January 12, 2016 was a bad day for the approximately 340 million people still using Internet Explorer (IE) versions 8, 9 and 10. That was the official "end of life" date for those browsers, and it was the last time they were updated by Microsoft. Going forward, the company will no longer provide updates or security fixes.

The effect is to leave those browsers vulnerable to any existing but as yet undiscovered security flaws that malware developers may uncover and exploit. Given the number of computers still using these now obsolete products, hackers may consider them attractive targets.

Microsoft''s ideal solution is that users upgrade to the new Edge browser that was released with Windows 10. A major problem, however, is that a significant portion of those still employing down level browsers do so on hardware too ancient or underpowered to run Windows 10. For example, many of the millions who continue using Windows XP almost two years after its own end of life date, fit into that category. Large numbers of those users may well just take their chances with their now unsupported browsers to avoid having to purchase the new hardware that would be required to upgrade to Windows 10 and Edge.

Microsoft is making one concession to those who are not yet ready to abandon the IE browser family. The company will continue to support Internet Explorer 11 on the Windows 7, 8.x, and 10 operating systems. Support for IE 9 will also be maintained for users of Windows Vista. Users of Windows XP, however, are out of luck, since IE 8 was the last version of the browser supported on that OS.

The security vulnerabilities associated with continued use of these unsupported products make upgrading to a modern browser a matter of urgency for every user. Microsoft is providing upgrade assistance to large companies, but smaller organizations are on their own.

If you would like to discuss how to make the upgrade process as painless as possible, please contact us.