• Internet Explorer and Vista

    Posted on January 19, 2016 at 16:12 CST by • Comment in the Forums

    Just got a good question from reader L:

    Great article you posted on January 12th about the ending of IE 8, 9, and 10.   A local radio station in my area has a program every week on computers,  and the expert on that show implied that Vista users (who can’t upgrade to IE 11) might be able to get by OK as long  as they’re running  paid-for commercial antivirus software AND they only use Firefox or Chrome (due to the fact IE is probably always running in the background).   Do you agree with him?

    Also, it looks like Vista Users won’t be able to get security updates for Google Chrome any more after April of this year (PC World December 2015,  page 18).   How long do you think before Windows 7 users such as myself are going to be in the same boat as Vista users?

    Will appreciate any info you could provide.

    Vista will be in extended support until April 11, 2017, so you have more than a year of security patches coming. That means:

    • You should expect, and receive, patches for IE 9 running on Vista machines. Don’t expect any fancy stuff, but Microsoft is on the hook to support it — and there are plenty of corporate customers who will hold MS’s feet to the fire.
    • You should also expect, and receive, malware updates for Microsoft Security Essentials running on Vista.

    That said, I don’t recommend that *anybody* run Internet Explorer. Microsoft isn’t going to do any more with IE than it absolutely has to do. You should’ve changed to Firefox or Chrome long ago – and use either or both for your daily surfing. Yep, you do need to keep IE updated because it’s still doing work under the covers for Windows.

    Chrome will no longer support Vista after April 2016. You can safely use Chrome until then. Afterwards, switch to Firefox. Note that Mozilla still supports Firefox for XP. They’re in it for the long haul.

    I also *don’t* recommend paying for antivirus. Microsoft Security Essentials is free, and works just as well as the nagging, begging, expensive alternatives.

    Windows 7 is a very different kettle of fish. My guess is that Chrome and Firefox and Microsoft Security Essentials will still be supported on Windows 7 until your current box turns to rust and the little squirrels inside stop turning the hard drives.

    Official end of extended support for Win7 is January 14, 2020. By that time, I expect the PC landscape will be vastly different from what it is today.

    Windows Patches/Security , ,
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