Windows XP SP3, which was unofficially released almost a week ago and has been available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers for even longer than that, does not come with Windows Internet Explorer 7. Whether you have Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8b1 installed, the installation of XP SP3 will not affect your version of Internet Explorer. However, there are differences that are worth noting for each version, with the most important point for IE8b1 users being that they should uninstall it before applying XP SP3. Jane Maliouta, Deployment Program Manager for IE8, explains:

Users who have IE6 when they install SP3 do not need to worry about the installation process. They have the option of installing either IE7 or IE8 beta 1 after the installation of SP3 and uninstalling back to IE6 if they so choose.

Users who have IE7 when they install SP3 do not need to worry about the installation process. They have the option of installing IE8 beta 1 after the installation of SP3. They cannot uninstall IE7 and go back to IE6, however, since SP3 updates files that IE6 uses and an uninstallation of IE7 could cause problems. If the user wants to revert to IE6:

and IE7 was installed before XP SP3, the only option is to uninstall SP3, uninstall IE7, and install XP SP3.



and XP SP3 has not yet been installed, Microsoft recommends installing IE7 after the installation of XP SP3, so that it can later be uninstalled.

Users who have IE8 beta 1 currently installed should uninstall it before moving to XP SP3 and reinstall it afterwards. It is not recommended to install SP3 with a system that has IE8 beta 1, or any beta version of IE for that matter, installed.

In summary, if you don't plan to downgrade your version of Internet Explorer after the installation of XP SP3 and you are using a final version, you will be fine.

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