Internet Explorer Won't Launch, Need To Update Windows With Windows Update Service

Earlier this I had an interesting problem where Internet Explorer would not launch all the way on a friends computer. When the IE application was clicked on it would flash on the screen and then close immediately. I believe there was either some form of virus left on the computer that was closing Internet Explorer or that the upgrade I had just performed of IE6 to IE7 was causing a different issue. My initial plan was to continue upgrading Windows XP on this friends computer but I could not do this on the Windows Update site without Internet Explorer. Below is a work around if your Internet Explorer is not functioning properly and you would like to try to apply Windows patches from the Windows Update site anyway.

Install Patches From Windows Update Site Without Internet Explorer:

The first thing is to make sure you have the Google Chrome browser installed. If you do not yet have Chrome installed launched any working browser and visit this site to install Chrome. Click the blue Download Google Chrome button to begin the installation process. Clicking the button will take you to the Google Chrome terms page which will have a button underneath called “Accept and Install” which should be clicked. Once clicked this will start the Google Chrome Installer and you should simply follow the instructions to install Google Chrome.

Google Chrome Extensions: Install IE Tab

Once Google Chrome is installed visit this site in the Chrome browser to install the Chrome IE Tab extension. Once you click the blue Install button IE Tab will download and begin the installation process automatically. The installation begins with a pop up window asking you to confirm the IE Tab installation as shown in the below example image.

Click the Install button in the pop up window to install the Google Chrome IE Tab extension. It should take only a short while and then the IE Tab extension will show to the right of the Google Chrome address bar similar to the below example image.

Notice the folder icon with the Internet Explorer logo in the middle of it. A new Chrome tab will also open as shown in the above example image with information regarding the IE Tab installation. Now when you want to launch Internet Explorer from within Google Chrome you can do so by clicking the IE Tab icon which will provide a sub address bar as shown in the below example.

Windows Update Site Launched In Google Chrome IE Tab Extension:

Since I am on Windows 7 while writing this article it is telling me to use the Windows 7 Start Menu in the example above but I confirmed earlier while working on my friends computer that you can visit windowsupdate.microsoft.com and update Windows XP via Google Chrome. This provides a nice work around if something is stopping the iexplorer process from running.