Microsoft has announced that a control panel in its next-generation computer operating system will let users shut off Internet Explorer 8 and other built-in programs. The news comes less than two months after the European Commission sent Microsoft a Statement of Objections accusing the US software giant of unfairly tying Internet Explorer (IE) to Windows.(DDP/AFP/File/Nigel Treblin)AFP – Microsoft has announced that a control panel in its next-generation computer operating system will let users shut off Internet Explorer 8 and other built-in programs.