Raymond.CC Blog

I’m aware this trick only works for Windows 7 in every version, but I’ve heard people have some results in Windows XP and Vista in being able to downgrade to Windows Media Player 9, if not an even earlier version by using Revo Uninstaller/Unlocker to delete and uninstall shell programs. It is not common place to be doing this tip, I show it only out of the interest of people that use a third party browser and wish to use it only, with no options for IE. Keep in mind, we are not completely removing them from the kernel, let alone the actual operating system itself, we are removing the executable file that offers the link to them. If you use a different audio/media player and different browser that does not use Internet Explorer as it’s base, such as Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, or Opera Software’s Opera browser. If you use IE as a base, you might want to keep it. At the same time, my first tip I showed, how to get ‘Now Playing’ working in Windows Media Player in a different media player, will no longer work. There is also the chance of other breakages as well, but I can’t promise anything, as I’ve noticed nothing else missing when I did this myself.

Now that I’ve said my warning spiel, here’s how you do it. To remove Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player from Windows 7, it’s actually very simple.

1. Open up Control Panel
2. Select the Programs and Features option when you change it to the Icons mode
3. Then select the Turn Windows Features On or Off

You’ll be dropped to a screen that looks like this:

After that, it’s the simple task of unchecking what you’d like to remove, and checking off what you’d like to add. I would recommend keeping .NET Framework 3.5.1 installed along with Remote Differential Compression and Print and Document Services, because I know breakages do happen if those services are removed. However, removing Windows Media Player is as simple as opening the drop down of Media Features and unchecking Windows Media Player. IE8 can also be unchecked as well if the user prefers.

Now, you might ask what does this effect on your operating system? Like I said in my warning, I noticed that the “Now Playing” in Windows Live Messenger doesn’t work anymore and IE Tab in Firefox won’t work either. Literally, it isn’t a life changing change to remove these, nor is it that hard to re-install them if there are errors down the road. I believe in Windows XP and Windows Vista, you can disable the shortcuts to them, but unlike 7, you can’t remove their executables from the shell system without disabling and/or causing critical errors.