How to make IE7 look exactly like IE6
- 27 Comment
Maybe you are one of the many people that dislike the way the toolbars or icons are arranged in Microsoft’s new browser, the IE7. Honestly speaking, I have been using IE7 for quite some time now and I find it hard to navigate the browser’s new layout.
Now, fret not. There is a solution to make your IE7 look just like IE6. Just follow the this very simple tip.
1. Navigate to the IE7’s installation directory. If you have selected the default installation, it would be at C:\windows\ie7.
2. Locate the iexplore.exe file then right-click on it then select send to desktop (create shortcut).
3. By now, you’ll have a iexplore.exe shortcut icon on your desktop. Rename it to anything you want.
4. Delete the original Internet Explorer desktop icon (this step is optional. you can retain the original IE7 icon just in case you need it).
5. Double-click on the new IE7 shortcut to launch Internet Explorer.
There you have it. Your Internet Explorer 7 will look like IE6. Enjoy!
Update:
This article has got to be the most viewed here in my site, triggering host of comments (bad and good ones) and also got mentioned in other websites as well.
First of all, any changes to you apply to your computer, be sure to do it on a machine that you are confident with (like your own PC or a PC that has been backed-up).
Also, this advice is not 100% fool-proof since typing a new address in the explorer bar will still launch IE7 (I believe I this has been mentioned this in the comments field below). The workaround there is to use a search engine like google then click on the results so that the interface remains at the “IE6″ level.
Another thing is that you’ll lose the basic IE7 functionalities like tabbed browsing (which I now find VERY convenient).
Since this article was written almost 2 months ago, I would assume that readers have somewhat become familiar with the new interface in IE7, as I have the same reaction from corporate users being introduced to IE7 from IE6. They hated it at first, now, they just love the new interface, as evidenced by some users begging me to install IE7 on their computer ( I have previously stopped the IE7 deployment due to “user complaints” but resumed it due to request). Ahhh..end users, they are very hard to please indeed.
So, to those trying out this tip, just remember the precautions in doing so, and do it on your own risk. As always, backup before doing anything, especially on a production machine.
27 Comments on this post
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Arthur said:
As a note, this step will disable tab browsing
October 30th, 2006 at 3:06 am -
franpa said:
this also disables the “manage add-ons” menu item… dunno what else gets affected either but still… top notch find dude…
October 30th, 2006 at 8:59 am -
BrainDedd said:
C:\Windows\IE7 is the backup folder for IE7 that contains the IE6 files. By running the iexplore.exe there, you are actually running IE6, not IE7. A more practical workaround would be to apply the registry tweaks floating around to move the menu bar to the top and to disable the search box.
October 30th, 2006 at 2:21 pm -
andy said:
Doesn’t work for me, launches every URL I enter in Firefox.
October 30th, 2006 at 2:47 pm -
Jeronim0 said:
windows\ie7 is a back-up directory if I am not mistaken, which contains,….
right IE6!October 30th, 2006 at 4:35 pm -
BrainDedd said:
Also, since you’re running from a backup you might cause problems if you decide to uninstall IE7 at a later date.
October 30th, 2006 at 6:09 pm -
trashpickinman said:
Actually this folder looks like the backup files when uninstalling IE 7. iexplore.exe still has version in the 6.x range.
October 30th, 2006 at 6:34 pm -
Mike said:
More accurate title:
How to run IE6 after installing IE7.You may get the features used by the other system dlls that were updated with you installed IE7, but you won’t have any of the features that were changed in the core.
October 30th, 2006 at 7:26 pm -
Andy said:
Also, my default install is C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer
October 30th, 2006 at 7:40 pm -
snladmin said:
it doesn’t work. browsing to websites just opens another IE7 session with the new interface. tried it on multiple PCs.
October 30th, 2006 at 8:29 pm -
Curious said:
It still looks like IE7 to me.
October 30th, 2006 at 9:55 pm -
Craig said:
As soon as you open any page other than your homepage, a new window opens up with IE7’s toolbars. It won’t actually let you NAVIGATE in ie6 interface. Bogus tip.
October 30th, 2006 at 10:52 pm -
Tony said:
Thank you Arthur.
I downloaded IE& this afternoon, instead of repairing or reloading my IE6.
I instantly hated the appearance of IE7. The command bar simply wasted a lot of space without, to my mind achieving anything.
I spent about two hours loking for an inbuilt disable feature, before giving up and Googling my problem, whereat I found your simple solution. I now have an IE7 which looks like IE6.
Thanks again
Tony (in London)
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:13 pm -
Guti said:
Good trick.
November 5th, 2006 at 9:11 pm -
Surfer said:
Thank you so much! I installed IE7 yesterday, and absolutely hated the appearance/arrangement. It seems completely pointless, and rather unattractive as well. Bless you for helping me get my IE6 interface back!
November 8th, 2006 at 3:42 pm -
bigdaddy said:
I tried making a shortcut for IE7 as suggested, on a
friends computer (was!) but now
it throws blank screens at me.
Even worse when I used their Copernic search engine
I got blank screens everywhere in a mix of old IE6
interface and the new IE7.
Anyone know how I can get out of this mess and
get a friend back.November 11th, 2006 at 5:52 pm -
Arthur said:
If the trick didn’t worked for you, you can uninstall IE7 via the add/remove options in windows. This move will revert you back to IE6 then install IE7 again so that all IE7 defaults are installed.
November 11th, 2006 at 11:21 pm -
johnathome said:
Works for a fast cosmic fix .
But why does MS make it “my way only”
November 13th, 2006 at 5:06 am -
Larry said:
It’s nothing but a shortcut to the old IE6.0
It’s only function is to be available once you
DELETE 7.0It is a worthless shortcut, in that 7.0 over rides 6.0
when actual Internet search is utilizedSo if you want the look of 6.0, you have to know how to
edit the look of 7.0 in the registry, or delete 7.0 completelyor …use Firefox with the IE6 theme
Bottom line…forgetaboutit … bad tip
Larry
November 18th, 2006 at 3:23 pm -
sa said:
heres a better tip > install fire fox 2.0 ^^ IE 7 blows
December 6th, 2006 at 5:01 am -
Mae said:
Hey thanks quite a handy tip there, although I think we have to retain the original IE7 link just in case.
December 8th, 2006 at 2:26 am -
DS said:
It just launches IE6. Any non computer n00b would know to check for the version which is 6.0……. This article is wrong, it should say “How to launch IE6 after installing IE7. All the people who have pointed this out know what they are doing unlike the publisher. Bye
March 17th, 2007 at 8:57 pm -
google said:
just do a fresh install of xp and don’t upgrade to IE7
April 1st, 2007 at 7:27 pm -
Justin Goldberg said:
When using this method, if another browser is the default, enteringan address in the address/url/explorer bar opens it in the default browser (ie. not ie7). Really very strange.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:59 am -
Frank said:
It looks like IE7 to me but there doesn’t seem to be any way to get the command bar to appear or to customize the toolbar with the icons for file, edit, view, favs, tools … It’s not anythink like IE6 and more of a pain to use than 7.
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 am -
James said:
The shortcut launches into an IE6 view, but once I input another URL a new window opens in IE7 view.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Arthur
Jess
BrainDedd
Voja
[...] Can we, and more importantly should we, make IE7 look like IE6? Just because you can do something does not mean that you should. The following is a BAD IDEA! Kihaku maru: Make IE 7 look like IE 6 and How to make IE7 look exactly like IE6 - Byteburn | Technology News, Comments and Reviews are reporting a way to “make IE7 look like IE6″. I decided to test this out,. First I created a shortcut as per the instructions. Sure, it made IE7 look like IE6, but in my tests every time a hyperlink opened a page in a new window, the hybrid IE (and that is exactly what it is, a hybrid) crashed, or froze, and the “critical stop” sound event was heard. The new window was extremely slow to load, and kept stealing focus over other applications. IE had to be shut down using Task Manager several times during testing. Even after shutting down IE using Task Manager, my system froze every time I tried to open a new tab or window, even when starting IE7 the normal way, until I rebooted the system. In addition, by starting IE7 using the shortcut described you will lose access to IE7’s RSS ability, Manage Add-Ons will disappear, you will not have a Phishing Filter, and the Internet Options interface is the old fashioned IE6 version. I tested by opening IE7 using the shortcut described, going to the link below and then clicking on the “Fiddlertool” hyperlink that will open the Fiddlertool site in a new window. Problems with web sites - Internet Explorer 7 In short, please don’t mess around with kludges like this. Things breaks and don’t work properly and you lose very basic abilities. The directory in question is there just in case you want to uninstall IE7 and go back to IE6. [...]