Internet Explorer - the browser - is built into Windows and cannot be removed. It is necessary that it be there for other Windows functions to work, including the Windows Explorer that you use to find files on your machine and that other programs use to find the bits and pieces that they need.

If you have upgraded to a newer version than the one that came with your Windows, the new version will appear in the Add/Remove software list in Control Panel, but "removing" it only reverts back to the version that was originally part of the installation. That version may of course have none of the patches and security fixes issued since your Windows was released. The original version cannot be removed, without "breaking" the whole Windows installation.

Since it is necessarily present, if it has vulnerabilities that are not patched, the whole machine is vulnerable to malware attacks via those vulnerabilities, whether or not you use IE for your web browsing.

If you receive automatic updates to Windows, IE critical patches should be automatically included, although it is necessary to have a recent version of IE installed, preferably the current version, since recent patches are built for the latest versions.

Since users of older Windows versions that don't qualify for Windows updates can use the newer versions of IE, you can visit a separate site to get the critical updates that apply only to IE, or to get upgraded versions of IE.

Either way, IE is installed, must be installed, cannot be removed, and must be kept up to date if you don't want holes in your machinery. If it's "broken" it needs to be fixed, even if you NEVER intend to use it for web browsing.

ESPECIALLY if you don't intend to use it for its web browser functions, I'd recommend installing the latest version (at least IE6 or IE7) since the latest versions "roll in" previous patches and will be the most "efficiently patchable" in the near-term future.

John