"Toolkit to Disable Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 7"

Toolkit to Disable Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 7

"The Internet Explorer 7 Blocker Toolkit enables IT Administrators to disable automatic delivery of Internet Explorer 7 as a high-priority update via Automatic Updates and the Windows Update and Microsoft Update sites.

To help our customers become more secure and up-to-date, Microsoft will distribute Internet Explorer 7 as a high-priority update via Automatic Updates for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 soon after the final version of the browser is released (planned for fourth quarter 2006). Microsoft is making a non-expiring Blocker Toolkit available for those organizations that would like to block automatic delivery of Internet Explorer 7 to machines in environments where Automatic Updates is enabled.

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Robert McLaws: FunWithCoding.NET - Windows Vista Edition - IE7 Distribution and Future Development

"... GS: Well, basically we’re going to be distributing IE7 as a "High Priority" update through the Windows Update and Microsoft Update platforms shortly after RTM. But we’re not forcing IE7 on anyone, so for consumers, we’re going to override your default settings, and show a start screen that asks for your concent. We’ll give the user three options "Install | Don’t Install | Ask Me Later". And for the record, the screen you’ll see has no default action, you’ll have to explicitly select an option. RWM: You’re not going to automatically take over my desktop at 2am the next morning?

GS: Nope.

RWM: I’m sure people will like that. So that’s for consumers, but what about businesses? They need to deploy IE7 on their own time.

GS: Exactly. That’s why we’re also putting out an enterprise blocker toolkit, which will hide the update from systems with the proper registry key.

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Note To Self: I need to get the IE7 Auto Update blocker installed on my Dev machines and on select work PC’s in the very near future.

We’re pretty diligent in applying all Critical and High priority updates to all our machines as soon as they come out, but we can’t have IE7 deployed without extensive testing. So I’m pretty darn happy that MS is making the IE7 Auto Update blocking easy to use and releasing it this early... Now I can get it applied well in advance of IE7’s RTM.

For more info on the Internet Explorer 7 Blocker Toolkit check out the FAQ.