Microsoft Windows XP won't allow you to uninstall Internet Explorer. How can you fix the browser or even reinstall the program if it becomes corrupt?


If you don't yet have the very latest Internet Explorer, you can fix many problems by visiting

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

and updating to the latest version. If you're already up to date, however, the site won't let you reinstall the program. You need to fool the system into thinking you don't have the latest version.


Launch REGEDIT from the Start menu's Run dialog and navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{89820200-ECBD-11cf-8B85-00AA005B4383}. In the right-hand pane, double-click on the DWORD value IsInstalled and change it from 1 to 0 (no matter whether you choose Decimal or Hexadecimal). Close REGEDIT and go to the Windows update site again. Now it should let you "update" IE and, with luck, fix the problems.

By the way, you can do the same thing if you need to repair Outlook Express, but at the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{44BBA840-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}.