Add and remove Internet Explorer 8 add-ons

Like most Web browsers, Internet Explorer 8 has add-ons. But sometimes you may want to get rid of them, even if just temporarily. IE 8 has made it easier to disable and enable your add-ons. Here's how to do it.

Let's say you have the Google Toolbar running in IE 8. You should see an X to the left of the toolbar. It's the familiar X that usually means you can close something. In this case, you'd be right to guess that. Click that X and you'll disable the toolbar.

Now that can be dangerous if other add-ons rely on the one you're disabling. So IE 8 gives you a lovely list of any dependent add-ons and the option to disable them at the same time. Once you've made your selections, press the Disable button and the add-on will disappear.

What if you want it back?

Go to tools and select Manage Add-ons.

Select the type of add-on, in our example from above, it would be a toolbar.

Scroll down until you find your toolbar. And press enable.

IE 8 will suggest re-enabling any related add-ons you disabled earlier. Press enable again, then press close.

In the case of the toolbar, even though I had enabled it, it still didn't show up. I had to go to View, select toolbars and select the Google Toolbar to make it viewable.

If you want to browse through all the add-ons available for IE 8, visit www.ieaddons.com.