GUICtrlCreateGroup("Type of Download", 8, 8, 169, 97) $rdoHigh = GUICtrlCreateRadio("IE7 High Priority Download", 24, 32, 150, 17) $rdoOptional = GUICtrlCreateRadio("IE7 Optional Download", 24, 56, 145, 17) $rdoBlocked = GUICtrlCreateRadio("IE7 Blocked", 24, 80, 113, 17) Switch $IE7Setting Case "" GUICtrlSetState($rdoHigh, $GUI_CHECKED) Case "0" GUICtrlSetState($rdoOptional, $GUI_CHECKED) Case "1" GUICtrlSetState($rdoBlocked, $GUI_CHECKED) EndSwitch GUICtrlCreateGroup("", -99, -99, 1, 1) $btnSet = GUICtrlCreateButton("Set", 104, 112, 75, 25) GUICtrlSetState($btnSet,$GUI_DISABLE) $btnCancel = GUICtrlCreateButton("Cancel", 8, 112, 75, 25) GUISetState(@SW_SHOW) While 1 $Action = GuiGetMsg() Select Case $Action = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE ExitLoop Case $Action = $btnCancel ExitLoop Case $Action = $btnSet Select Case GUICtrlRead($rdoHigh)=$GUI_CHECKED ;High priority RegDelete("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0","DoNotAllowIE70") MsgBox(0,"IE7 Windows Update Set","IE7 will appear as a high priority update") Exit Case GUICtrlRead($rdoOptional)=$GUI_CHECKED ;Optional download RegWrite("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0","DoNotAllowIE70","REG_DWORD","0") MsgBox(0,"IE7 Windows Update Set","IE7 will appear as an optional update") Exit Case GUICtrlRead($rdoBlocked)=$GUI_CHECKED ;Disable download RegWrite("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0","DoNotAllowIE70","REG_DWORD","1") MsgBox(0,"IE7 Windows Update Set","IE7 will not appear as an update") Exit EndSelect Case $Action = $rdoHigh GUICtrlSetState($btnSet,$GUI_ENABLE) Case $Action = $rdoOptional GUICtrlSetState($btnSet,$GUI_ENABLE) Case $Action = $rdoBlocked GUICtrlSetState($btnSet,$GUI_ENABLE) Case Else ;;;;;;; EndSelect WEnd Exit
Download this code: DisableIE7Update.au3
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November 28th, 2006 at 10:59 am
thanks a lot for this! im also a diehard firefox fan, and currently using a let’s put it non-genuine copy of xp pro, so this should sort out my windows update hassle
December 20th, 2006 at 3:30 am
Thanks a lot. I tried it and it ran like a dog. Failed to find pages and the whole system seemed to be sluggish. Rolled back to 6 and it works fine. I too prefer Firefox but there are some MS websites that don’t like Firefox much so have to resort to IE.
October 20th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Thank you for this great tool! IE7 has a long way to go to come up to whre IE6 or Firefox is
Is there a tool that will stop the update notification balloon popup that appears several times a day in the lower right corner ???
Mike