How to Remove Internet Explorer
 

anyone see this?

http://www.crackbaby.com/article.php?sid=10093




The other day I brought alot of your attention to the an exploit being used with the SCOB exploit that causes hackers to be able to execute arbitrary code on your system. This is the exploit that caused every security agency including CERT and homeland security to say 'dump IE'. I called Microsoft tech support and called and called and no one knew how to disable Internet Explorer or would even help me to do it without badgering; even then, they couldn't figure out how to do it. This is why they get paid the big bucks. So I decided to see if I couldn't figure it out myself.

Since you cannot remove IE from the OS, you have to disable it in some way or make it so that it can't be accessed via shell (not going to happen). Well after some experimentation of my own and reading through the registry diligently, I have your answer:

1. If you do not have IE 6 installed on your machine, install it using Microsoft Update. Reboot
2. Go to add/remove programs in control panel. Remove IE. Reboot.
1. after reboot it will ask if you want to get rid of your settings. Just say yes or else it will ask indefinitely.
3. Backup your registry
4. Do a search through the registry for 'iexplore.exe' and 'url.dll'. Replacing HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT instances of these two with the path to your alternative browser seems to do the trick. I now have all my other Microsoft apps that would normally call IE, now calling Firefox.

For instance, I have Mozilla Firefox as my alternate browser so I replace with the following:

open/command -> C:PROGRA~1MOZILL~1FIREFOX.EXE -url "%1"
DefaultIcon -> C:PROGRA~1MOZILL~1FIREFOX.EXE,1

If you don't have a good registry editing tool, I suggest JV16 Power Tools. A very good program for editing and cleaning the registry as well as several other nice tools. Plus it has a 30 day trial period enabling you to use it for this task though I do suggest purchasing since it's a great tool

After this is all done, it works beautifully and I haven't had a single problem. This is not a simple solution but it is effective. You may want to experiment a bit more by searching through the registry for instances of Iexplore and tweaking HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE as well but the above should take care of security concerns which is all we are worried about.

WINDOWS UPDATE PROBLEMS??? You may now notice the 'windows update' button in your start panel no longer works. Not a problem at all. You have two ways to now get your updates. Either through settings/control panel/automatic updates (at which points updates will appear in your systray) or via the URL http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/s...displaylang=en . I suggest the automatic update as that is easiest but keep the URL safe. You can change windows update so that instead of it pointing to the update executable, it will now point to the URL by right clicking on the link, choosing properties and then under target putting: C:PROGRA~1MOZILL~1FIREFOX.EXE -url "http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en". However I suggest the automatic update option as it is far easier as saves you loads of time.

For those non-techies out there who don't feel up to this task, there is an easier way to avoid this problem... switch to Linux. :)

NOTE: I should also mention that because the system will always attempt to recreate IE, when it does using the default installed browser that is integrated into the system, do the following:

1. got to c:Program FilesInternet Exporer and right click on Iexplore.exe
2. Go to properties/security (make sure you are logged in as admin of the machine)
3. Remove ALL permissions!

This will effectively make it so that the system cannot call the program and in alot of instance, I have found that if it cannot open Iexplore.exe, it will ask you for an alternative browser to use. :)