BleepingComputer.com: Upgraded to IE8 and had problems

A few weeks ago, I upgraded from IE7 to IE8. Then I got this message that IE8 was not compatible to my printer (HP Deskjet F4280 all-in-one). So, I tried to cancel to no avail. I then did a system restore to try and restore my system (Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2002 & even have service pack 3) to an earlier date to see if that fixed the problem. Well, that created an even bigger problem. I couldn't even access the internet. So I ended up going to Office Depot to price new towers as I was starting my online school and I needed a way to access the internet like...NOW. I ended up meeting the nice computer tech who gave me a program for Mozilla Firefox, which works great...only problem...I want to know why IE crashed and why I can't restore IE7. I have tried everything that I know and even have a Windows XP guide that I looked at and could not figure out the answer. If anyone can assist, I would greatly appreciate it.

Using System Restore is not how you uninstall IE. It is its own entry in Add/Remove Programs and is supposed to be uninstalled there, which then rolls you back to your previous version of IE. Below is a link to a MS article on how to go about it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957700

An additional link to special steps uninstalling with regards to those users who already have SP3 on their systems:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950719/

You may have to uninstall IE8, IE7, and SP3. Then reinstall SP3 (and subsequent patches) and then IE7, in that order, to get your system straightened out. But to start off, I'd try to uninstall IE8 via Control Panel, Add/Remove first and see if you can get to the net at all.

An aside tip for when you want to uninstall programs:

1. First check the program's entries in the Start Menu for a built-in uninstaller.
2. If not, uninstall via Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs.
3. If no entry, ask on that software company's user forum for steps/special removal tools
4. Never just delete the program folder(s).
5. Don't try to uninstall via System Restore.

This post has been edited by buttoni: 26 April 2009 - 03:09 PM