Missing Microsoft Windows section from Uninstall an update tool

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I have never seen this before. I hope this is something really simple.

I do not have a Microsoft Windows section in the “Uninstall an update” section of the “Programs and Features” option under Control panel.

I am sure that there have been updates, but the section is missing.

Background: This is a Windows 7 32-bit machine which somehow got Internet Explorer 10 installed a couple of months ago. I have tried to live with this flakey tool, but I am sick of it. In trying to go back to IE9, I need to go to the Programs and Features option of Control Panel and look for the Internet Explorer update under the Microsoft Windows Section of Uninstall an Update.

For some reason, there is no “Microsoft Windows Section” here. I am not sure if this is a permissions problem (I am using an administrator account) or if I have somehow chosen to not display this section.

I tried “How do I reset Windows Update components?” at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058 but it did not change this behavior.

I am unclear what to do or what to look for. I have seen multiple reports of people trying to uninstall IE10 but not finding it here and believe they also may have lost the entire section. I have 121 items updating many other components of Office and other products, but no section for Microsoft Windows.

Does anyone know how I restore this section or unhide it or get it back? Alternately, does anyone know how to uninstall IE10 without having access to it?

Any ideas will be appreciated.

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From Uninstall or change a program, in the left pane you should see ‘View installed updates’ (previously installed Windows/Microsoft updates) and ‘Turn Windows features on or off’.

To uninstall IE10 (from memory, I did it a couple of months ago for similar reasons) you need to go to the View installed updates section, find IE10, right-click it and choose Uninstall, this will revert you to IE9 after a reboot.

Many of the IE10 problems are down to a related, prerequisite ‘Windows Platform Update’, KB2670838, see a few of the early issues reported on it here: https://www.askwoody.com/2013/msdefcon-4-patched-install-10-kb-2670838/

Uninstall both would be my advice (assuming you can find a way to do this) then hide the KB from Windows Updates and install the IE10 blocking tool to prevent it from auto-reinstalling: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36512

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Thank you.

I am not sure if you understood my post which was probably overly complex.

To uninstall IE10, you need to do as you say.

However, the place where Internet Explorer would be listed would be under Microsoft Windows.

For example, on one of my other machines, this section falls alphabetically after Microsoft Visual C++ and includes listing of the security and other updates. In fact, you can search for these updates using the “Search Installed Update” box at the top of the window. For example, you can search for KB2670838 by entering that or even by just entering KB267 and seeing if it is in the reduced list.

My problem is that this section does not exist on the machine with IE10.

Putting “Internet” in the search box finds nothing. Putting “KB2670838” finds nothing. Putting in “KB” finde tons of office updates and .NET framework updates, but nothing for “Microsoft Windows.”

The section appears to be missing and I am looking for a way to restore it (or to remove IE10 without it, but I still would think I need to get that section restored).

Any other ideas?

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In fact, reviewing my update history shows that updates have been made as recently as last week.

The update you mention (which was mentioned repeatedly in the Windows Secrets newsletter as troublesome) caused significant problems on my laptop and I did remove it there.

The machine I am having problems with had K 2670838 installed on 2/27 accoring to the update history and Internet Explorer was installed on 3/13.

I do have restore points going back to February. Any reason why I would not want to be restoring back that far?

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I do have restore points going back to February. Any reason why I would not want to be restoring back that far?

The only issue I see is any software you installed in the interim will have to be reinstalled. You may also lose browser data like favorites or log ons as well. You should be able to use System restore to get back to where you are now if the February Restore point doesn’t get you what you want. A better option would be to make a backup image of the OS disk prior to doing the System Restore. You could the use the image to restore back to current state in case something goes wrong.

Jerry

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Thanks, Jerry. I may have to resort to that, but I had a horrendous problem installing something in March which will have to be reinstalled somehow.

Before resorting to backing up and doing a system restore, do you or does anyone have any ideas why I do not see any of the Windows Updates in the “View installed updates” list of Programs and Features? As I indicated, I find them all under history.

Any ideas what might be blocking them from showing or how to restore them?

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Well, that went about as smoothly as possible.

The restore worked properly and I had a machine without IE10 and without the dreaded KB 2670838.

I had a lot of catching up to do. I had to reinstall a major application which balked because when it connected to the license server, the server did not like the fact that I was back on standard time (it took a day to figure that out). Then, I could not use their gotomypc remote help because I was not up-to-date with patches.

Now I have a working version of Internet Explorer 9 but I am still missing the Windows Updates section in the “View installed updates” list of Programs and Features.

At least I do not have any updates to uninstall now.

Anyone know how to bring back this section of the installed update list?

Thanks again to Jerry and all who chimed in (or considered chiming in).

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See the last post in this thread – The Microsoft Windows section of View installed updates is missing so I cannot uninstall IE10 from Windows 7.

Joe

--Joe

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