Microsoft has revealed that, from January 12, 2016, it will drop support – most notably, security updates – for all versions of its long-running web browser Internet Explorer except the latest iteration. Here are some tips for what to do should you still be running one of the old versions.
The remedy to this situation might seem obvious: just update to Internet Explorer 11! Indeed, that’s a perfectly sound option. However, with the option of freely upgrading from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 expiring in July, now could be a great time to instead get Windows 10 and, with it, the new Edge browser, which has been generally better received than IE across the latter’s history.
Alternatively, you could abandon Microsoft’s offerings altogether and opt for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, both of which are free. These two are already among the world’s most popular web browsers, having attracted many people who have previously grown disillusioned with Internet Explorer.
Of course, if you’re not yet ready to make the big leap to Windows 10, you could just update to Internet Explorer 11 now and wait until later before deciding whether Windows 10 is yet for you. You might even already have Internet Explorer 11 installed if you have enabled automatic updates on your Windows computer.
