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| Microsoft has started deactivating Explorer |
Microsoft is taking additional steps to turn off the old Internet Explorer (IE) browser in favor of the new Chromium-based Edge browser.
The company has advised users to ditch Internet Explorer for many years, but browsers still make up 5% of the browser market.
Microsoft will soon take more active steps to rid people of IE chains.
The browser will now block access to certain websites and will automatically open the desired website in Edge for the next month.
This mandatory behavior is part of the Internet Explorer unsubscribe plan.
Since Edge 84, Microsoft has gradually rolled out this feature to some Windows users for testing purposes.
The company plans to use version 87 of the Edge browser, slated for release next month, to make this process possible for all IE users.
This behavior was enabled in only 1156 sites, and the heart of this new functionality is the new DLL. Microsoft added it to their Edge install this summer.
The new DLL ie_to_edge_bho.dll is Browser Helper Object (BHO).
If the (BHO) file is stored in the Edge folder, it will download (BHO) via the Internet Explorer registry key every time a user launches the IE browser.
(BHO) The file monitors the website the user wants to visit, regardless of whether browsing is done by clicking on a link or by typing the website address in the address bar.
When this happens, the BHO file will check to see if the user's URL is in the list of websites known to be incompatible with Internet Explorer.
Names in the list include: YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Yahoo, Facebook, and Google, to name a few.
When trying to access an incompatible site, the browser displays the following message: The site does not apply to Internet Explorer and the user needs to transfer IE settings, data and cookies to Edge.
In addition to the redirects, Microsoft plans to disable IE browser support for various services from the software giant.
The company has warned users that, as of November 13, the browser will no longer be able to log into Microsoft accounts.