Microsoft has officially killed off Internet Explorer – In The News

Microsoft has finally killed off one of the Internet’s most famous web browsers. Internet Explorer is now officially extinct, with no home user versions officially supported by Microsoft anymore.

That means anyone still using Internet Explorer is strongly recommended to upgrade to a different Internet browser.

It’s been just over a year since Microsoft announced that the final version of Internet Explorer – 11 – would no longer be supported from June 2022. And now that date has finally passed and one of the Internet’s most famous browsers has finally been put to bed for good.

Microsoft’s successor to Explorer is Microsoft Edge which was released around the same time as Windows 10. But of course there are a plethora of other great browsers should you want to venture away from Microsoft. These include Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari.

Internet Explorer is undoubtedly one of the Internet’s most well-known browsers. Released with Windows 95, it’s blue ‘e’ icon was – for large parts of the 90s and early 00′ – practically synonymous with the Internet.

Sponsored Content. Continued below...

But soon its market share plummeted as many turned to its competitors, such as Firefox. When Google announced their own browser – Chrome – this only escalated Internet Explorer’s downfall. Also the rise of smartphones played a big part as well, shifting market share away from traditional desktop browsers like Explorer and towards mobile browsers such as Android’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari browsers.

And the final nail in the coffin came when Microsoft themselves announced a successor with Edge highlighting that Explorer’s days were limited.

And despite Explorer’s reputation taking a big hit towards its latter years, it has secured a staple and well-deserved spot in the timeline of the World Wide Web.

Sponsored Content. Continued below...

So should I stop using Internet Explorer?

That’s a yes.

Unsupported software doesn’t get security updates. That’s a massive problem especially when you’re dealing with software that’s designed to work on the Internet.

Any security vulnerabilities will no longer be fixed. That means cyber criminals will be actively exploiting vulnerabilities which will make it much easier to compromise computers running Internet Explorer. This can include “drive-by attacks” which is where merely visiting a malicious website could potentially be enough to infect a device with malware.

There are plenty of great alternates to Internet Explorer, so now is the time to make that transition if you haven’t already.