Windows 8 Uninstall, or Deactivate Internet Explorer!!!

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

For what it's worth I decided that since I never use IE and I haven't had any webpage ask me to for a long time I would remove it just to see what happens.

To my surprise my computer performs much better without it.

My boot to desktop time went from about a minute to 15 seconds, and I notice a crisper feel just using it to do things.

I'm really surprised that it could make that big a difference.

Deactivating it is a lengthy process causing the computer to reboot and run the configuring your computer screens.

Mike

 

[whs]

Mike, this looks like magic. I really wonder what would have reduced the boot time from 60 seconds to 15 seconds. And I assume the IE is still in your system unless you slipstreamed the installation disc.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

We'll see if the improvement stays like this.

It does remove some parts of it at least.
When you disable it, the IE.exe files in either the Program Files or the Program Files (x86) folders are gone.
What seems to be left in the folders are the files to reinstall it, including a ieinstall.exe file.

So far today the faster boot times and performance improvements have stayed.

I haven't found anything that says it needs to have IE active so far.
If it doesn't cause any issues I'm going to leave it inactive.

Mike

 

[Fixer1234]

Shrinking from 60 sec to 15 sounds pretty wild. It doesn't seem like that change could make that kind of difference. Are you sure that loss of IE didn't just slow your clock down so it only looks faster? Microsoft spent years fighting tooth and nail to keep IE integrated into Windows. If word gets out that you can do an instant boot by removing it, Microsoft will have a mutiny on its hands.

 

[badrobot]

That is unbelievable. 15sec boot up is a privilege to those who own a top of the line system.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Well it has slowed down a bit, I just timed it from when the splash screen first shows to the desktop and it took 35 seconds so not as fast as it did right after removing IE.

But this is still faster then before I removed it.

Every once in a while I'll find something that seems to make my computer run better and I'm not sure what it was.
Right now my computer is running very fast, everything feels snappy.

I week ago I was lamenting how slow it felt.
I guess tomorrow I'll make an image so that I can come back to this point.

Computers do have on and off times, I have no idea why it changes but this time it did get better when I uninstalled IE.

I have noticed that running Malwarebytes Pro and AVG does have a hit on my computers performance.
But it's nothing like the hit it took back when I ran McAfee.

Of course everything is relative, my computer will run anything pretty fast.

I can run The Elder Scrolls Online, Skyrim, or The Secret World with everything set to ultimate and still get 70 fps in stereo for each eye, or actually 140 fps, on a 27" monitor, that's true for pretty much any game I install.

Now that I replaced the leaking cooler it's staying cool again too.

I guess the next computer I get will have solid state drives, but so far I'm still a little nervous about them. LOL

I'd like to have the whole computer solid state but that would take 4 500 GB drives, pretty expensive still.
But prices are coming down a lot.

You can get a Samsung 840 500 GB drive for $250.
But that's still a thousand bucks just for hard drives.

I see that they have had almost 2,500 reviews on Amazon and have a solid 5 star rating.
They actually have no reviews under 4 stars, you never see that.

That's encouraging anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Elect...=1401768412&sr=1-2&keywords=solid+state+drive

Mike

 

[Fixer1234]

Mike, I get 15 sec startup times, but that's reactivating after a screen saver.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

If I put my computer to sleep or let the screen saver kicks in then restarting is pretty much instantaneous.
I just tried it, 5 seconds from the time I touch the button in sleep mode to fully functional.

But there have been boot times that were pretty lengthy.
If it goes the way it usually does the advantage will gradually go away, but right now it's nice to have it boot right up in less then a minute.

Not that I really notice that much, I usually just turn my computer on and go get coffee.
By the time I get back it's booted up.

One of the reasons that I don't use a password it that I don't want to have to be there to type it in.

 

[Fixer1234]

One of the reasons that I don't use a password it that I don't want to have to be there to type it in.

You sure you want to be sharing that kind of information online?

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Well I've never used a password but I have a lot of security and file encryption and I don't leave my computer on when I'm not using it.

I can't remember the last time I had a virus or anything other then a few cookies.

I seem to be removing stuff from my friends computers (who do use passwords) all the time. LOL

 

[Fixer1234]

It's just that if you avoid a password so you can go and get coffee without having to wait to enter the password, and your computer boots in 15 seconds, that's quite a coffee jones you got there. I'm just saying.

 

[badrobot]

I don't use password too but bring it on.

I am the only PC user at home (wife uses iPad and the HTPC in the living room). Nobody else uses my PC and I only have 1 user account. I got nothing to hide. My confidential stuffs are somewhere else. I don't need a password. If someone wants to dig into my PC, everyone is welcome (except malware and virus attackers because it slows everything down). My PC is just a playground for me for testing out OSes and other online stuffs.

Mike, I disabled IE on my Win 8.1 HTPC but nothing significant happened. Maybe it chopped off 5 to 10sec at boot up but that PC has always been booting up for less than a minute.

 

[davehc]

The login password does not prevent intrusion from the internet. It is only there to protect you local (lan) system from priers. As Mike and badrobot state, they are the only users at home, so it is not important or necessary. I often have my family (and small knowledgeable grandchildren ) visiting. I do keep a password for that reason..

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I agree, intrusions happen after the computer is up and running and the password won't help that.
The password just stops someone from starting your computer.

I'm seeing my times creep back up, it seems the first super quick load times were an exception, who knows why.

As Badrobot said it seems to be settling down to about a 10 second improvement over what I got normally.

I timed it this morning and I got about 40 seconds which is a little faster then normal but not the 15 seconds I saw the first couple of boots after removing it.

The main reason for not wanting to hang around during the boot process is that my computer runs a security scan first thing when it boots and by the time I've got my coffee and fed the dogs it's pretty much done with that.

I does just feel like my computer is running better though.

As I said a couple of week ago I was really feeling like it was slow.



Mike