IE Repair?

In Win 98se you can go to Add/remove select to remove M$ Internet Explorer and get the option to 'Repair'...........does anyone know where that is in XP Home please?..........it's not in Add/Remove.....

TIA, Cochise,

 

Unfortunately it is not as easy to repair IE in XP best read the article @ the Knowledge Base for the options. Don't be shocked but it may involve a repair install of XP and then all the updates again

 

Wow, thanks Robyn I've decided I'm not THAT interested in repairing IE if thats the case. .....who said XP was simpler and easier? WRONG!!!!

Cochise,

 

Hi Cochise, you will now realise that IE is very much 'rooted' into XP I do like XP but the fact I cannot repair IE without a lot of work and updating is one aspect I certainly do not like

 

But what is so complicated about:

1) find the ie.inf file located in Windows\Inf folder.
2) Right click the ie.inf file and click Install on the context menu.
3) Reboot the computer when the file copy process is complete.

 

Thanks Tony, I tried to remove IE to re-install at one stage hoping that everything would be really fresh and new but when I installed the new copy all my settings/bookmarks etc were there. We really thought we had cleaned 'brutally' to make sure it was back to basics

I am doing a complete re-install of everything but till keep your tip just in case I need to repair IE in the future. Thanks again.

 

What it does do is overwrite and register all files, as well as the related registry keys.

Personally, I would hope my settings and bookmarks would be left alone when reinstalling IE!
This behavior is by default.

The settings can always be altered through the IE interface.

Completely removing IE is unfortunately not possible in XP.

 

Hi Tony. Will the updates be lost with this process, as per Robyn's concern?

 

Some inevitably will, as most critical updates entail installing a new version of certain IE files.

However, I recommend saving new updates to disk, so that you only need to download them once; that ought to save lots of time.

 

I've considered this, though not sure the best way to accomplish. I'm running on "Purist" mode (got rid of lots of stuff, and trying to work with only the essentials). I'm on xp home, any advice on doing this "contained" (ie.- no additional software)?

 

You don't need any additional software for this; all updates can be downloaded right here:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/Downloads/default.mspx

Save them to disk, burn them on a CD-ROM, whatever; you'll always have them handy should you need to reinstall one or more.

 

Tony, are these the hotfixes and ms related stuff I see in the add/remove category? Also, are any of these in windows prefetch, and can these be written to disk?

 

1: yes, most of them include an uninstaller

2: nope, the files in the Prefectch folders just contain instructions for Windows on how to optimize launching these applications.
Those are not the files themselves.

 

Tony, final question (I think).

How does one migrate these files from the add/remove catagory to the removable storage drive, or would these uninstalled files be available elsewhere for this action?

 

The entries in add/remove are just registry keys containing uninstall information for the pertaining applications.

There's only one way: physically download the files from the MS Download site, then save them somewhere on your drive for later use, or burn them to a CD-ROM

 

I C I C, was afraid you might go there, the lights just came on. Doh!

Moving right along, I am now "QUITE" aware, and prepared, for a potential pitfall in this area. Thanks for the Q & A follow-ups on this one Tony, much appreciated.