Some websites will redirect from Internet Explorer to Edge as Microsoft continues to kill...

[midian182]

In a nutshell: Internet Explorer has been around since 1995, but despite the aging software's problems, it still boasts of almost 5 percent share of the browser market. Even Microsoft has been advising customers to switch to Edge, and the next few months will see the company introduce new changes to IE as it continues to depreciate the iconic browser.

Since the release of Edge 84 a few months ago, Microsoft has been rolling out a new feature for some users that will switch browsers from Internet Explorer to Edge automatically when visiting an incompatible website.

First reported by BleepingComputer, the feature works through an Internet Explorer Browser Helper Object (BHO) named "IEtoEdge BHO," which checks websites users are trying to visit—either through links or the address bar—against a list of sites incompatible with Internet Explorer.

When someone tries to visit one of these sites while using IE, the BHO will open Edge automatically, along with a dialog box explaining why they're being redirected. It also requests consent to transfer browsing data and passwords from the old browser.

"The following browsing data will be imported: Favorites, Passwords, Search engines, open tabs, History, settings, cookies, and the Home Page," reads the message.

Transferring data is optional; even if you say no, clicking the "Continue Browsing" button will still show the website in Edge.

There are 1,156 sites on the incompatible list, including some of the web's biggest: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, ESPN, and Yahoo Mail.

Not everyone is going to appreciate this feature, especially those businesses that still use Internet Explorer. As such, Microsoft has today introduced group policies that allow enterprise customers to disable and control the redirection behavior.

The feature will arrive in full with the launch of Edge 87 on November 17.

As it continues to kill off Internet Explorer, Microsoft says it plans to drop Office 365 support for the browser on August 17, 2021.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87281-websites-redirect-internet-explorer-edge-microsoft-continues-kill.html

 

[Puiu]

I support this. Having to explain to every single customer why IE11 doesn't load correctly their brand new modern website is a pain in the ars.

 

[aMerkuri]

I wish I could configure my site open in edge instead of ie.

 

[Hexic]

Some of our corporate intranet sites (training, etc.) now, after the last large update or two, decide to open the preliminary link in Edge, pause, and then Edge opens an IE browser window that breaks 15% of the time.

It’s been great. IE’s total destruction can’t come soon enough.

 

[Gastec]

I support this. Having to explain to every single customer why IE11 doesn't load correctly their brand new modern website is a pain in the ars.

I get you Puiule! The world is full of noobs who feel absolutely no pain in their arses but think themselves advanced users just because they can take pretty pictures with their smartphones and post them on Facebook and Instagram.

 

[Puiu]

IE needs to be removed completely from the OS and just use a compatibility option in Edge or offer it as a download for those that absolutely need it.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

This is going to backfire. Why does MS not realize that just because you try to force users to stop using IE doesnt magically make replacements for very expensive hardware/software available for free?

Some of us have special situations that require IE, and if MS is going to start doing this we will likely have to go back to windows 7 to maintain IE, along with the security nightmare, as opposed to using an up to date windows 10 installation.

 

[Puiu]

This is going to backfire. Why does MS not realize that just because you try to force users to stop using IE doesnt magically make replacements for very expensive hardware/software available for free?

Some of us have special situations that require IE, and if MS is going to start doing this we will likely have to go back to windows 7 to maintain IE, along with the security nightmare, as opposed to using an up to date windows 10 installation.

If you have special situations then you still have the option to use it.

This is a good move towards removing that crap off everybody's PCs and forcefully removing it is the way to go in this situation. It's a major security hole and has bugs that can affect not just webpages, but also the OS.

 

[Teko03]

This is going to backfire. Why does MS not realize that just because you try to force users to stop using IE doesnt magically make replacements for very expensive hardware/software available for free?

Some of us have special situations that require IE, and if MS is going to start doing this we will likely have to go back to windows 7 to maintain IE, along with the security nightmare, as opposed to using an up to date windows 10 installation.

Backfire how? This is only applicable to modern websites that are know to not work with Internet Explorer. And if you do for whatever reason set the new Edge to your default, it has an IE-Mode.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Good riddance!

 

[MaestroIT]

I still use IE for few internal sites that depend on java applet or special ActiveX plugins, which are those management interfaces for the cctv system and home surveillance camera. I am willing to migrate but I can't ?

 

[DDG4005]

It's long overdue and this coming from someone who's used Internet Explorer since version 2.01. The browser has been dead for a long time now; this is merely its funeral.

 

[Nobina]

I was pretty surprised to find out Internet Explorer comes preinstalled on Windows 10. It's still there in C:/Program Files. I don't know why anyone would want to still use it.

 

[OortCloud]

In even better news - the new Chromium version of Edge basically means it renders identically to Chrome now. and.... 'Legacy Edge' as they are now calling Edge v1 will no longer be supported come next March.
So if you don't want to install Chrome you probably wont need to soon once they sort out bookmarks etc and all the fluff around the outside of the actual page rendering engine.

 

[Shadowboxer]

I’d love to see IE consigned to the history books but the reality is that it’s no where near ready to be replaced. Too much relies on IE being the defacto browser all users will have. Currently without it I can’t do my job and whilst I’d love to see that reliance gone, if they removed it from my machine I’d be without an income!

 

[Shadowboxer]

I was pretty surprised to find out Internet Explorer comes preinstalled on Windows 10. It's still there in C:/Program Files. I don't know why anyone would want to still use it.

Home users shouldn’t use it. But if you’re a worker on say a company domain and you want to connect to a locally hosted http client, say a portal or even just basic tools designed by systems engineers for company users to do some kind of bespoke report or search etc then you’ll need it. If they remove IE on machines in the large FTSE100 companies we provide services for it would cause operations to cease for them at the cost of millions per day.

 

[Nobina]

Home users shouldn’t use it. But if you’re a worker on say a company domain and you want to connect to a locally hosted http client, say a portal or even just basic tools designed by systems engineers for company users to do some kind of bespoke report or search etc then you’ll need it. If they remove IE on machines in the large FTSE100 companies we provide services for it would cause operations to cease for them at the cost of millions per day.

I heard about it but I don't know the details about those work enviroments that require IE. It really sucks that some things are so tied to IE that Microsoft has to keep it alive.

 

[Danny101]

Except for the employer, I don't see IE. Why are corporations still using it? Upgrade already!