and yet another PC problem.

Haven't installed Windows 10 yet (still on Windows 7 64bit Pro) and don't use Internet Explorer. However, if I go into Control Panel > Programs in W7 on the LHS there is a link to "Turn Windows Features on or off" which if I click it opens a dialog box with the various Windows components including (in my case) Internet Explorer 10 with a checkbox you can tick to activate. Is there something similar in W10 and have you tried this ?

Yes the same prog "Turn Windows Features on or off" is in Win-10

However its turn on/off Explorer 11 on my Win-10 which is a bit strange as Explorer has been zapped in 10 & its now called "Edge"

You need to upgrade to 10 or you will be left in the Desert of the Lost Soul's (no support)  It really is OK & its marketing hype is only surpassed by its failure to live up to the "you will be amazed" hype, its all rather logical & easy to use.  That said while the style has to be gotten used to & it may not suit those that don't like change,  it does work & it does everything well & it is really getting closer to PC for Dummies (if that's what you want)  but it does retain the flexible tailoring abilities of previous OS to satisfy the IT nerdish.

That's odd, IE 11 has always been there for me since day 1, but it does not show up by default. I am using IE 11 every day to remote log in my work computer via Citrix.

You need to search for it by clicking on the Start Menu, type IE.

You may want to uninstall IE 10 first.

My Win7 installation disk is pre-Circkus.... err, sorry wrong forum. I'll start again

My Win7 Installation disk is pre-SP1, so it comes with IE8, which it happily installed during the initial phase of the rebuild. it was when Windows Update was attempting to install IE11 that thr problems started. 

And @Tom, yes I tried that trick of installing IE9, then IE10, then deinstalling IE10 and installing IE11 (all from kosher MS download packages) but still the same outcome.

 @Peter & Mike, before the software rebuild, I also had IE11 which had auto-installed on the five-year old (or thereabouts) Win7 system via Windows Update. It is curious that it now refuses to install on my "new clean & shiny" Win7 Pro-64 system.

I'd forgotton about the  "Turn Windows Features on or off" buttons. I'll play around with that this evening.

Cheers

Firstly, do consider going to Win10. It's more like Win7 than Win8 so will be familiar to you 'straight out of the box'. There's lot's to admire with Win10 as others have stated and it's very configurable too if you're not happy.

Also IE11 will co-exist with Edge if you prefer IE11, not yet used Edge myself as I use Firefox but looking forward to having a play as it's getting a lot of attention for all the right reasons, e.g. HTML support and Cortana integration.

Regarding the IE11 installation issue, try disabling any A/V (turn on Win Firewall first). Ensure that any previously installed IE versions are completely uninstalled.

Check that there is no system restart pending or any windows update in progress. Finally review the IE prerequisites, see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2847882

I've just unchecked IE-11 & it does not apear to have changed anything - Edge apears to work the same  .....   will keep trying  .....   MicroSoft say in their help pages "  .....    there is minimal impact on third-party programs (and other parts of Windows itself) that call upon Internet Explorer application services, because the Internet Explorer files that provide functionality to third parties and other parts of Windows are left intact."   

Be a bit careful with being enthusiastic about Edge. It is very new and feature incomplete. Some sites don't render properly - Flickr for example. Extensions are not available yet. Having said that, I am now using nothing else.

For some reason, I was under the impression that you already installed Windows 10 

Since you are already on Win7 Pro-64, I would recommend that you upgrade to Windows 10 for free, I did and I am not going back to Windows 7.

But having said that, you need to do some backup before the upgrade just in case you do not like Windows 10, or you come across some issues unexpectedly.

No, I reinstalled Win 7 so that I could get the free update via the icon in the task bar. The icon will only run under IE 11.

I hear you about backups , but I'm "safe" in that all documents, photos, music, etc are either on the D:\ and E:\ hard drives (obviously the OS is on C:\)* or the NAS.

*and these are physical drives not partitions.

I'm giving up trying to get IE11 installed (I don't use it anyway) and have downloaded Win10 from the link on this and t'other thread.

So I think we can close this thread.