Beating Windows Update's IE Quicklaunch

Whenever I update my computer, it seems, Windows insists on adding Internet Explorer to the QuickLaunch area. Hmmm, let's see, if I deleted it, I probably don't want it there. So why does MS add it when there's a security update? No idea, except it probably has to do with pushing the use of their browser.

There are a few problems with this. 1) I didn't give it permission to add something to the QuickLaunch area. 2) I have no way of opting out of this. 3) Except, I could skip updates, which would be a bad idea. 4) I can no longer see the icons I have there, because now now all icons can be shown, and the little double arrow is needed to click twice to the icon I want and IE.

I've found the solution, though. It's simple and I'll never have to remove it again. I added a batch file (yes, those still exist) to my startup that removes IE from the QuickLaunch area. It's simple.

1) Go the the start menu and find the "Startup" folder. Right-click on it and select "open" (not "open all users"). This will take you to some place like:
C:\Users\(yourUserName)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup on Vista and something similar on Windows XP.

2) Add a new text file to that folder by right-clicking and selecting "New Text File." Rename the file "RemoveIEQuickLaunch.bat" and say OK to the warning about changing the file extension.

3) Open the file with notepad and insert the following:
del "C:\Users\(yourUserName)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Launch Internet Explorer Browser.lnk"
If MS creates it with a different name, you could be more aggressive with:
del "C:\Users\(yourUserName)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\*Internet Explorer*.lnk"
4) Save the file and close it.

For Windows XP, you'd need to know the path of the QuickLaunch area, which is similar, just right click on the QuickLaunch area (not an icon), select "open folder", and it will open a window to QuickLaunch, which will tell you the path.

Now whenever I log in, the internet explorer icon is removed if it ever got added!