<firstimage="https://www.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ieHead_thumb.png" />

I recently wrote about how to deal with Internet Explorer's Parental Controls. Another common question I get from users is how to reinstall Internet Explorer and why it is necessary. I will walk you through reinstalling Internet Explorer and tell you about the instances where I would reinstall it.

Sometimes after cleaning a virus or spyware infection, applications can be damaged and Internet Explorer is usually the victim.

In a case like this, Internet Explorer will not display web pages or it might take you to somewhere you do not want to go.

Sometimes an error like this one is displayed:

reinstall Internet Explorer

If these are your issues and you can not format the machine, it might be time to reinstall Internet Explorer (insert your own switch to Firefox joke here). I recommend uninstalling the browser totally, rebooting and then reinstalling it. This way, we are sure that we ripped out all of its guts and nothing is left behind lingering. You can also use these steps to simply remove Internet Explorer.

How to Efficiently Reinstall Internet Explorer

When you remove Internet Explorer 8, your previous version of Internet Explorer will be restored. For example, if you upgraded Internet Explorer 6 to IE8, you will wind up with Internet Explorer 6 after you remove Internet Explorer 8. But I will walk you through reinstalling the latest and greatest version of IE8 before we are complete. If you are using Windows 7, removing IE8 will leave you without a browser so be prepared with the installation files on a USB stick. You can get the files here. [Broken URL Removed]

To perform these actions, you will need to be logged in as an Administrator. For this example, we will be using Internet Explorer 8 on a Windows XP SP 3 machine. First, let's open Add or Remove programs by going to the Start menu then hitting Control Panel and then choosing Add or Remove programs.

reinstall Internet Explorer

Once Add or Remove programs opens, scroll down the list until you see Windows Internet Explorer 8 as you see in the example below:

reinstall Internet Explorer

Click on the words Windows Internet Explorer 8 and you will see a 'Remove' button appear as you can see below:

how to reinstall internet explorer

After you click on the Remove button, you will be brought to a screen like the one below. From here, all you need to do is click on Next. This will start the removal process.

how to reinstall internet explorer

The removal process lists applications that were installed after Internet Explorer 8 was installed. Sometimes applications rely on Internet Explorer for functionality. This warn us that we may have problems with these applications after the uninstall is complete. Don't worry, we will be reinstalling it when we are done! Go ahead and click on Yes to continue.

how to reinstall internet explorer

You will see file copying going on, followed by 4 removal steps. The computer will run through each of them until IE8 has been uninstalled and replaced with an older version.

force reinstall internet explorer

When it is done you will see a Finish button. Clicking on Finish will restart your computer. Clicking on the 'Do not restart now' button will delay the inevitable but things may be screwy!

force reinstall internet explorer

After restarting your machine, you will have your previous version of IE installed. You can verify the version by going to help - about. This is what I see:

force reinstall internet explorer

Now from here, I can go to this link to upgrade my Internet Explorer back to 8. Find the 'Download now' button in the orange box like you see below and hit it.

Clicking on that button will start your download and installation of a nice clean copy of IE8. This time, watch where you are going and install some sort of protection from those nasty infections. You can check out the post by our very own Aibek on 15 Free Must-Have Applications For Your PC. For more anti-virus applications, check out The 10 Best Free Anti-Virus Programs.

Good luck!