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posted by Gonusto: If for some reason you *have* to use Windows and Internet Explorer just extract IE from the operating system using IEradicator and then reinstall your favorite version. You'll no longer have it bogging down the operating system, while at the same time still being able to use any aplications that require it.
that's actually what is recommended by the readme file that comes with ieradicator. that instead of upgrading to a newer version of IE, you uninstall the old version first to facilitate a clean install.
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Originally posted by Centurian:Unfortunately there is a problem with that. Have you ever noticed that alot of your editors and other simular programs seem to use IE like features. This is due to a programming tool known as Richedit. IE is the easiest way to interface richedit features so alot of programmers use it.
This creates problems for the end user. If they remove IE they can't use alot of windows programs. Some example I can think of off hand are Front Page and most HTML editors, almost every compiler IDE (Integrated Development Environment), and most editors. Although I have never used it I would guess things like Microsoft Word are also included in the list.
Therefore if you remove IE with IE-Eradicator you lose features from alot of other programs.
This is how IE is integrated into windows. MS made programming tools available to the public that would allow them to use the IE interface if the programmer chose to do so. Since that is the easiest way to handle an interface of that type a great many programmers utilize it.
That is bad news, but personally i don't need IE since i plan to end up using linux for everything anyway. there are a few things i still need windows for, but none of them need IE.
for the record, M$ Office 97 works fine without IE, and so does macromedia Dreamweaver 2.
Not sure about later versions, but those are the windows programs i use that seem to be most closely IE associated in my mind, and they don't need it.
Of course what you are saying is that M$ are right, that IE is integrated into the system and can't be removed. It seems the court case fails to notice the subtle double meaning of those words. i personally believe that *all* those dependencies could be fixed by writing/distributing/including with the system some simple utilities that bridge the gap that IE makes by not being there.
[ March 28, 2002: Message edited by: Calum ]