If you currently use an old version of Internet Explorer, it’s probably time to upgrade: Microsoft has affirmed that it will stop supporting IE 8, 9 and 10 on Tuesday January 12, 2016, marking an end to security updates and technical support for clients of older versions of the web browser.
Company instructs users of Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 to upgrade before 12 January, when it quits issuing security updates for those operating frameworks.
On its page regarding the end of support date, Microsoft says: “Security updates patch vulnerabilities that may be exploited by malware, helping to keep users and their data safer. Regular security updates help protect computers from malicious attacks, so upgrading and staying current is important.”
Accordingly, it says, “Microsoft encourages customers to upgrade and stay up-to-date on the latest browser for a faster, more secure browsing experience”.
For clients of newer operating systems, that’s simple enough. However Internet Explorer 11 is only available for Windows 7 to 10, implying that users of earlier versions of Windows have no choice but to carry on using the older versions.
That means that Microsoft has softly also committed to keep supporting Internet Explorer 9 for users on Windows Vista, since it is the most recent version available for that operating system. Users of Windows XP, yet, are out of luck – a truth that should come as no surprise, since the operating system was also declared dead by the organization itself in April 2014.
For users of the more up to date operating systems, there will be one last software update for IE 8, 9 and 10, on 12 January, which will settle the final security flaws found in the browsers, and introduce immediate to upgrade. After that, it’s a smart idea to do so. Unavoidably, an unpatched vulnerability will be found in one of the browsers soon after, and it will make its way into malware as is normally done.
On the off chance that clients have been paying attention they shouldn’t be caught unawares by the declaration, the end of life date was tentatively set back in August 2015.
