There is a way to uninstall it from the Control Panel (it will remove the shortcuts etc) but it won't completely remove it from your computer.. just don't use it
Yeah but it's so built into the system that without it some things just can't work. Like displaying html messages in Outlook [Express] or using WindowsUpdate. Other software also embeds the browser sometimes, that wouldn't work either without IE. I hear rumours that there is a way to really get rid of it (and not just make it less visible with "uninstall") but I've never seen the procedure myself.