Microsoft terminates Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10

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Written by: Action Digital

Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 are officially dead, with Microsoft publically pulling the plug on the three older versions of the browser on January 12, 2016. Following an announcement from the multinational technology company confirming their plans to stop supporting all versions of Internet Explorer apart from the latest Internet Explorer 11 or IE 11, Microsoft released a final patch last week reminding and encouraging Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 users to upgrade to a more recent browser. What does this termination of support mean to users? Well, users running an older version of Windows will no longer receive the security updates and technical support they used to, which will significantly increase the risk of being targeted and attacked by hackers. The browsers will continue to function as normal but without the previous security offered by Microsoft’s support. Although Internet Explorer 11 will continue to benefit from the support of Microsoft, the company has demoted the IE browser to legacy status in a bid to further push users towards Windows 10 and the new Microsoft Edge browser built specifically for the new operating system as a successor to IE. Microsoft has cited improved security and backwards compatibility among the reasons for the move, as well as an overall better user experience for those who adopt the new Edge browser. Released in 2009, 2011 and 2012 respectively, Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 together make up almost 20 per cent of the entire market and it has been estimated that several hundred million users are still utilising the older versions of the browser. Perhaps now is the time for an update!

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