Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 to reach 'end of life' next Tuesday

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Following final update KB3123303, users will be nagged to upgrade to Internet Explorer 11.

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Read more.

My IT training person keeps proudly announcing that we're moving to "Windows 11". If she doesn't figure it out soon I'm going to pop a blood vessel halfway through a 'training' session.

If Microsoft didn't have plans, or didn't want to support older version of IE they should never have integrated them so tightly with the OS.

I imagine the British government will refuse to upgrade, based on their previous response to a petition in 2010 to stop using Internet Explorer 6. (They basically dug in their heels and refused to upgrade or acknowledge the security concerns.)

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Originally Posted by anselhelm

I imagine the British government will refuse to upgrade, based on their previous response to a petition in 2010 to stop using Internet Explorer 6. (They basically dug in their heels and refused to upgrade or acknowledge the security concerns.)

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Actually in my department thay have added Chrome as an alternative browser. Can't say I'm 100% happy but at least when it comes to development I know the majority of functionality will work which is a good thing.

internet explo-EDGE is updated through windows update...worst idea ever. Be like mozzila/chrome/opera......'opera is installing updates' (on its own)

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Originally Posted by Corky34

If Microsoft didn't have plans, or didn't want to support older version of IE they should never have integrated them so tightly with the OS.

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Yeah, i think so too.

wish i could but nothing over 9 will install ..
so guess i'll be going to firefox ..

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Originally Posted by flearider

wish i could but nothing over 9 will install ..
so guess i'll be going to firefox ..

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That may not mitigate any security issues, the Trident engine is used in so many applications that it's almost impossible to avoid using it

Currently use Windows 7 and IE 9 at work. Sadly, some of our systems don't work in IE 10 or 11, and because it's a public sector organisation, there isn't money available to continually keep our systems up-to-date as technology changes. The same systems work on Firefox and Chrome, but we can't assume our systems users will have Firefox or Chrome, so we have to support IE first and foremost.

Come week beginning 18 Jan, I'm the poor sap on the team who gets to start testing IE 11 to see what gets broken when upgraded. I guess this is precisely why I'm testing this now.

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Originally Posted by miniyazz

My IT training person keeps proudly announcing that we're moving to "Windows 11". If she doesn't figure it out soon I'm going to pop a blood vessel halfway through a 'training' session.

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Haha, I laughed so hard.. coz i know the feeling ;)

A reader got in touch to comment that "As Windows Vista has extended support till 04.11.2017 and IE9 is the latest version available for Vista this will continue to receive support from MS." This is implied by Microsoft's statement: "Beginning January 12, 2016, only the most current version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system".
The story still holds true for Windows 7, Windows 8.x, and Windows 10 users.

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Originally Posted by Corky34

That may not mitigate any security issues, the Trident engine is used in so many applications that it's almost impossible to avoid using it

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Someone ought to tell Jeremy Corbyn. If he gets into power, he'd ban it. Or have a breakdown trying to. ;)

But this, and a raft of other issues (like Win10 forced updates, Firefox's love of self-updating unless you turn it off, etc) does highlight a serious modern issue with "personal" computing, that being just how personal it is?

The base point is that ANY computer (or computer-based device, like phones, tablets, etc) present a level of security risk, and threat to personal privacy and/or the utility/veracity of both personal and business data. The resonsibilty is firmly on all of us, every single one of us, to decide exactly what is at risk, and how much we care about it.

As is no secret to regulars, I'm not a fan of Windows 10. Or to be more precise, not a fan (to say the very least, in the sense that somrone with a fatal nut allergy isn't a fan of peanut butter) I'm not a fan of what I've described as the "direction of travel" of MS as a corporate entity. Win10 is more of a symptom than a cause, and the strategic decisions it reflects are the disease. Hence, my decision to migrate much of my personal computing to Linux, and that part of my computjng that (for now) remains on Windows remains on Win7, or in a couple of cases, where older applications or hardware is involved, WinXP. And in conjunction with that, removal of much of that infrastructure behind an airgap to a network of machines that do not have any internet connectivity at all.

I've also come across a small but growing number of small businesses taking a very hard look at exactly which members of staff have duties that involve needing internet connectivity. The result in some cases, like mine, has been two (or more) non-connected networks, one or more of which does not physically have connectivity to the outside world, or not necessarily even to other departments internally.

One way to mitigate security threats, be it from viruses, malware (including encrypting ransomware) AND from holes discovered in outdated browsers or browser engines, is to take a far more granular approach to exactly what a given machine does, and needs to do, and what type of communication capabilities, and links, that machine needs. In my case, my airgapped machines do need to be linked to each other, but not to the outside world.

And before anyone says it, moving to Linux certainly removes much of the threat from many MS-based issues, be it IE updates or Win10 auto-upgrading but yes, it opens up another (smaller, in my opnion) different set of threats.

In any event, the threat surface is getting ever larger, ever more complex and nuanced, and each of us needs to consider my initual question .... what threats do I face (it depends what you do on computers, and ranges from irritating invasion of privacy, to full-blown ID theft of business-wrecking data losses), and to what extent you care (which will depend on the level of threat.

No net-connected computer is or ever will be free of net-based threats. The nature and source of the threats vary, as do the steps necessary to protect against them, or mitigate damage, but the threat is a reality of net-connected computing devices. Sadly.

Anyone have a script to scan for ie versions across a network?