Microsoft to push IE8 via Automatic Updates

Microsoft Tuesday posted a toolkit to block the upcoming Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) from downloading and installing automatically when it is officially released later this year.

If the company uses a timeline similar to its previous browser, the toolkit's release means Microsoft is likely to deliver IE8 within the next three months.

In an entry to a company blog, an IE program manager said that Microsoft would push IE8 to users via its Windows Update and Microsoft Update services when the browser is finished. The blocker modifies each PC's Windows registry.

"We've done a lot of work in IE8 to maintain compatibility with sites designed for Internet Explorer 7 , for example, compatibility view and the compatibility meta tag," said Jane Maliouta , the IE program manager. "However, we know many IT organizations will still want to test the browser before it is deployed."

The toolkit offers two components: an executable blocker script that creates a new key in the Windows registry to stymie automatic downloading and installation, and a group policy template that can be imported into a company's existing policy infrastructure.

The blocking toolkit has no expiration date, Maliouta said, and it cannot prevent users from manually updating their machines by grabbing IE8 from Microsoft's download site. Nor will the toolkit bar the final IE8 from systems that have been running a beta or "release candidate" version, Maliouta added.

As it did more than two years ago when it released IE7, Microsoft plans to distribute IE8 using its Automatic Update mechanism. The browser will be listed as a "High Priority" update in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 , and "Important" in Windows Vista and Server 2008. The blocking tool, however, downgrades IE8 to an optional download.

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