Internet Explorer weirdness

[Guest Daave]

I've been working on a friend's laptop. It had IE7 and SP2. Normally, I

would downgrade from IE7 to IE6 before upgrading to SP3 (and *then*

upgrade back to IE7 in order to have more flexibility -- once you are at

SP3, it's impossible to go from IE7 back to IE6 unless you go back to

SP2 first!). Okay, this is what happened:

 

BTW, I used a disc burned from the .iso found here:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2FCDE6CE-B5FB-4488-8C50-FE22559D164E&displaylang=en

 

After SP3 was successfully applied, a new icon appeared on the desktop.

Previously there had been only a "poor-man's IE shortcut icon" on the

desktop (the kind with the little arrow, created by going to the actual

program and selecting "Create Shortcut"). This icon lacked the usual

functionality of the full IE desktop icon (the one without the arrow),

including the ability to quickly select Internet Properties. I learned

this was by design supposedly because of antitrust reasons. See:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555849

 

http://www.tipandtrick.net/2008/restore-missing-or-disappeared-ie-internet-explorer-desktop-icon-in-windows-xp-sp3/

 

Getting back to this new icon, it's the good old-fashioned kind (without

the arrow). Or at least it seemed that way. But when I double-clicked on

it, there immediately appeared below it the old poor-man's shortcut icon

and that's it! No opening of the browser! So now there are two icons.

Thinking I might have done something accidental, I right-clicked on the

arrowless icon and saw only three options. The top, bolded one was to

create a shortcut! (Okay, that explains what happened, I suppose.)

Nowhere in the context menu was the simple "Open" option.

 

And here's the final kicker: IE7 had reverted to IE6! Is this by design,

too? Has anyone else experienced this weirdness? I know that SP3 doesn't

contain IE7. But if you *already* have IE7 and *then* you upgrade to

SP3, aren't you normally supposed to keep IE7?!

 

I figured I'd just uninstall SP3. Then I was unable to do so. Argh!!! (I

forget the actual message, and I neglected to write it down, which is

atypical of anal-retentice me). So right now, I'm restoring an image I

had earlier made of the hard drive.

 

I'm 99% sure the PC is malware-free. I used the following, all with

updated definitions:

 

AVG

Avast

David Lipman's Multi-AV

Spybot Search & Destroy

SUPERAntiSpyware

 

So, I am calling all gurus to chime in with explanations. Thanks in

advance!