I recommend that you follow the steps below before installing Internet Explorer 7. Some may not agree with my advice, but years of experience have shown this to be best practice...
The first thing to do is
READ THE RELEASE NOTES. There are known issues and you may save
yourself hours of grief if you make sure you are informed before you install
IE7.
Set a restore point (just in case).
Turn off Automatic Updates (believe me,
you'll thank me later if you've already installed an IE7 beta or RC build).
Disable protective software such as antivirus, antispyware and crash guards.
DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR FIREWALL!!!
Stay connected to the internet.
Shut down all running programmes - that
includes Messenger, Windows Defender, and OneCare - don't forget to check
the systray icons as well.
If you are running ZoneAlarm 6.5, disconnect
from the internet, uninstall ZoneAlarm, make sure Windows Firewall is
enabled, reconnect to the internet then install IE7. This is because
ZoneAlarm was blocking access to the Windows Registry. Yes, you have
to uninstall ZoneAlarm.
IE7 Gold's installer runs various registry permission checks before
installation starts to minimise the risk of aborted/damaged installs, but
there is no guarantee that the installer will pick up everything. It is best
to ensure that problematic software that may block access to the registry be
disabled.
If you still see registry permission problems, please check out the
advice here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2006/09/04/739820.aspx
HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\InternetExplorer\InstalledByUser
IE7RC1 installations failed if the DWORD was not there, but the
installer also deletes the DWORD after installation of RC1 is successfully
completed. You won't find it on a standard RC1 installation, but at the
same time, the existence of the key is not known to cause a problem. When
the missing DWORD caused an installation failure with RC1, all that happened
was
the install rolled back, you saw the failure window, and a shortcut was dumped
on your desktop. So, if you wish, you can try adding the DWORD if you
have a mysterious installation failure that you have trouble finding a cause
for, but I doubt it will make any difference - it certainly hasn't made a
difference on any of the dozens of systems I have worked with.
Install Internet Explorer 7. Reboot *twice*
before running your new Web browser for the first time.
Don't forget to re-enable your antivirus,
third party firewall and
other protective software now that you're finished.
Do not reinstall any version of Microsoft
Windows in any way after you install Internet Explorer 7. Do not upgrade
Windows in place or upgrade to a new edition. You must uninstall IE7
and reboot twice before attempting to repair, reinstall or upgrade Windows:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;917964
Note that the uninstall directory is now at
c:\windows\ie7\spunist
The bug that broke IE6 when a repair install of Windows was completed with
IE7 installed has, apparently, been fixed, but it is still strongly
recommended that IE7 be uninstalled first.