Block the Windows Browser Choice Update in Europe

Last Updated on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 10:07 Written by Mire_B Wednesday, 3 March 2010 10:07

Windows users in Europe (the European Economic Area) are starting to receive the Browser Choice Update through Windows Update, per the agreement Microsoft reached with the European Commission.

From KB 976002:

This update is applicable for the duration of the agreement with the European Commission, and applies to the following supported operating systems:

Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows XP Service Pack 3

All editions of Windows Vista

All editions of Windows 7

Future versions of the Windows client operating system that are released within the duration of the agreement with the European Commission.

It’s very easy to block the Browser Choice Update in the eventuality that you don’t need it, or if you have to manage a number of desktops and don’t want users to go click-happy with browser installs. Here’s what you have to do, according to Microsoft:

Registry key:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\BrowserChoice

Value name: Enable

Value type:  DWORD

Possible values: 1 Display the Browser Choice update (default)

0 Do not display the Browser Choice update