URGENT: MS ends support for IE 8, 9 and 10

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Tim Green
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URGENT: MS ends support for IE 8, 9 and 10

Unread post by Tim Green »

Microsoft has now officially ended support for Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10. This means that although these browsers will continue to work, they will no longer get security updates. Since IE is always based on earlier versions, any security vulnerabilities found and fixed in IE 11 and later will almost certainly also exist in the earlier versions. They will then be known by hackers, and as time goes on, the older versions of the browsers will become more and more vulnerable.

In the age of ransomware that encrypts all your data until you pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to get it back, this is a real and serious danger. You need to stop using older versions of Internet Explorer now, today. See this article by Ed Bott for some background. This is not just to make life easier for us web designers -- although it admittedly does -- it is something you genuinely need to do for your own and your company's security.

Solutions for apps that only work on old IE versions

What applies for old versions of IE also applies for Windows XP (and earlier). It is no longer supported and using it connected to the Internet is now simply dangerous. Just don't do it, unless you have paid (a lot of) money to Microsoft for continuing security updates. All valid versions of Windows (Windows 7 and later) are now capable of upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer.

OK, but what if you depend on web apps that only run on earlier versions of IE? Microsoft has thought of that and you can now do that too in IE 11. There is a new feature called "Enterprise Mode" that effectively turns IE 11 into version 8, 9 or 10 as required. There are also a number of other things you can do in IE 11 to manage compatibility problems. See this excellent post from Mary Jo Foley for an introduction to what is possible and links to detailed background information and instructions.

Don't wait. Get rid of your old IE today. 8)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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