Microsoft has decided to allow customers to choose when the last elements of Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) will be removed from their devices.

This comes after IE11 has been deactivated on some Windows 10 platforms when installing a Microsoft Edge update released on February 14.

It also follows previous warnings from June And December 2022 that the old web browser would be permanently disabled through a Windows update.

“Organizations will continue to control determining when to remove IE11 visual references from their devices, if they have not already done so, using the Disable IE Policy“, Microsoft said Today.

“Over the next several months, a small subset of exceptional scenarios where IE11 is still accessible will be redirected to Edge, ensuring users access to a supported and more secure Microsoft browser,” the company said. added.

Microsoft previously planned to remove all IE11 visual references (including taskbar and Start menu icons) with the non-security preview release scheduled for May 23.

Since the February 14 Edge update removed IE11, users are being notified that “The future of Internet Explorer is in Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer (IE) has been retired and is no longer supported.”

Microsoft announced for the first time that IE11 support would be dropped in Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 in August 2020. The company only released a official retirement announcement almost a year later, in May 2021.

IE11 automatically launches Microsoft Edge when visiting incompatible sites from October 2020.

THE full list of incompatible sites includes 7,604 web domains belonging to many online platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Drive and many more.

Even though it no longer ships with Windows 11 and has been officially removed from several Windows 10 releases on the Semi-Annual Service Channel (SAC), the older IE11 browser will still be available on Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU ), Windows 8.1, and all versions of the Windows 10 LTSC, Windows Server SAC, Windows Server LTSC, and Windows 10 IoT LTSC client.

Microsoft has urged customers to upgrade to Microsoft Edge with IE mode for years, as it allows backwards compatibility and will be supported until at least 2029.