Solved Internet Explorer 10 Will Not Open or Uninstall - Windows 7, 64 bit

[boweasel]

My son's laptop recently crashed and I cleaned up the viruses that had caused the problems. It's up and running just fine using Chrome and Firefox, but IE10 refuses to open. We get a window that has the look of IE, but with an empty address bar and nothing inside the box. We get the blue spinning circle for about 15 seconds before it and the window disappear. I believe he's been using IE10, but he's not completely sure.

When I go to Control Panel/Programs and Features/View Installed Updates, Windows Internet 10 is listed. If I try to uninstall it I get a small msg box that reads, An error has occurred. Not all of the updates were successfully uninstalled. There is no error number and all I can do is click OK.

If I download IE10 and try to install it, I get a msg headed Internet Explorer did not finish installing with the verbiage Setup can't continue because a more recent version of Internet Explorer is installed on your computer. Once again OK is the only option.

I have gone to Control Panel/Internet Options/Advanced tab and performed a Reset, and a restore of the advanced options.. Nothing...

Because of the crash he has no restore points available.

Additionally, I've now discovered that I cannot install Malwarebytes, getting an ieframe.dll or one of its dependencies not currently registered: a file is missing or invalid.

Ideas?

 

[pscowboy]

My advice to you is do a new, clean install.

That malware hit the laptop experienced caused severe damage. I believe you still may not have control over it. You could spend another 5-8 hours wailing away at it to do the corrections still hurting the original install. A new one will cost you about three; (there will be over a hundred updates). Save the stuff you don't want to lose to an external.

With W7, there is no difference between OEM and retail like in the past. You will use the product key on the bottom of the machine.

With the help of another computer, download the exact flavor of W7 you have from Digital River, and burn to dvd disc. I do not like OEM recoveries because of all the bloatware associated with them.

http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24209.iso

 

[boweasel]

Thanks, pscowboy, that's kind what I expected after the ieframe error (And then I ran into a snag on Windows updates - it downloaded 4 items, but stayed on the install of item 3 for a bout a hour before I ignored the written advice not to turn off the computer).

My additional question is about the drivers - since the laptop is booting and running and showing videos, can I save the existing drivers so I don't have to go to the Acer website to download new ones? And how would I do that? Is it simply a matter of going into the Windows/system32 and copying the Drivers folder to a USB drive?

 

[pscowboy]

Download new ones and save them to cd. I am finding, unfortunately, that thumb drives (flash memory), are not holding their files longterm. I've discovered 3 that have deteriorated after 20-24 months.

You may find that W7 has most of the drivers anyway. But, do the download from Acer as a security measure.

 

[boweasel]

So are you saying that I can't simply copy the existing drivers?

 

[pscowboy]

It's not that simple.
There usually are the following files in a relatively simple driver package:

*.cat
*.inf
*.sys
*.pnf

and sometimes a *.oem

They get installed to different places in the Windows directory. Unless you know exactly what goes with what, you're not going to be successful. The *.sys are in the W\Sys32\Drivers folder; the *inf & *.pnf are in W\Inf. Can you be sure to match them up when you're trying the install?

 

[boweasel]

I'm going to try this freeware called Double Driver (BooZet Freeware | Double Driver - backup and restore installed drivers)

 

[pscowboy]

That freeware looks interesting.

Please let us know how that worked out. Old dogs can still learn new tricks.

It looks like it will indeed, save you the existing non-Microsoft drivers.

What you won't know by doing this, is whether Acer has updated any of that laptop's drivers. Which was my point about going there.

All the best.

 

[boweasel]

Sorry for the delay in this follow-up. I did download the Double Driver software, ran it and save the results to a USB drive. It looks like it will work, as long as you reload the software after the reinstall and then use that software to reload the drivers you've saved to the flashdrive.

In my case it wasn't necessary. I uninstalled SP1, then used a Dell W7 Home Premium SP1 CD to do an upgrade install. I did have to install a mess of Windows updates, but I'd of had to do that anyway, and I kept all my programs, favorites, documents, etc. I also got rid of the Acer bloatware, removed some services (what EXACTLY is Desktop Windows Manager good for, beyond using CPU?), replaced McAfee (heavy footprint) with Security Essentials, customized the visual properties for best performance, and the laptop is running better now than when it first came out of the box.