Microsoft warns millions to upgrade their web browser now or face huge problems next month

In June one iconic Microsoft product will be shutting down for good. On June 15 Internet Explorer 11 – the most recent and final version of Microsoft’s iconic web browser – will be retired with the software disabled after this date. Microsoft has been warning about this major change for a year now, with the Redmond-based tech giant first announcing the retirement date for Internet Explorer last May.

The majority of users that were still hanging on to the iconic web browser have now moved onto Microsoft’s latest flagship web surfer – the Chromium-based Edge.

But there are still some organisations out there that rely on Internet Explorer to access certain sites.

And for those business, or for others that have just been slow to upgrade their PCs from IE to Edge, their IT departments have just weeks to prepare for the big switch.

In a recent blog post Microsoft reminded Internet Explorer users about the upcoming cut-off date as well as ways to prepare for it.

Microsoft’s Eric Van Aelstyn explained: “With roughly six weeks left until the Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) desktop application retires on June 15, 2022, you and your organisation may have entered your final stages of preparation. You’ve identified any IE-dependent sites used by your organization; you’ve compiled those sites into an enterprise mode site list for IE mode; you’ve designated any needed neutral sites and tested those sites to ensure IE mode works as expected.

“Now you just have to wait until IE is disabled after June 15…. Right?

“That is one approach, but we know that waiting for something to happen can be stressful, especially with complex IT environments. So instead of waiting, we recommend that you schedule your own internal retirement date—the best way to prepare for IE disablement after June 15, is to proactively retire IE in your organisations before June 15.

“Your date, your way.”

Among the measures Microsoft recommends to help organisations prepare for the IE cut-off was making sure a business’s employees were reminded of the retirement date so they can import any data they need from IE to Edge, as well as testing IE-dependant websites in the IE mode of Edge.

As the Internet Explorer retirement date fast approaches it looks like there’s still millions of people using the ageing browser.

According to NetMarketShare stats, for April 2022 Internet Explorer still accounted for 1.65 percent of the global browser market.

That still makes IE the world’s fifth most popular browser for desktops ahead of Yandex and Opera, as well as being less than one percent behind Safari on 2.50 percent.

The world’s most popular browser, according to NetMarketShare, is Chrome on a staggering 73.24 percent with Edge in second on 12.93 percent.

Internet Explorer is one of Microsoft’s most iconic and beloved pieces of software, and for a long stint of time was the world’s most popular web surfer before Chrome came along and dominated the marketplace.

Internet Explorer 11 was the final IE browser released before Microsoft moved onto Edge. IE11 was first released back in October 2013 making the software almost 10 years old.