Eclipse wrote:

With the demise of XP updates from Microsoft, I purchased a Win 7 pro
desktop and plan to use the XP SP3 for non internet uses with robust
anitivirus/antimalware utilities.

My question: since Internet Explorer and Outlook Express will no
longer be used is it be possible to uninstall them? And if there is a
way to uninstall them is there any danger of resultant problems with
the Windows OS?

To add to Bruce's statement, you can uninstall IE versions down to but
not including the base version that comes in Windows. You should really
install the latest IE available for a version of Windows.

One of the reasons you cannot uninstall IE is that it is used by HTA
(HTML Applications). Some applications will use IE's libraries to
render their own window. It won't look like an IE window. It's their
own window but they use the features within IE libs to paint their own
window. If IE were missing then the HTA can't display. As I recall,
the Windows Update site requires you visit using IE and not some 3rd
party web browser. Of course, that requirement (to use IE at the WU
site) is going away. You may have other Microsoft software that needs
the WU site to update those.

Tis simple enough to install a different web browser, make it the
default, and never again use IE yourself. If you are using Outlook
Express then just continue using it. If you don't use it then just
leave alone as you did before. OE hasn't been supported since about
2002 with just one feature change in 2006 (that required registry
editing hence most users never take advantage of end-of-reply signature
positioning and cursor at bottom for bottom posting by default). OE
came bundled with IE and the last version of IE that included OE was
version 6 hence the last version of OE is also version 6. OE has been
dead a lot longer than support for Windows XP.

Upgrade to IE8 and leave IE and OE alone. You may need them later.
What might happen eventually is that sites will refuse to let you
connect to them using the old version of IE. You'll have to eventually
move to using a 3rd party web browser as your default one and leave IE
dormant until you need it (e.g., WU site).