Microsoft on May 6 made available a new 32 bit version of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu.exe) for Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) as a standalone download accompanying the service pack’s release.

Microsoft has failed to reveal if it has changed IE7 for XP SP3 in any way, although it is likely that changes have been made to adapt the browser to the new service pack and nothing more

In a statement Microsoft said about the browser: “Internet Explorer 7 has been designed to make everyday tasks easier, provide dynamic security protection and improve the development platform and manageability. End user improvements include a streamlined interface, tabbed browsing, printing advances, improved search functionality, instant feeds (RSS), dynamic security protection, and more … This download is for Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 only.”

Earlier this week, Microsoft made public guidelines for handling the deployment of XP SP3 on top of XP SP2 copies with IE7 or the Beta 1 of IE8. Installing XP SP3 on XP SP2 machines with either of the two editions of the browser makes it impossible to remove both IE7 or the Beta 1 of IE8 at a later date.

Jane Maliouta, Deployment Program Manager for IE8 revealed on monday on the IE Team blog: ” if you already have IE8 Beta 1 installed on XPSP2, Windows XP SP3 will not be offered to you via Windows Update. This is because after you update your system to XPSP3, you will no longer be able to uninstall IE8 Beta 1 and the Remove option will be greyed out under the Add / Remove programs option in the Control Panel,”

Maliouta added “if you must uninstall IE7 after you have upgraded to XPSP3, then you have to first uninstall XP SP3, and then uninstall IE7. After this series of uninstalls, you will be reverted back to a XPSP2, and a stable version of IE6, so feel free to upgrade to XPSP3 again. If you install IE7 after you install XPSP3, then you will be able to uninstall IE7 at any point and be reverted to the newer IE6 version that ships in XP SP3. The restriction on uninstalling only applies to when you install a Windows Service Pack release on top of a standalone IE release.”

Thanks Microsoft for the advance notice, it would have saved several of my clients a lot of time if they had known this in advance of installing the service pack

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