ie8It looks like Microsoft is starting to take the more cautious path regarding Internet Explorer 8 and Windows 7.  The European Union has been pressuring Microsoft to remove Internet Explorer from Windows 7 and it is starting to look like MS is taking it a step further and allowing for IE 8 “removal”.  Users are reporting that the current build of Windows 7 (7048) has a uninstall option but it might not exactly fall into what most people consider a true “un-install”.

Internet Explorer is so integrated into Windows operating systems that a true un-installation of IE would then include reinstalling some of it’s components just to keep the OS from breaking.  At this time it looks like Microsoft’s solution is just deleting iexplorer.exe and call it good.  It does require 2 reboots to do this as it needs to remap many of the IE components to keep things functioning but this is at least a step towards making Windows more EU friendly.

Maybe Microsoft will one day listen to their critics and componentize their OS to make it more user friendly and less vulnerable to attacks.

Check It Out> aeroxperience, ZDNet