The random utterances of David Arno

Microsoft have announced that IE8 will be released as a priority update via the Windows update service, which means that – unless you only do manual updates – you’ll get it when Microsoft want, rather than when you want. Fear not though, for in these weird times we live in, Microsoft have gone and done something sensible for once: they’ve offered a simple, official, mechanism for preventing it being automatically installed. For the average – non technical – user, the process will be automatic. This is a good thing. For technically savvy users, the avoidance route is simple, and the option remains to manually upgrade when ready. This too is a good thing.

If you want to take control of the update of IE on your machine:

1. Download the installer exe.
2. Run the installer and extract the command to a suitable folder.
3. Start a cmd window, cd to your chosen folder and type:

    IE80Blocker.cmd /B

If you later change your mind, either find it is the optional updates via Windows Update, or start a cmd window once more, cd to your chosen folder and type:

    IE80Blocker.cmd /U

See the download page and FAQ for all the gory details of the affected register key etc if you want to know more.