If you use or manage machines with earlier versions of Internet Explorer than Internet Explorer 8 and would rather that the newer version not be presented as a high-priority update via Automatic Update, Windows Update, or Microsoft Update, Microsoft has released a tool that will prevent this from happening. Or you can modify the Windows Registry.

The "Internet Explorer 8 Blocker Toolkit" changes a registry setting so that Internet Explorer 8 is only offered as an optional update. The tool can also apply the registry change to remotely managed machines. It also allows blocking to be managed via Group Policy.

* Internet Explorer 8 Blocker Toolkit

If you do not need the Group Policy management or remote configuration, you can perform the following registry edit yourself:

Read the disclaimer.

According to Microsoft's site, access the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:

My Computer \ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Internet Explorer \ Setup

Underneath, create a new key named 8.0.

In that key, create a new DWORD value named DoNotAllowIE80 with the value of 1.

Print This Tip

Get E-Mail When New Tips are Online

Return to the Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 page.