Active Scripting (formerly known as ActiveX Scripting ) is the technology used in Windows to implement component-based scripting support. It is based on OLE Automation (part of COM ) and allows installation of additional scripting engines in the form of COM modules.
66-524: The Active Scripting technologies were first released in 1996, with the release of the Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 (August 1996) and Internet Information Services 3.0 products (December 1996). Usual applications of Active Scripting include Active Server Pages (ASP) server scripts , Internet Explorer , and Windows Script Host (WSH) scripts automating routine tasks, including use for login scripts, Registry manipulation, and
132-581: A componentized architecture built on the Component Object Model (COM) technology. It consists of several major components, each of which is contained in a separate dynamic-link library (DLL) and exposes a set of COM programming interfaces hosted by the Internet Explorer main executable, iexplore.exe : Internet Explorer does not include any native scripting functionality. Rather, MSHTML.dll exposes an API that permits
198-459: A " quirks mode " in which it deliberately mimics nonstandard behaviors of old versions of MSIE for HTML and CSS rendering on screen (Internet Explorer always uses standards mode for printing). It also provides its own dialect of ECMAScript called JScript . Internet Explorer was criticized by Tim Berners-Lee for its limited support for SVG, which is promoted by W3C . Internet Explorer has introduced an array of proprietary extensions to many of
264-494: A Download Manager and a Cookie Manager. The download manager was introduced in version 3.01; version 3.0 would open the download progress bar in the main browser window, forcing the user to either cancel the download and restart it in a new window, or wait for the transfer to complete. MacUser's review noted "While Netscape Navigator 3.0 is more feature-laden and consequently bigger and slower than previous incarnations, Microsoft Internet Explorer has been refined and optimised into
330-513: A Web browser that has almost as many features, but is both smaller and faster than its rival." IE3 launched with a variety of integrated apps. The following is a list of those apps and a brief description for each. Later versions of Internet Explorer 3 included the following: IE3 also included Microsoft Java Virtual Machine , which continued to be included until IE5.5 . Because of a legal battle between Sun Microsystems (the developer of Java), Microsoft stopped offering it in 2001, although it
396-485: A broad range of web pages and provide certain features within the operating system, including Microsoft Update . During the height of the browser wars , Internet Explorer superseded Netscape only when it caught up technologically to support the progressive features of the time. Internet Explorer, using the MSHTML (Trident) browser engine : Internet Explorer uses DOCTYPE sniffing to choose between standards mode and
462-427: A crushing blow to Netscape". The user interface notably changes, with much larger buttons, with more intricate icons, and with a light gray design behind it. Unlike later IE versions, users who upgraded to IE3 could still use the last IE by converting the previous version to a separate directory. It could import favorites into IE3 from IE1 or 2. The competition between Netscape and Microsoft heated up, with some saying
528-519: A dispute which "arose between Microsoft and Bristol concerning each other's performance of the 1996 IE Agreement" and likely because of contract negotiations with Bristol to access Windows source code after September 1997 failing, Microsoft reversed course and decided to directly port the Windows version in-house using the MainWin XDE (eXtended Development Environment) application from Mainsoft ,
594-474: A feature of Microsoft Edge , enabling Edge to display web pages using Internet Explorer 11's Trident layout engine and other components. Through IE Mode, the underlying technology of Internet Explorer 11 partially exists on versions of Windows that do not support IE11 as a proper application, including newer versions of Windows 10 , as well as Windows 11 , Windows Server Insider Build 22463 and Windows Server Insider Build 25110. The Internet Explorer project
660-498: A lawsuit and a US$ 8 million settlement on January 22, 1997. Microsoft was sued by SyNet Inc. in 1996, for trademark infringement , claiming it owned the rights to the name "Internet Explorer". It ended with Microsoft paying $ 5 million to settle the lawsuit. Internet Explorer 2 is the second major version of Internet Explorer, released on November 28, 1995, for Windows 95 and Windows NT , and on April 23, 1996, for Apple Macintosh and Windows 3.1 . Internet Explorer 3
726-448: A potential security and privacy risk. In IE7 and later, when the cache is cleared, the cache files are more reliably removed, and the index.dat file is overwritten with null bytes. Caching has been improved in IE9. Internet Explorer is fully configurable using Group Policy . Administrators of Windows Server domains (for domain-joined computers) or the local computer can apply and enforce
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#1732780953612792-675: A programmer to develop a scripting environment to be plugged-in and to access the DOM tree. Internet Explorer 8 includes the bindings for the Active Scripting engine, which is a part of Microsoft Windows and allows any language implemented as an Active Scripting module to be used for client-side scripting. By default, only the JScript and VBScript modules are provided; third party implementations like ScreamingMonkey (for ECMAScript 4 support) can also be used. Microsoft also makes available
858-694: A syntax different from W3C CSS3 candidate recommendation, support for a variety of image effects and page transitions, which are not found in W3C CSS, support for obfuscated script code, in particular JScript.Encode , as well as support for embedding EOT fonts in web pages . Support for favicons was first added in Internet Explorer 5. Internet Explorer supports favicons in PNG , static GIF and native Windows icon formats. In Windows Vista and later, Internet Explorer can display native Windows icons that have embedded PNG files. Internet Explorer makes use of
924-444: A variety of settings on computers that affect the user interface (such as disabling menu items and individual configuration options), as well as underlying security features such as downloading of files, zone configuration, per-site settings, ActiveX control behavior and others. Policy settings can be configured for each user and for each machine. Internet Explorer also supports Integrated Windows Authentication . Internet Explorer uses
990-713: Is a code signing technology. Internet Explorer 3 for Macintosh was released on January 8, 1997 for PPC, and added support for the SSL and NTLM security protocols and the PICS and RSACi rating systems that can be used to control access to websites based on content ratings. On November 5, 1996 Microsoft announced the release of a beta version for Mac of Internet Explorer version 3.0. This release added support for HTML version 3.2, CSS, Java applets and ActiveX controls. Keith Mitchell of Macworld noted in November 1996, when discussing
1056-432: Is an addition to Windows that is similar to the functionality of Unix shell scripts, as well as an incremental improvement upon batch files (command.com), Windows NT style shell scripts (cmd.exe) and, by way of VBScript , the replacement for QBasic , which was last available on the supplementary disc for Windows 95. The majority of the languages used for Active Scripting mentioned below are glue languages , with Perl being
1122-485: Is no longer supported, and is not available for download from Microsoft. Internet Explorer 3.0 was released free of charge on the August 13, 1996. Microsoft thus made no direct revenues on IE and was liable to pay Spyglass only the minimum quarterly fee. In 1997, Spyglass threatened Microsoft with a contractual audit, in response to which Microsoft settled for $ 8 million U.S. Version 3 included Internet Mail and News 1.0 and
1188-672: Is the default web browser for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 . It became available for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 in February 2013. Internet Explorer 11 is featured in Windows 8.1 , Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows RT 8.1 , which was released on October 17, 2013. It includes an incomplete mechanism for syncing tabs. It is a major update to its developer tools , enhanced scaling for high DPI screens, HTML5 prerender and prefetch, hardware-accelerated JPEG decoding, closed captioning , HTML5 full screen, and
1254-413: Is the first Internet Explorer to support WebGL and Google's protocol SPDY (starting at v3). This version of IE has features dedicated to Windows 8.1, including cryptography (WebCrypto), adaptive bitrate streaming ( Media Source Extensions ) and Encrypted Media Extensions . Internet Explorer 11 was made available for Windows 7 users to download on November 7, 2013, with Automatic Updates in
1320-510: Is the third major version of Internet Explorer, released on August 13, 1996, for Microsoft Windows and on January 8, 1997, for Apple Mac OS. Internet Explorer 4 is the fourth major version of Internet Explorer, released in September 1997 for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Solaris , and HP-UX . It was the first version of Internet Explorer to use the Trident web engine. Internet Explorer 5 is
1386-539: Is the third version of the Internet Explorer graphical web browser which was announced in March 1996, and was released on August 13, 1996 by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and on January 8, 1997 for Apple Mac OS (see IE for Mac ). It began serious competition against Netscape Navigator in the first Browser war . It was Microsoft's first browser release with a major internal development component. It
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#17327809536121452-517: The Internet Archive removed Internet Explorer from its list of supported browsers, due to the browser's dated nature. Since November 30, 2020, the web version of Microsoft Teams can no longer be accessed using Internet Explorer 11, followed by the remaining Microsoft 365 applications since August 17, 2021. WordPress also dropped support for the browser in July 2021. Microsoft disabled
1518-574: The Microsoft Silverlight runtime that allows CLI languages , including DLR -based dynamic languages like IronPython and IronRuby , to be used for client-side scripting. Internet Explorer 8 introduced some major architectural changes, called loosely coupled IE (LCIE). LCIE separates the main window process (frame process) from the processes hosting the different web applications in different tabs (tab processes). A frame process can create multiple tab processes, each of which can be of
1584-694: The Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) system for content metadata . This version was the first version of Internet Explorer to use the blue 'e' logo, which later became a symbol of the browser. Version 3 came bundled with Internet Mail and News , NetMeeting , and an early version of the Windows Address Book . There were 16-bit and 32-bit versions depending on the OS. This is the first version of Internet Explorer developed without Spyglass source code , but still used Spyglass technology, so
1650-491: The Temporary Internet Files folder to allow quicker access (or offline access) to previously visited pages. The content is indexed in a database file, known as Index.dat . Multiple Index.dat files exist which index different content—visited content, web feeds , visited URLs , cookies, etc. Prior to IE7, clearing the cache used to clear the index but the files themselves were not reliably removed, posing
1716-632: The source code of Spyglass Mosaic , used without royalty in early versions) and security and privacy vulnerabilities , and the United States and the European Union have determined that the integration of Internet Explorer with Windows has been to the detriment of fair browser competition. Internet Explorer 7 was supported on Windows Embedded Compact 2013 until October 10, 2023. The core of Internet Explorer 11 will continue being shipped and supported until at least 2029 as IE Mode ,
1782-520: The "Internet Explorer mode" feature, which enables support for legacy internet applications. This is possible through use of the Trident MSHTML engine, the rendering code of Internet Explorer. Microsoft has committed to supporting Internet Explorer mode at least through 2029, with a one-year notice before it is discontinued. With the release of Microsoft Edge, the development of new features for Internet Explorer ceased. Internet Explorer 11
1848-414: The .NET Framework had a scripting technology of its own and a separate scripting IDE called Visual Studio for Applications (VSA), and the interfaces to the technology were also available via Active Scripting, allowing even .NET-unaware applications to be scripted using .NET languages. VSA was also meant to replace Visual Basic for Applications. However, that entire technology was deprecated in version 2.0 of
1914-565: The .NET Framework, leaving no clear upgrade path for applications desiring Active Scripting support (although "scripts" can be created in C# , VBScript, Visual Basic .NET , and other .NET languages, which can be compiled and executed at run-time via libraries installed as part of the standard .NET runtime). In 2006, Microsoft introduced Windows PowerShell , which can expose applications via PowerShell cmdlets or PowerShell providers. Internet Explorer 3 Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 ( IE3 )
1980-625: The GUI are the main means of implementation of installed Active Script languages. Clicking on an icon or running from the command line, a script, the Run dialogue, etc. will by default run a plain text file containing the code. A Windows Script File (.wsf) is an XML file that can contain more than one script in more than one language in addition to other elements, and are executed by the Windows Script Host. Some software such as SecureCRT use
2046-500: The IE mac version, "With the near-simultaneous release of Netscape Navigator 3.0 (415/528-2555, http://www.netscape.com) and Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 (206/882-8080, http://www.microsoft.com), both companies are tripping over each other to entice Web users to their products." A problem with an operating system extension used in the Mac OS called CFM68K Runtime Enabler, led to a delay in
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2112-852: The Internet community "became polarized on the issue of which web browser had the most features." Other new features included ActiveMovie multimedia API, HTML Layout Control, Quick Links toolbar, VRML. Microsoft announced on July 29, 1996 that it would develop a native version of IE for "Solaris and other popular variants of UNIX" to be available "by the end of 1996" which would have "equivalent functionality as that provided in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0", thus "delivering on its commitment to provide full-featured Web browser support on all major operating system platforms" as well as "supporting and promoting open standards, including HTML , ActiveX and Java ". In March, 1997 following
2178-540: The Spyglass licensing information remained in the program's documentation. In 1996 Microsoft said of its new browser "Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 adds many new features which are great for HTML authors and demonstrates our accelerating commitment to W3C HTML standards." It is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows NT 3.5 and Windows NT 4.0 RTM—SP2 and windows NT 4 for Risc (the 16 bit version can still be run through NTVDM ) Internet Explorer 3
2244-601: The W3C XHTML+SMIL ), and the VML vector graphics file format. However, all were rejected, at least in their original forms; VML was subsequently combined with PGML (proposed by Adobe and Sun ), resulting in the W3C-approved SVG format, one of the few vector image formats being used on the web, which IE did not support until version 9. Other non-standard behaviors include: support for vertical text, but in
2310-502: The WSH functionality to allow automation by means of any installed scripting engine. The script host, related components, and engines are able to be integrated into and called from Windows applications just like any other component. Active scripting is regarded complete, and no longer under active development by Microsoft. Furthermore, scripting engines will continue to be shipped with future releases of Microsoft Windows and IIS. Originally,
2376-424: The Windows 10 Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) and on Windows Server until 2021, primarily for enterprise purposes. Internet Explorer is still installed in Windows 10 to maintain compatibility with older websites and intranet sites that require ActiveX and other legacy web technologies. The browser's MSHTML rendering engine also remains for compatibility reasons. Additionally, Microsoft Edge shipped with
2442-640: The Windows Address Book. It brought the browser much closer to the bar that had been set by Netscape , including the support of Netscape's plugins technology ( NPAPI ), ActiveX , frames , and a reverse-engineered version of JavaScript named JScript . Later, Microsoft NetMeeting and Windows Media Player were integrated into the product and thus helper applications became not as necessary as they once were. CSS were introduced with version 3 of Internet Explorer. While IE1 and IE2 were said to have "paled" in comparison to Netscape, IE3 "delivers
2508-536: The accessibility framework provided in Windows. Internet Explorer is also a user interface for FTP, with operations similar to Windows Explorer. Internet Explorer 5 and 6 had a side bar for web searches, enabling jumps through pages from results listed in the side bar. Pop-up blocking and tabbed browsing were added respectively in Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7. Tabbed browsing can also be added to older versions by installing MSN Search Toolbar or Yahoo Toolbar . Internet Explorer caches visited content in
2574-619: The browser (such as icons on the taskbar) would have been removed on June 13, 2023. However, on May 19, 2023 various organizations disapproved, leading Microsoft to withdraw the change. Other versions of Windows that were still supported at the time were unaffected. Specifically, Windows 7 ESU, Windows 8.x , Windows RT ; Windows Server 2008 / R2 ESU, Windows Server 2012 / R2 and later; and Windows 10 LTSB/LTSC continued to receive updates until their respective end of life dates. On other versions of Windows, Internet Explorer will still be supported until their own end of support dates. IE7
2640-426: The browser was discontinued in 2016 and ended support on June 15, 2022 for Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC), in favor of its successor, Microsoft Edge . Internet Explorer was once the most widely used web browser, attaining a peak of 95% usage share by 2003. It has since fallen out of general use after retirement. This came after Microsoft used bundling to win the first browser war against Netscape , which
2706-519: The components are available for use via the API; or one may opt to add a language and/or tool not available by default, like programming Microsoft Excel in Perl or REXX rather than Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) or transferring data from a terminal emulator to word processor by way of a spreadsheet when they have dissimilar macro tools or none at all. For many of the above uses, Active Scripting
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2772-503: The default web browser for Windows 7 (later default was Internet Explorer 11) and Windows Server 2008 R2. Internet Explorer 9 is the ninth major version of Internet Explorer, released on March 14, 2011, for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 , Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 with the Platform Update . Internet Explorer 10 is the tenth major version of Internet Explorer, released on October 26, 2012, and
2838-541: The default web browser for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 . Internet Explorer 7 is the seventh major version of Internet Explorer, released on October 18, 2006, for Windows XP SP2 , Windows Server 2003 SP1 and as the default web browser for Windows Vista , Windows Server 2008 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 . IE7 introduces tabbed browsing. Internet Explorer 8 is the eighth major version of Internet Explorer, released on March 19, 2009, for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and as
2904-425: The fifth major version of Internet Explorer, released on March 18, 1999, for Windows 3.1 , Windows NT 3 , Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 SP3, Windows 98 , Mac OS X (up to v5.2.3), Classic Mac OS (up to v5.1.7), Solaris and HP-UX (up to 5.01 SP1). Internet Explorer 6 is the sixth major version of Internet Explorer, released on August 24, 2001, for Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, Windows 98, Windows 2000 , Windows ME and as
2970-505: The following weeks. Internet Explorer 11's user agent string now identifies the agent as " Trident " (the underlying browser engine) instead of "MSIE". It also announces compatibility with Gecko (the browser engine of Firefox ). Microsoft claimed that Internet Explorer 11, running the WebKit SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, was the fastest browser as of October 15, 2013. Internet Explorer 11
3036-646: The inner HTML property, which provides access to the HTML string within an element, which was part of IE 5 and was standardized as part of HTML 5 roughly 15 years later after all other browsers implemented it for compatibility, the XMLHttpRequest object, which allows the sending of HTTP request and receiving of HTTP response, and may be used to perform AJAX , and the designMode attribute of the content Document object, which enables rich text editing of HTML documents. Some of these functionalities were not possible until
3102-675: The introduction of the W3C DOM methods. Its Ruby character extension to HTML is also accepted as a module in W3C XHTML 1.1, though it is not found in all versions of W3C HTML. Microsoft submitted several other features of IE for consideration by the W3C for standardization. These include the 'behavior' CSS property, which connects the HTML elements with JScript behaviors (known as HTML Components, HTC), HTML+TIME profile, which adds timing and media synchronization support to HTML documents (similar to
3168-437: The launch of IE4. Internet Explorer 3 was the first version of the browser to support SSL 3.0. The last patch versions of Internet Explorer 3 supported 40-bit and 128-bit encryption, using Server Gated Cryptography (SGC). 256-bit encryption would not become available in IE for nearly 10 years. 128-bit encryption was available or included for these versions: If it was not possible to upgrade to 128-bit, then 40-bit (SGC)
3234-409: The like. Other administrative uses include Windows Management Instrumentation and Active Directory Service Interfaces. Active Scripting can also be used for general-purpose scripting, such as database programming, text-processing, rapid prototyping, and application macro/scripting programming; some applications use Active Scripting as the main automation method, others do not have a macro facility but
3300-528: The main competitor to Bristol Technology. (Microsoft would later use MainWin to port Windows Media Player and Outlook Express to Unix. ) Now well behind schedule, the 3.0 branch was apparently scrapped in favor of 4.0 (that was released for Windows half a year earlier), which used the new MSHTML (Trident) rendering engine. An Internet Explorer 4 Beta for Solaris was released by the end of 1997, leading to Internet Explorer for UNIX versions, which lasted until Internet Explorer 5 . Backwards compatibility
3366-485: The most commonly used third-party script engine. The interfaces to Active Scripting engines are public, so any developer can create applications that are programmable in Active Scripting languages as well as engines for additional languages. Active Scripting engines are available for several languages. Some of the most popular include: In Windows, CScript.exe at the command line and WScript.exe running in
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#17327809536123432-528: The normal means of launching Internet Explorer in Windows 11 and later versions of Windows 10 , but it is still possible for users to launch the browser from the Control Panel 's browser toolbar settings or via PowerShell . On June 15, 2022, Internet Explorer 11 support ended for the Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). Users on these versions of Windows 10 were redirected to Microsoft Edge starting on February 14, 2023, and visual references to
3498-439: The release of the version 3.0 for Macs based on the 68k line of processors. Four months later on May 14, Microsoft released version 3.01 which included a version for 68k-based machines. This version included features from the Windows version of Internet Explorer 4.0 such as AutoComplete and Monitoring Favorites that notified users when sites in their Favorites list have been updated. It included support for JavaScript and introduced
3564-802: The software. Although bearing a name like NCSA Mosaic, Spyglass Mosaic had used the NCSA Mosaic source code sparingly. The first version, dubbed Microsoft Internet Explorer, was installed as part of the Internet Jumpstart Kit in the Microsoft Plus! pack for Windows 95 . The Internet Explorer team began with about six people in early development. Internet Explorer 1.5 was released several months later for Windows NT and added support for basic table rendering. By including it free of charge with their operating system , they did not have to pay royalties to Spyglass Inc, resulting in
3630-407: The standards, including HTML, CSS, and the DOM. This has resulted in several web pages that appear broken in standards-compliant web browsers and has introduced the need for a "quirks mode" to allow for rendering improper elements meant for Internet Explorer in these other browsers. Internet Explorer has introduced several extensions to the DOM that have been adopted by other browsers. These include
3696-581: The vulnerability the following day; however, researchers went on to find more vulnerabilities and new types of problems, such as the ability to spoof a website (similar to the later phishing problem), with these issues triggering public concern over browser security. In early 1997, Microsoft released IE 3.02 as an update to fix most of the discovered security problems. Microsoft Authenticode became inoperable on June 30, 1997, when its trust anchor expired. After this, IE users needed to upgrade to Authenticode 2.0 which required at least IE 3.02. Authenticode
3762-448: Was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year. Later versions were available as free downloads or in- service packs and included in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) service releases of Windows 95 and later versions of Windows. Microsoft spent over US$ 100 million per year on Internet Explorer in the late 1990s, with over 1,000 people involved in the project by 1999. New feature development for
3828-423: Was handled by allowing Users who upgraded to IE3 to still use the last IE, because the installation converted the previous version to a separate directory. The Princeton Word Macro Virus Loophole was discovered on August 22, 1996, nine days after Internet Explorer 3's release, which could allow Webmasters to cause an end-user's computer to initiate downloads without their consent via a backdoor. Microsoft patched
3894-475: Was made available for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Embedded 8 Standard , the only still supported edition of Windows 8 in April 2019. Microsoft Edge was officially unveiled on January 21, 2015 as "Project Spartan". On April 29, 2015, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Edge would replace Internet Explorer as the default browser in Windows 10. However, Internet Explorer remained the default web browser on
3960-597: Was standard. 32-bit Internet Explorer 3 version numbers are in the form of 4.70.####, where # represents a varying digit. Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer , commonly abbreviated as IE or MSIE ) is a retired series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft that were used in the Windows line of operating systems . While IE has been discontinued on most Windows editions, it remains supported on certain editions of Windows, such as Windows 10 LTSB/LTSC . Starting in 1995, it
4026-436: Was started in the summer of 1994 by Thomas Reardon , who, according to former project lead Ben Slivka, used source code from Spyglass, Inc. Mosaic, which was an early commercial web browser with formal ties to the pioneering National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Mosaic browser. In late 1994, Microsoft licensed Spyglass Mosaic for a quarterly fee plus a percentage of Microsoft's non-Windows revenues for
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#17327809536124092-595: Was supported for several years after this (until the end of 2007). Major Microsoft OS releases, switched to supporting version 4 or higher. Internet Explorer 3 had a Beta supporting Solaris (UNIX). IE4 integration with the OS meant systems that upgraded from Internet Explorer 3 to 4.0, or came with 4.0, could not easily revert to IE3 (see Removal of Internet Explorer ). The Mac OS version supported PPC and 68k Macs, superseding IE 2.1. Microsoft released various 16- and 32-bit versions for Windows. Internet Explorer 3.03, and subsequently 3.03 Service Pack 1, were released after
4158-481: Was supported until October 10, 2023 alongside the end of support for Windows Embedded Compact 2013 , while IE9 is supported until January 13, 2026 alongside the end of ESU support for Premium Assurance customers on Windows Server 2008 . Barring additional changes to the support policy, Internet Explorer 11 will be supported until January 13, 2032, concurrent with the end of support for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021. Internet Explorer has been designed to view
4224-980: Was the dominant browser in the 1990s. Its usage share has since declined with the launches of Firefox (2004) and Google Chrome (2008) and with the growing popularity of mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS that do not support Internet Explorer. Microsoft Edge, IE's successor, first overtook Internet Explorer in terms of market share in November 2019. Versions of Internet Explorer for other operating systems have also been produced, including an Xbox 360 version called Internet Explorer for Xbox and for platforms Microsoft no longer supports: Internet Explorer for Mac and Internet Explorer for UNIX ( Solaris and HP-UX ), and an embedded OEM version called Pocket Internet Explorer, later rebranded Internet Explorer Mobile , made for Windows CE , Windows Phone , and, previously, based on Internet Explorer 7, for Windows Phone 7 . The browser has been scrutinized throughout its development for its use of third-party technology (such as
4290-621: Was the final release, and Microsoft began the process of deprecating Internet Explorer. During this process, it will still be maintained as part of Microsoft's support policies. Since January 12, 2016, only the latest version of Internet Explorer available for each version of Windows has been supported. At the time, nearly half of Internet Explorer users were using an unsupported version. In February 2019, Microsoft Chief of Security Chris Jackson recommended that users stop using Internet Explorer as their default browser. Various websites have dropped support for Internet Explorer. On June 1, 2020,
4356-488: Was the first more widely used version of Internet Explorer, although it did not surpass Netscape or become the browser with the most market share. During its tenure, IE market share went from roughly 3–9% in early 1996 to 20–30% by the end of 1997. In September 1997 it was superseded by Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 . IE3 was the first commercial browser with Cascading Style Sheets support. It introduced support for ActiveX controls , Java applets , inline multimedia, and
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