14 DAY TRIAL // Even though it might be shocking news for tech-savvy users, plenty of Windows consumers out there are still running Internet Explorer 6 on their computer, and what’s even worse, they’re using it to browse the web every single day.
Internet Explorer 6 was launched together with Windows XP, so support for both of them ended earlier this year, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone is ready to abandon them.
Instead, their usage remains high, despite all Microsoft’s efforts to move users to newer versions, not only in the case of Windows XP, but also Internet Explorer.
Now, the IE6 Countdown Page points to statistics for the month of June 2014, that reveal that at that time, Internet Explorer 6 had a market share of 3.8 percent, with China remaining the leading country in this chart with 2.68 percent.
The same page also provides access to “Escape from Windows XP,” a game that calls for users to “destroy IE6 on Windows XP and finish off the OS with a bang.”
Of course, this is nothing to be proud of for China, but the country is also leading in terms of Windows XP usage, with more than half of the local desktop PCs being powered by this old OS version.
While IE6 is no longer supported, Microsoft has recently announced that old Internet Explorer will also be discontinued in January 2016, so consumers need to update to the latest version available on their operating systems, namely IE9 on Vista SP2, IE11 on Windows 7 and 8.1, and IE10 on Windows 8.
“Microsoft recommends enabling automatic updates to ensure an up-to-date computing experience—including the latest version of Internet Explorer—and most consumers use automatic updates today. Commercial customers are encouraged to test and accept updates quickly, especially security updates. Regular updates provide significant benefits, such as decreased security risk and increased reliability, and Windows Update can automatically install updates for Internet Explorer and Windows,” Microsoft said in the official announcement.
“For customers not yet running the latest browser available for your operating system, we encourage you to upgrade and stay up-to-date for a faster, more secure browsing experience. After January 12, 2016, only the most recent version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system will receive technical support and security updates.”
Word is that the company is preparing another IE version that could be introduced together with Windows 9 in April 2015, with Microsoft already announcing big changes for its new browser.
At this point, there are no rumored features for Internet Explorer 12, but Microsoft promised to make the browser faster and more secure for all users.