Disabling Internet Explorer 8 and more will be possible with Windows 7
In a blog post today, Windows 7′s engineering team confirmed that users will be able to turn off key “features” or applications like Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player or Windows Search.
“In Windows 7 we are expanding the number of features you have control over in this regard, giving customers more control, flexibility and choice in managing the features available in this version of Windows,” wrote Jack Mayo, the group program manager for Windows 7 Documents and Printing team and who also worked on Internet Explorer 8.
Although, turning “off” an application was already possible in Windows XP – using the Set Program Access and Defaults utility – with Windows 7 Microsoft is extending that feature to more applications:
However, what the European Union is really asking Microsoft for, is to let users disable these applications during the initial Windows set-up.
“We know some have suggested that this set of choices be a “setup option”. Some operating systems do provide this type of setup experience. As we balanced feedback, the vast majority of feedback we have received was to streamline setup and to reduce the amount of potential complexity in getting a PC running. We chose to focus this feature on the post-setup experience for Windows 7,” adds Mayo.
