IE 10 tried uninstalling failed, but now cant do anything

Team
I need to uninstall IE10 on one of my managers laptop. The company that does our payroll, their website wont work with it.. They have no plans to update their website to suit.

I've spent 2 hours googling for what should be a 5 minute operation. But hey, its Microsoft isnt it.

HP EliteBook 8440p
Windows 7 32 Bit SP1 and patched via WSUS.
loads of ram.

So, cold boot the laptop, log on as local admin, and then gone into Control panel, View windows updates, waited for the list to populate, and then right clicked on it IE 10 and uninstalled.

It goes through the process, reboots, but says the uninstall failed, and reverting... and takes a good 5-10 mins to come back to life, but IE10 is still there. I've tried 2-3 times with same result.. from cold boot, or just a reboot - no difference.

I have tried downloading IE10 from the MS site, and installing it incase it would do something different, but it says the version Im running is newer than the download and wont do anything. I checked the version on the downloaded Exe and the installed version and they are right, the dload is older than installed by around .0021

Download link for Internet Explorer 10
Download Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 from Official Microsoft Download Center

So, now I'm stuffed, it wont uninstall and wont install.

This laptop is now heading interstate 1100klms away as the manager couldnt wait any longer, so re-imaging the laptop is not an option -- shouldnt be either for such a small issue.

Help.

Thanks
VB.

Have you tried using System Restore to restore to the point before installing IE 10?
System Restore

Thanks for the reply.. company policy Restore is turned off so is not an option.
We are controlled by French policies.. sadly many dont make sense.

I was hoping there maybe a reg hack or even an removal tool somewhere that people might know of...

Thanks for the reply.

Option 3 doesnt do anything as mentioned.
I cannot uninstall it, the uninstall fails and reverts on reboot.

VNC is my saviour if I ever find a solution...

Ok, the user is back from holidays.. now to play again.
I've tried simply uninstalling it.. FAIL.

This is a bit more urgent now as she has to approve payroll on wednesday!

I've downloaded a fresh version again today of IE10, and gone to install to see what happens, and says the version I've downloaded is older than the installed version -... WTF? how???

Anak said:

Don't forget to look for that KB2823324 update, if its installed it can cause problems.
I'm not sure if installing KB2840149 would "update" KB2823324 or not.

Cant see this update in the list on the laptop.

Have you tried the uninstall of IE10 while in Safe Mode?

I tried for 15 minutes talking the user through entering safe mode, but she is in another state, and on another planet. it didnt work.

Have you tried F8 and selecting "Last Known Good Configuration"?

No I havent.
The machien has been used regularly since the installation and a few other things (Quicktime, Adobe) installed since, so that wont work.

Have you tried going to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features\Features, and turning off IE10?

Turn Windows features on or off

Yes, this just killed IE10, doesnt resolve the issue.

Is there any of the bloatware still on the machine? McAfee should go. If it has that SUSE Linux on it you might be able to uninstall IE10 that way.

Nope.. its all pretty much standard.

What version of 7? I hope its not the Starter version that's listed in my previous HP link.

Nope, full legit pro 32bit.

I see you haven't received any replies here yet:

IE 10 tried uninstalling failed, but now cant do it. - Microsoft Community

That is also my post

Thanks again