I had all kinds of problems with IE 8 & it took me a couple of hours to
figure out how to get rid of it, because my main concern was once I got rid
of it how was I going to get IE 7 back. The solution was pretty simple just
go to "CONTROL PANEL" & select "ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS" then let it REMOVE IE 8.
What happens then as if by some miracle, is that IE 7 comes back all by
itself. Problem solved. Never, ever use "RESTORE POINTS", this is a last
ditch HAIL MARY operation to go to if all else fails & from what I have heard
it will create more problems than it solves. As far as what PA Bear says
about Registy cleaners, yes they can be deadly. As I do a lot of "SURFING"
over the NET maybe in places I shouldn't go & have been hit by they Famous or
should I say the Infamous FALSE VIRUS SCAMS for one that are really a very,
very bad Virus all in themselves. I use the "8 STEPS" from "TECHSPOT.COM" to
keep my computer clean & healty. It is a combination of programs (all free)
to clean up & do a S&D for Malware & Spyware + Virus's & Trojan Horses. One
of the steps is to use CC (Clean up the Clutter) which cleans up the Cookies
& Registers + much more & after 2 years of use I have never had any problems
from it only solutions. To do the "8 Steps" takes about a hour to run / step
sometimes less depending on how big your Drive and/or Drives are & how much
**** you have on them, now you have to remember that if they find something
you have to delete the nasties & run it again until you come up CLEAN before
going on to the next step. Between AVISTA, CC, MBAM & SAS nothing to date
has been able to hide from them, besides being free they are all updated
almost every day plus some update every 4 hours so you are really on top of
all of NASTIES out there. I run AVISTA every day in the background just for
a general Virus scan but on Mondays I go through the "8 Steps" just to make
sure that I am clean plus as a little extra I use an old DOS trick & do a
CHKDSK with all the boxes ticked off & then a DEFRAG but I use DEFRAGGLER
which is also free & much better & faster than what is in XP Pro
(DEFRAGGLER.COM). Hope this helps & happy computing.

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:

> First of all, your use of Tune Utilities (and any other "Registry cleaners")
> could be the source of ALL your problems. If you think your Registry needs
> to be "cleaned" or "repaired," read http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099
> and draw your own conclusions.
>
> To resolve your predicament, either open a no-charge support incident (see
> previous reply) or back-up your personal data, format your hard-drive(s) and
> then do a clean install of WinXP.
>
> NB: Since you've already installed IE7 and WinXP SP3 installed, do NOT
> attempt a Repair Install!
>
> Best of luck.
>
>
> Marchie wrote:
> > Addition to response - I also have Tune Utilities 2009 installed (full
> > version) and this now churns on forever on the start up screen but doesn't
> > get to the system status. Not sure if this is relevant, but I thought it
> > better to give too much rather than too little.
> >
> > "Marchie" wrote:
> >> Thanks for your response.
> >>
> >> I didn’t do the system restore with the uninstallation of IE8 in mind. At
> >> the time I thought I could use restore to reset my system details to get
> >> around the “access denied” error (which I ‘ve just remembered mentioned
> >> System32). Clearly, a major misunderstanding on my part, and not the
> >> most
> >> clever decision I’ll ever make. I also used it because XP “helpfully”
> >> says
> >> any restore can be undone, so I thought if it doesn’t work, I‘ll undo it.
> >> Clearly this is not the case either.
> >>
> >> I am running AVG 8.5 (fully up to date), Malwarebyte’s AM, A2 Free,
> >> Spyware
> >> Blaster and Online Armor firewall in addition to Defender. All except A2
> >> (and AM?) would have been active as I ran the install through Windows
> >> Update and it did not state the need to disable them. I have since read
> >> your post from 6/25 stating not to install IE8 via Update, alas, too late
> >> for me.
> >>
> >> I have never had McAfee or Norton installed, either trial or full.
> >>
> >> I do have earlier restore points available.
> >>
> >> Many thanks
> >>
> >> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
> >>> [Crossposted to IE General]
> >>>
> >>> May I ask why you used System Restore without first uninstalling IE8?
> >>> (You should NEVER use System Restore to "undo" an installation of
> >>> anything!)
> >>>
> >>> What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
> >>> subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than
> >>> Defender)? What third-party firewall (if any)? Were any of these
> >>> applications running in the background when you installed IE8?
> >>>
> >>> Has a Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this machine
> >>> (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought it)?
> >>>
> >>> Just asking for now!! Do NOT use such a Restore Point yet!! => Do you
> >>> have an available Restore Point which predates the install of IE8 (i.e.,
> >>> one earlier than the one you used)?
> >>>
> >>> No-charge support for Internet Explorer 8 installation, set-up and usage
> >>> (only) is available via the phone based on your locale through 31
> >>> December
> >>> 2009. Customers must be running Windows XP or Windows Vista in a
> >>> non-domain environment.
> >>> => US & CA Residents: 1-866-234-6020
> >>> => Other locales:
> >>> https://support.microsoft.com/oas/de...px?&prid=13043 --
> >>> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> >>> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Marchie wrote:
> >>>> I hope I am posting this in the correct place.
> >>>>
> >>>> I have XP Pro SP3 installed. On 30/06/09 the Windows Update icon
> >>>> stated
> >>>> there were updates to install. Upon running, it was the install for
> >>>> IE8,
> >>>> along with some other updates including the Microsoft Malicious
> >>>> Software
> >>>> Removal Tool. The update ran, advised me that IE8 had been
> >>>> successfully
> >>>> installed and that I needed to restart the computer, which I did. And
> >>>> then my woes began..
> >>>>
> >>>> On the restart, just before the desktop populated an error message
> >>>> appeared
> >>>> along the lines of "Access denied, you may not have permission". (I am
> >>>> the administrator account). Unfortunately, I did not write down the
> >>>> full
> >>>> detail
> >>>> but clicked ok. The computer continued the restart but IE would not
> >>>> connect
> >>>> at all – it didn’t even open.
> >>>>
> >>>> Realising the update had not worked successfully, I decided to try
> >>>> system
> >>>> restore. The most recent ones (including that morning) had Software
> >>>> Distribution Service 3.0, so I selected the last System Checkpoint.
> >>>> Upon
> >>>> completion of the restore, a message appeared advising me there were
> >>>> some
> >>>> file duplications and that the following files had been renamed in
> >>>> C:\Windows\System32: xmllite.dll to xmllite(2).dll and normaliz.dll to
> >>>> normaliz(3).dll. Presumably this was to preserve the integrity of the
> >>>> original files.
> >>>>
> >>>> Upon running, tried IE again. This time IE7 opened, but crashed. As the
> >>>> restore did not work, I then tried to undo the restore, and this didn’t
> >>>> work
> >>>> either. Restore Incomplete – changes not made. Nor would using one of
> >>>> the
> >>>> Software Distribution 3.0 restore points. So now I could not get my
> >>>> computer
> >>>> back to where I started. Although I cannot get my browser to work, I
> >>>> can
> >>>> still access my email using Outlook which connects fine to the server.
> >>>>
> >>>> I am lucky that I have access to another computer, so I googled IE8 and
> >>>> Software Distribution Service 3.0 and sure enough, a plethora of people
> >>>> with
> >>>> problems around both became evident.
> >>>>
> >>>> From the information reviewed, I tried the following:
> >>>>
> >>>> Reset Windows Security settings back to default using Fix it For Me
> >>>> (article
> >>>> ID 949220)
> >>>>
> >>>> Tried Add/Remove Programs – IE8 not showing, so tried
> >>>> %windir%\IE8\spuninst\spuninst.exe in Cmd.exe (article ID 957700).
> >>>>
> >>>> Neither of these worked.
> >>>>
> >>>> I checked my event log and it stated that IE8 installed correctly, then
> >>>> the
> >>>> next entry was failed to reboot. In searching my files it would appear
> >>>> IE8
> >>>> is not there – would this be a result of the restore that I did?
> >>>>
> >>>> I am also perplexed that in article 949220 “Prerequisites installed by
> >>>> IE8”
> >>>> that the Malicious Software Removal Tool is for SP2, but I have SP3.
> >>>>
> >>>> So, to my question – How do I get my PC back to the position it was in
> >>>> on
> >>>> Tuesday morning before I allowed the Update to take place and cause
> >>>> such
> >>>> a big headache? I think I’ll be happy just to get IE7 running and
> >>>> ditch
> >>>> IE8.
> >>>>
> >>>> Sorry this post is so long but I hope I have given a sufficiently full
> >>>> explanation to allow someone to resolve the problem.
>
>