By Leo Notenboom
Because I use Firefox 100% of the time, what do I do with Internet Explorer? You indicated earlier that it’s best not to actually delete it because it’s still needed in a minimal way (Windows updates use it). For security and privacy reasons, what can be done to render it more safe? Should browser helpers be deleted, security settings set to a level higher than Medium, or ActiveX items and JavaScript functions deleted? I no longer tend to IE (out of sight, out of mind). Any comments on minimizing exposure to malware and viruses while keeping the simplest function of receiving Windows updates would be appreciated. IE seems to always be the target for miscreants and I would love not to fall prey to them.
It’s needed in more than a “minimal way”, so not only is it best not to delete it, it’s critical that you do not.
Portions of what you and I consider Internet Explorer are actually part of Windows itself and would cause portions of Windows to fail (more than just the Windows Update website). In fact, it could quite possibly cause other applications that depend on the functionality that those parts of IE-in-Windows provides to fail as well.
What IE brings to the table
The primary job of Internet Explorer, like most web browsers, is to display HTML encoded web pages.
The problem is that it’s not just web pages that are encoded in HTML these days. Many applications use HTML as part of their user interface, their documentation, or their online help system.
To that end, the core HTML rendering engine in Internet Explorer is actually functionality used and provided by Windows for other applications to use.
That means that you can’t just yank it out.
In fact, if you try by going to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Turn Windows features on off, and de-selecting Internet Explorer, Windows will inform you of the likely consequences:
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This post is excerpted with Leo’s permission from his blog.
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