14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft pulled the plug on some old Internet Explorer versions earlier this week, so unless you are currently on IE11, your computer might be vulnerable to attacks and exploits. Even if you use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, that is.
In a post on MSDN, Microsoft's Pat Altimore warns that even if you don't use Internet Explorer, the browser still needs to be updated because together with the browser, some other Windows components are also getting patched too. So if you don't keep the browser up-to-date, parts of the operating system would remain vulnerable to attacks.
“On January 12, 2016, only the most current version of Internet Explorer available for Windows will be supported. For older OS such as Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, you will need to upgrade to IE11. Even if you don’t use IE on a PC such as a server, you should upgrade to the latest version of the IE browser,” he writes.
“If you aren’t upgraded to the current version of IE, you won’t be able to apply the current security updates. This could result in some Windows components not being serviced. To ensure applications using components (e.g. Web Browser control) are fully patched, update to the latest version of IE and apply future cumulative IE updates.”
Removing Internet Explorer doesn't help
If you're one of those users who think that removing Internet Explorer should do the job, it turns out this isn't entirely true.
Because even if you do remove the browser, some of its processes and components continue to be there running in the background, Altimore explains. The IExplore.exe process, for instance, will no longer be visible, but it'll still be there on your computer, making it vulnerable to possible exploits targeting unpatched flaws.
Certainly, patching Internet Explorer is not such a terrible job, even if you don't use it, but you can always create a backup, just in case you are afraid that something could go wrong. Keeping a computer up-to-date should be a priority for all apps on your PC, no matter if you use them or not.