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Internet Explorer 11 (64-bit) for Windows 7 ONLY
Internet Explorer was retired on June 15, 2022. IE 11 has been permanently disabled through a Microsoft Edge update on certain versions of Windows 10. If you any site you visit needs Internet Explorer, you can reload it with IE mode in Microsoft Edge. Microsoft Edge is browser recommended by Microsoft.
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Internet Explorer 11 (32-Bit) for Windows 7 ONLY
Internet Explorer was retired on June 15, 2022. IE 11 has been permanently disabled through a Microsoft Edge update on certain versions of Windows 10. If you any site you visit needs Internet Explorer, you can reload it with IE mode in Microsoft Edge. Microsoft Edge is browser recommended by Microsoft.
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Spelling dictionaries for Internet Explorer 11 Release Preview
Internet Explorer 11 Release Preview brings the «best in class» spelling engine and dictionaries used by Microsoft to the browser. Internet Explorer 11 Release Preview also supports autocorrection or «correction-while-you-type». Commonly misspelled words will be corrected immediately, making your review process faster.
Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995.
The first version of Internet Explorer, (at that time named Microsoft Internet Explorer, later referred to as Internet Explorer 1) made its debut on August 24, 1995.[1] It was a reworked version of Spyglass Mosaic, which Microsoft licensed from Spyglass Inc., like many other companies initiating browser development. It 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 OEM service releases of Windows 95 and later versions of Windows.
Originally Microsoft Internet Explorer only ran on Windows using an Intel compatible (x86) processor. Current versions also run on x64, 32-bit ARMv7, PowerPC and IA-64. Versions on Windows have supported MIPS, Alpha AXP and 16-bit and 32-bit x86 but currently support only 32-bit or 64-bit. A version exists for Xbox 360 called Internet Explorer for Xbox using PowerPC and an embedded OEM version called Pocket Internet Explorer, later rebranded Internet Explorer Mobile, which is currently based on Internet Explorer 9 and made for Windows Phone using ARMv7, Windows CE, and previously, based on Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Mobile. It remains in development alongside the desktop versions.
Internet Explorer has supported other operating systems with Internet Explorer for Mac (using Motorola 68020+, PowerPC) and Internet Explorer for UNIX (Solaris using SPARC and HP-UX using PA-RISC), which have been discontinued.
Since its first release, Microsoft has added features and technologies such as basic table display (in version 1.5); XMLHttpRequest (in version 5), which adds creation of dynamic web pages; and Internationalized Domain Names (in version 7), which allow Web sites to have native-language addresses with non-Latin characters. The browser has also received scrutiny throughout its development for use of third-party technology (such as the source code of Spyglass Mosaic, used without royalty in early versions) and security and privacy vulnerabilities, and both the United States and the European Union have alleged that integration of Internet Explorer with Windows has been to the detriment of other browsers.
Internet Explorer 10 and newer on Windows 8x have an interface allowing for use as both a desktop application and as a tablet/touchscreen application.
IE versions, over time, have had widely varying OS compatibility, ranging from being available for many platforms and several versions of Windows to only a few versions of Windows. Many versions of IE had some support for an older OS but stopped getting updates. The increased growth of the Internet in the 1990s and 2000s means that current browsers with small market shares have more total users than the entire market early on. For example, 90% market share in 1997 would be roughly 60 million[2] users, but by the start of 2007 90% market share would equate to over 900 million users.[2] The result is that later versions of IE6 had many more users in total than all the early versions put together.
The release of IE7 at the end of 2006 resulted in a collapse of IE6 market share; by February 2007, market version share statistics showed IE6 at about 50% and IE7 at 29%.[3] Regardless of the actual market share, the most compatible version (across operating systems) of IE was 5.x, which had Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, Unix, and most Windows versions available and supported for a short period in the late 1990s (although 4.x had a more unified codebase across versions). By 2007, IE had much narrower OS support, with the latest versions supporting only Windows XP Service Pack 2 and above. Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, and 7.0 (Experimental) have also been unofficially ported to the Linux operating system from the project IEs4Linux.
Availability on desktop operating systems
| Operating system | Latest stable IE version | Support date | Exceptions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Windows | 7 or later, Server 2008 R2 or later | 11.0.1000 | 2009– | Continued to receive security patches. IE11 was later released for Windows Embedded 8 Standard and Server 2012. Windows Server 2012 will continue to receive security patches until 2026 with ESU |
| 8 | 10.0.56 | 2012 | ||
| Vista and Server 2008 | 9.0.195 | 2006–2011 | Windows Server 2008 continued to receive security patches until 2023 with ESU (and continued until 2024 with ESU for Azure customers) | |
| XP and Server 2003 | 8.0.6001.18702 | 2001–2009 | Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 continued to receive security patches till 2019 | |
| NT 4.0, 98, 2000 and ME | 6.0 SP1 | 1996–2001 | ||
| 95 | 5.5 SP2 | 1995–2000 | ||
| 3.1x and NT 3.51 | 5.01 SP2 | 1995–1999 | ||
| NT 3.5 | 3.03 SP1 | 1995–1996 | ||
| NT 3.1 | 2.01 | 1995 | ||
| macOS | 10.4–10.6 (IA-32, x64) | 5.2.3 (with Rosetta) | 2005 | |
| 10.1–10.5 (PPC) | 5.2.3 | 2001–2003 | ||
| Classic Mac OS | 7.5.5–9.2.2 (PPC) | 5.1.7 (included) | 1995–2003 | |
| 7.1–8.1 (68k) | 4.0.1 (included) | 1995–1998 | ||
| 7.0.1 (68k) | 2.1 | 1995 | ||
| OS/2 | 2.1–4.52 | 3.0 | ? | |
| HP-UX | 5.01 SP1 | ? | ||
| Solaris | 5.01 SP1 | 1998-2001 |
Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.x
[edit]
Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.0 made its debut on August 24, 1995. It was a reworked version of Spyglass Mosaic which Microsoft had licensed,[4][5] like many other companies initiating browser development, from Spyglass Inc.[4][5] It came with the purchase of Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 and with at least some OEM releases of Windows 95 without Plus!.[6] It was installed as part of the Internet Jumpstart Kit in Plus! for Windows 95.[7] The Internet Explorer team began with about six people in early development.[8][9] Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.5 was released in fall 1995 for Windows NT and added support for basic HTML table rendering. By including it free of charge on their operating system, they did not have to pay royalties to Spyglass Inc, resulting in a lawsuit and a US$8 million settlement on January 22, 1997.[4][5]
Although not included, this software can also be installed on the original release of Windows 95.
Internet Explorer 1.x is no longer supported, or available for download from Microsoft. However, archived versions of the software can be found on various websites. Support for Internet Explorer 1.0 ended on December 31, 2001, the same day as older Windows Versions.
Internet Explorer came with an install routine replacing a manual installation required by many of the existing web browsers.[10]
Microsoft Internet Explorer 2
[edit]
Microsoft Internet Explorer 2 was released for Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51, and NT 4.0 on November 27, 1995 (following a 2.0 beta in October). It featured support for JavaScript, SSL, cookies, frames, VRML, RSA, and Internet newsgroups. Version 2 was also the first release for Windows 3.1 and Macintosh System 7.0.1 (PPC or 68k), although the Mac version was not released until January 1996 for PPC, and April for 68k.[11] Version 2.1 for the Mac came out in August 1996, although by this time, Windows was getting 3.0. Version 2 was included in Windows 95 OSR 1 and Microsoft’s Internet Starter Kit for Windows 95 in early 1996.[12] It launched with twelve languages, including English, but by April 1996, this was expanded to 24, 20, and 9 for Win 95, Win 3.1, and Mac, respectively.[12] The 2.0i version supported double-byte character-set.[12]
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3
[edit]
| Market share history snapshot for February 2005[13] |
|---|
| IE4: 0.07% |
| IE5: 6.17% |
| IE6: 82.79% |
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 was released on August 13, 1996, and went on to be much more popular than its predecessors. It was the first major browser with CSS support, although this support was only partial. It also introduced support for ActiveX controls, Java applets, inline multimedia, and the PICS system for content metadata. Version 3 also came bundled with Internet Mail and News, NetMeeting, and an early version of the Windows Address Book, and was itself included with Windows 95 OSR 2. Version 3 proved to be the first more popular version of Internet Explorer, bringing with it increased scrutiny. In the months following its release, a number of security and privacy vulnerabilities were found by researchers and hackers. This version of Internet Explorer was the first to have the ‘blue e’ logo.[7] The Internet Explorer team consisted of roughly 100 people during the development of three months.[14] The first major IE security hole, the Princeton Word Macro Virus Loophole, was discovered on August 22, 1996, in IE3.[15]
Backwards compatibility was handled by allowing users who upgraded to IE3 to still use the previous version, because the installation renamed the old version (incorporating the old version number) and stored it in the same directory.[16]
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4
[edit]
| Market share history snapshot for October 2008[17] |
|---|
| IE4: 0.01% |
| IE5: 0.20% |
| IE6: 37.01% |
| IE7: 35.81% |
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4, released on September 22, 1997, deepened the level of integration between the web browser and the underlying operating system. Installing version 4 on Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 and choosing Windows Desktop Update would result in the traditional Windows Explorer being replaced by a version more akin to a web browser interface, as well as the Windows desktop itself being web-enabled via Active Desktop. The integration with Windows, however, was subject to numerous packaging criticisms (see United States v. Microsoft). This option was no longer available with the installers for later versions of Internet Explorer, but was not removed from the system if already installed. It introduced support for Group Policy, allowing companies to configure and lock down many aspects of the browser’s configuration as well as support for offline browsing.[18] Internet Mail and News was replaced with Outlook Express, and Microsoft Chat and an improved NetMeeting were also included. This version was also included with Windows 98. New features that allowed users to save and retrieve posts in comment forms were added, but they are not used today. Internet Explorer 4.5 offered new features such as easier 128-bit encryption. It also offered a dramatic stability improvement over prior versions, particularly the 68k version, which was especially prone to freezing.[19][20][21]
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5
[edit]
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, launched on March 18, 1999, and subsequently included with Windows 98 Second Edition and bundled with Office 2000, was another significant release that supported bi-directional text, ruby characters, XML, XSLT, and the ability to save web pages in MHTML format. IE5 was bundled with Outlook Express 5. Also, with the release of Internet Explorer 5.0, Microsoft released the first version of XMLHttpRequest, giving birth to Ajax (even though the term «Ajax» was not coined until years later). It was the last with a 16-bit version. Internet Explorer 5.01, a bug fix version included in Windows 2000, was released in December 1999 and it is the last version of Internet Explorer to run on Windows 3.1x and Windows NT 3.51. Internet Explorer 5.5 followed in June 2000, improving its print preview capabilities, CSS and HTML standards support, and developer APIs; this version was bundled with Windows ME. However, version 5 was the last version for Mac and UNIX. Version 5.5 was the last to have Compatibility Mode, which allowed Internet Explorer 4[22] to be run side by side with the 5.x series.[7][23] The IE team consisted of over 1,000 people by 1999, with funding on the order of US$100 million per year.[9][14] Version 5.5 is also the last version of Internet Explorer to run on Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 SP3–SP6.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
[edit]
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 was released on August 24, 2001, a few months before Windows XP. This version included DHTML enhancements, content restricted inline frames, and partial support of CSS level 1, DOM level 1, and SMIL 2.0.[24] The MSXML engine was also updated to version 3.0. Other new features included a new version of the Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK), Media bar, Windows Messenger integration, fault collection, automatic image resizing, P3P, and a new look-and-feel that was in line with the Luna visual style of Windows XP, when used in Windows XP. Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, which offered several security enhancements, coincided with the Windows XP SP1 patch release and it is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP RTM–SP1 and Windows Server 2003 RTM. In 2002, the Gopher protocol was disabled, and support for it was dropped in Internet Explorer 7.[25] Internet Explorer 6.0 SV1[26] came out on August 6, 2004 for Windows XP SP2 and offered various security enhancements and new colour buttons on the user interface. Internet Explorer 6 updated the original ‘blue e’ logo to a lighter blue and more 3D look.[7] Microsoft now considers IE6 to be an obsolete product and recommends that users upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. Some corporate IT users have not upgraded despite this, in part because some still use Windows 2000, which will not run Internet Explorer 7 or above.[27] Microsoft has launched a website, https://web.archive.org/web/20110304205645/http://ie6countdown.com/, with the goal of getting Internet Explorer 6 usage to drop below 1 percent worldwide. Its usage is 6% globally as of October 2012, and now about 6.3% since June 2013, and depending on the country, the usage differs heavily: while the usage in Norway is 0.1%, it is 21.3% in the People’s Republic of China.[28] On January 3, 2012, Microsoft announced that usage of IE6 in the United States had dropped below 1%.[29][30]
Windows Internet Explorer 7
[edit]
Windows Internet Explorer 7 was released on October 18, 2006. It includes bug fixes, enhancements to its support for web standards, tabbed browsing with tab preview and management, a multiple-engine search box, a web feeds reader, Internationalized Domain Name support (IDN), Extended Validation Certificate support, and an anti-phishing filter. With IE7, Internet Explorer has been decoupled from the Windows Shell—unlike previous versions, the Internet Explorer ActiveX control is not hosted in the Windows Explorer process, but rather runs in a separate Internet Explorer process. It is included with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and is available for Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and later. Internet Explorer 7 is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows XP x64 Edition RTM and Windows Server 2003 SP1. The original release of Internet Explorer 7 required the computer to pass a Windows Genuine Advantage validation check prior to installing, but on October 5, 2007, Microsoft removed this requirement. As some statistics show, by mid-2008, Internet Explorer 7 market share exceeded that of Internet Explorer 6 in a number of regions.[31][32]
Windows Internet Explorer 8
[edit]
Windows Internet Explorer 8 was released on March 19, 2009. It is the first version of IE to pass the Acid2 test, and the last of the major browsers to do so (in the later Acid3 Test, it only scores 24/100.). According to Microsoft, security, ease of use, and improvements in RSS, CSS, and Ajax support were its priorities for IE8.[33][34]
Internet Explorer 8 is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows XP SP2–SP3, Windows XP x64 Edition SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Vista RTM–SP1 and Windows Server 2008 RTM.[35][36] Support for Internet Explorer 8 is bound to the lifecycle of the Windows version it is installed on as it is considered an OS component, thus it is unsupported on Windows XP due to the end of extended support for the latter in April 2014. Effective January 12, 2016, Internet Explorer 8 is no longer supported on any client or server version of Windows, due to new policies specifying that only the newest version of IE available for a supported version of Windows will be supported.[37][38] However several Windows Embedded versions will remain supported until their respective EOL, unless otherwise specified.[39]
Windows Internet Explorer 9
[edit]
Windows Internet Explorer 9 was released on March 14, 2011.[40] Development for Internet Explorer 9 began shortly after the release of Internet Explorer 8.[41] Microsoft first announced Internet Explorer 9 at PDC 2009, and spoke mainly about how it takes advantage of hardware acceleration in DirectX to improve the performance of web applications and quality of web typography. At MIX 10, Microsoft showed and publicly released the first Platform Preview for Internet Explorer 9, a frame for IE9’s engine not containing any UI of the browser.[42] Leading up to the release of the final browser, Microsoft released updated platform previews, each featuring improved JavaScript compiling (32-bit version), improved scores on the Acid3 test, as well as additional HTML5 standards support, approximately every six weeks. Ultimately, eight platform previews were released. The first public beta was released at a special event in San Francisco, which was themed around «the beauty of the web». The release candidate was released on February 10, 2011, and featured improved performance, refinements to the UI, and further standards support. The final version was released during the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, on March 14, 2011.[40]
Internet Explorer 9 is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows 7 RTM, Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM and Windows Phone 7.5.[43] It supports several CSS 3 properties (including border-radius, box-shadow, etc.), and embedded ICC v2 or v4 colour profiles support via Windows Color System. The 32-bit version has faster JavaScript performance, this being due to a new JavaScript engine called «Chakra».[44] It also features hardware accelerated graphics rendering using Direct2D, hardware-accelerated text rendering using DirectWrite, hardware-accelerated video rendering using Media Foundation, imaging support provided by Windows Imaging Component, and high fidelity printing powered by the XPS print pipeline.[45] IE9 also supports the HTML video and audio tags and the Web Open Font Format.[46] Internet Explorer 9 initially scored 95/100 on the Acid3 test, but has scored 100/100 since the test was updated in September 2011.[47]
Internet Explorer was to be omitted from Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in Europe, but Microsoft ultimately included it, with a browser option screen allowing users to select any of several web browsers (including Internet Explorer).[48][49][50][51][52]
Internet Explorer is now available on Xbox 360 with Kinect support, as of October 2012, although this version is extremely limited today.[53]
Internet Explorer 10
[edit]
Internet Explorer 10 became generally available on October 26, 2012, alongside Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, but is by now supported on Windows Server 2012, while Windows Server 2012 R2 only supports Internet Explorer 11. It became available for Windows 7 SP1 on February 26, 2013.[54] Microsoft announced Internet Explorer 10 in April 2011, at MIX 11 in Las Vegas, releasing the first Platform Preview at the same time. At the show, it was said that Internet Explorer 10 was about three weeks in development.[55] This release further improves upon standards support, including HTML5 Drag & Drop and CSS3 gradients.[56]
Internet Explorer 10 Release Preview was also released on the Windows 8 Release Preview platform.
Internet Explorer 11
[edit]
Internet Explorer 11 is featured in a Windows 8.1 update which was released on October 17, 2013. It includes an incomplete mechanism for syncing tabs. It features a major update to its developer tools,[57][58] enhanced scaling for high DPI screens,[59] HTML5 prerender and prefetch,[60] hardware-accelerated JPEG decoding,[61] closed captioning, HTML5 full screen,[62] and is the first Internet Explorer to support WebGL[63][64][65] and Google’s protocol SPDY (starting at v3).[66] This version of IE has features dedicated to Windows 8.1, including cryptography (WebCrypto),[57] adaptive bitrate streaming (Media Source Extensions)[67] and Encrypted Media Extensions.[62]
Internet Explorer 11 was made available for Windows 7 users to download on November 7, 2013, with Automatic Updates in the following weeks.[68]
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.[69]
Since January 12, 2016, only the most recent version of Internet Explorer offered for installation on any given Windows operating system is supported with security updates, lasting until the end of the support lifecycle for that Windows operating system. On Windows 7 and 8.1, only Internet Explorer 11 received security updates until the end of those Windows versions’ support lifecycles.[70] Support for Internet Explorer 11 is bound to the lifecycle of the Windows version it is installed on as it is considered an OS component, thus it is unsupported on Windows 7 due to the end of extended support on January 14, 2020. Internet Explorer 11 was made available for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Embedded 8 Standard, the only still supported edition of Windows 8 in April 2019. It is the only supported version of Internet Explorer on these operating systems since January 31, 2020.[71][72]
Internet Explorer 11 follows the OS component lifecycle,[73] which means it remains supported with technical and security fixes as long as the operating system including it as a component remains supported. This means that Internet Explorer 11 support will end on January 13, 2032, along with the end of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 support, barring any changes to the support policy.[74][75] On August 17, 2020, Microsoft published a timeline indicating that the Microsoft Teams product would stop supporting Internet Explorer 11 on November 30, 2020, and Microsoft 365 products ended support for Internet Explorer 11 on August 17, 2021.[76] In May 2021, Microsoft announced that support for Internet Explorer 11 on editions of Windows 10 that are not in the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) would end on June 15, 2022.[77] Internet Explorer 11 was thought to not be on Windows 11, Windows Server Insider Build 22463 and Windows Server Insider Build 25110 as a separate application — however, a few people managed to access it, through the question mark in the Internet Options window. However, while the browser itself is no longer supported, it is supported as IE mode in Edge, including on Windows 11, Windows Server Insider Build 22463 and Windows Server Insider Build 25110.[78] Microsoft has said that it will maintain support for this feature until 2029 at the earliest, and that it will provide one year’s notice before its discontinuation.[79] IE mode uses the Trident MSHTML engine.[80]
Release history for desktop Windows OS version
[edit]
Legend: Unsupported version[a] Old version, still maintained[b] Latest version[c]
| Major version | Minor version | Release date | Significant changes | Shipped with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.0 | August 24, 1995 | Initial release. | Plus! for 95 |
| 1.5 | September, 1995 | Support for HTML tables and other elements. | ||
| 2 | 2.0 | November 22, 1995 | SSL, cookies, VRML, and Internet newsgroups. | 95 OSR1 NT 4.0 |
| 3 | 3.0 | August 13, 1996 | Improved support of HTML tables, frames, and other elements, support of VBScript and JScript, support of CSS and Java. | 95 OSR2 |
| 4 | 4.0 | September 22, 1997 | Improved support for HTML, CSS and Microsoft DOM. | 95 OSR 2.5 98 |
| 5 | 5.0 | March 18, 1999 | Support for new CSS2 features, bi-directional text, ruby character, XML/XSLT and more CSS properties. | 98 SE 2000 |
| 5.5 | June 19, 2000 | Support for more CSS properties. Minor changes to support for frames. | Me | |
| 5.6 | August 18, 2000 | Only released for a preview version of Windows Whistler. | Whistler | |
| 6 | 6.0 | August 24, 2001 | More CSS changes and bug fixes to be more W3C-compliant. | XP |
| 6.0 SP2 | August 25, 2004 | Vulnerability patch. Popup/ActiveX blocker. Add-on manager. | XP SP2 Server 2003 SP1 |
|
| 7 | 7.0 | October 18, 2006 | Support for PNG alpha channel, CSS bug fixes, Tabbed browsing, Support for EV SSL certificate, Phishing filter, Web feeds platform integration, New GUI, Quick Tabs. | Vista 2008 |
| 8 | 8.0 | March 19, 2009 | CSS 2.1, Contextual Services. Accelerators. Web Slices. Tab isolation and DEP protection enabled by default. Automatic crash recovery. Improved phishing and malware filter (SmartScreen). Uses 6 HTTP server connections for improved website responsiveness, InPrivate browsing. Smart address bar. Search suggestions. Tab color grouping. Caret browsing. Improved Developer Tools. Changes in Compatibility View. Improved Favorites management and other minor changes to UI. Changes to InPrivate browsing and blocking modes. | 7 2008 R2 |
| 9 | 9.0 | March 14, 2011 | Revamped UI with new download manager, new New Tab page, integrated search and address bar, and more. Adds Tracking Protection, ActiveX Filter, and paste-to-navigate. Support for new CSS3 selectors (including border-radius property), and new HTML5 and SVG elements, <audio>, <video> and <canvas> tags. Support for WOFF fonts. New JavaScript engine (code name Chakra) with ECMAScript5 support. Added support for graphics and web rendering hardware acceleration, using Direct2D and DirectWrite.
|
|
| 10 | 10.0 | October 26, 2012 | Support for CSS3 multi-column layout, CSS3 grid layout, CSS3 flexible box layout, CSS3 gradients, ES5 strict mode, Positioned Floats, CSS stylesheet limit lifted, CSSOM Floating Point Value support, Improved hit testing APIs, Media Query Listeners, async attribute on script elements, Drag and Drop, File API, Sandbox, Web Workers, some Web Performance APIs, CSS 3D Transforms, CSS Text shadow, SVG Filter Effects, Spellchecking, Autocorrection, local storage with IndexedDB and the HTML5 Application Cache, Web Sockets, HTML5 History, and InPrivate tabs. | 8 Server 2012 |
| 11 | 11.0 | October 17, 2013 | Improved support for HTML5 and CSS3. Support for WebGL and SPDY. New Modern UI-interface and developer tools. | 8.1 Server 2012 R2 |
| 11.0.7 | April 8, 2014 | Enterprise Mode, new Developer Tools, improved support for WebGL and ECMAScript 5.1. | 8.1 Update | |
| 11.0.11 | August 12, 2014 | Improved support for WebGL, new features in Developer Tools, support for WebDriver, adds a search bar to the New Tab page. | ||
| 11.0.15 | December 9, 2014 | Revamped Developer Tool interface, opt-in to block SSL 3.0 fallback. | 10 | |
| 11.0.25 | November 12, 2015 | Improved Enterprise Mode and new support tools | Server 2016 Server 2019 Server 2022 |
- Internet Explorer
- Features of Internet Explorer
- History of Internet Explorer
- ^ Versions that have this color have reached their expiration dates and are no longer supported by Microsoft.
- ^ Versions that have this color are no longer the latest version of Windows 11, but are still supported by Microsoft.
- ^ Versions that have this color are the latest public version of Internet Explorer.
- ^ «The History of Internet Explorer». News Center. Microsoft. August 25, 2005. Archived from the original on October 1, 2005.
- ^ a b «History and Growth of the Internet». Retrieved March 3, 2007.
- ^ «Market share for browsers, operating systems and search engines». Retrieved March 3, 2007.
- ^ a b c Elstrom, Peter (January 22, 1997). «MICROSOFT’S $8 MILLION GOODBYE TO SPYGLASS». Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on June 29, 1997. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c Thurrott, Paul (January 22, 1997). «Microsoft and Spyglass kiss and make up». WindowsITPro. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ «Windows 95, original release, without Internet Explorer?». betaarchive.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Hardmeier, Sandi (August 25, 2005). «The History of Internet Explorer». Microsoft. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ Borland, John (April 15, 2003). «Software empire pays high price». CNET News. CNET Networks. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
- ^ a b Sink, Eric (April 15, 2003). «Memoirs From the Browser Wars». Eric Weblog. Ericsink.com. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
- ^ «Windows History». Microsoft. June 30, 2003. Archived from the original on October 2, 2003. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
- ^ «Computer History». islandnet.com.
- ^ a b c «Microsoft Internet Explorer Web Browser Available on All Major Platforms, Offers Broadest International Support». Microsoft.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
- ^ «Search Engine Market Share». marketshare.hitslink.com. November 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
- ^ a b «Victor: Software empire pays high price | CNET News.com». News.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
- ^ thespike67 (June 17, 2012). «Internet Explorer History». The Help Desk Corner. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
- ^ «By having IE3 rename your previous version, Microsoft gives you a fallback in case IE3 crashes. IE3 also scans for Netscape bookmarks and converts them to IE3 favorites.» Jonathan Chau (November 1, 1996). «Internet Explorer 3.0». Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
- ^ «Browser Version Market Share». marketshare.hitslink.com. October 2008. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
- ^ «Supporting Offline Browsing in Applications and Components». Microsoft. August 15, 2017.
- ^ «WinPlanet IE4 Review». cws.internet.com.
- ^ «PC Pro IE4 Review». pcpro.co.uk. Archived from the original on March 21, 2005.
- ^ Stroud, Forrest. «MacUser IE 4 Review». macuser.co.uk. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005.
- ^ «KB197311». support.microsoft.com.
- ^ «MS Article ID 237787». support.microsoft.com.
- ^ «SMIL Standards and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8». Archived from the original on June 3, 2007. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
- ^ «Using a web browser to access gopher space». Retrieved May 11, 2007.
- ^ «XPSP2 and its slightly updated user agent string». IEBlog. MSDN. September 2, 2004. Retrieved September 26, 2010. SV1 stands for «Security Version 1», referring to the set of security enhancements made for that release []. This version of Internet Explorer is more popularly known as IE6 SP2, given that it is included with Windows XP Service Pack 2, but this can lead to confusion when discussing Windows Server 2003, which includes the same functionality in the SP1 update to that operating system.
- ^ «Corporate IT just won’t let IE6 die». Archived from the original on May 1, 2010. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
- ^ «The Internet Explorer 6 Countdown». Microsoft. Archived from the original on May 14, 2013. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
- ^ Thurott, Paul (January 3, 2012). «Microsoft: IE 6 Usage Drops Below 1 Percent in US». Paul Thurott’s Supersite for Windows. p. 1. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- ^ Muchmore, Michael (January 4, 2012). «IE6 Usage Drops Below 1 Percent in U.S.» PC Magazine. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
- ^ «Browser statistics». W3Schools. Retrieved August 4, 2008.
- ^ «Browser statistics». Statcounter. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
- ^ LaMonica, Martin (May 3, 2007). «Microsoft Hints at General Plan for IE 8». CNET. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
- ^ Reimer, Jeremy (May 2, 2007). «Microsoft Drops Hints about Internet Explorer 8». Ars Technica. Condé Nast.
- ^ Hall, Kevin (March 17, 2010). «Internet Explorer 9 Adds HTML5, Drops Windows XP». Dvice.com. NBCUniversal Media. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
- ^ Foley, Mary Jo (March 16, 2010). «Microsoft IE9 Developer Preview with HTML5 Support Ready for Download». ZDNet. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010.
- ^ Keizer, Gregg (March 11, 2014). «US-CERT urges XP users to dump IE». Computerworld. IDG. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
- ^ «Internet Explorer Support Announcement». Microsoft Support Lifecycle. Microsoft. August 7, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
- ^ «Internet Explorer Support Lifecycle Policy FAQ». Microsoft Lifecycle Support Website. Archived from the original on December 9, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
- ^ a b «Microsoft Announces Global Availability of Internet Explorer 9» (Press release). Microsoft. March 14, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^ Oiaga, Marcus (December 20, 2007). «Forget about IE8 – Onward to Internet Explorer 9 in Windows 7». Softpedia. SoftNews Net SRL. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^ «Microsoft Announces Hardware-Accelerated HTML5, Pushes Boundaries on Web and Cloud Development». Microsoft News. March 16, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
- ^ «Internet Explorer 9 system requirements». Microsoft. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
- ^ «HTML5, Hardware Accelerated: First IE9 Platform Preview Available for Developers». IEBlog. Microsoft. March 16, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^ «Benefits of GPU-powered HTML5». IEBlog. Microsoft. April 9, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^ «Meet WOFF, The Standard Web Font Format». IEBlog. Microsoft. April 23, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^ «The Web Standards Project’s Acid3 Test». Microsoft. Archived from the original on November 27, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^ «Microsoft and EU settle dispute». Irish Times. December 16, 2009.
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- ^ «In E.U. Deal, Microsoft Allows Rival Browsers». Time. December 17, 2009. Archived from the original on December 19, 2009. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
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When Vista users try to install the IE10 preview, they see a dialog box that reads, «Windows Internet Explorer Platform Preview does not support any operating system earlier than Windows 7,» after which the installation process terminates.
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Internet Explorer used to be a utterly dominant browser. At present, it has been struggling so much that eventually Microsoft decided to develop a new shiny one called Microsoft Edge. The good news is Internet Explorer isn’t dead yet, at least until June of 2022.
In terms of features, Internet Explorer lacks so much compared to other browsers, not to mention that Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome have tons of extensions available to further enrich their capabilities. Still, Internet Explorer isn’t that bad if you only need a functional browser to browse the web, read articles, and download files.
Features and Highlights
Tabbed Browsing
In the past, Internet Explorer opened every visited site in a new window. It was not convenient, but users have never had to put up with it anymore since tabbed browsing has been supported since the release of Internet Explorer 7.
No matter how many tabs you open, they will always open in one window. When there are too many of them, some will stay visible while the rest are hidden.
Internet Explorer uses the standard keyboard shortcuts to create a new tab (Ctrl + T) and to close a tab (Ctrl + W). Unfortunately there is no option to display the tabs in multiple rows, but this is something that most browsers are also lacking of.
Favorites
When you browse the web, sometimes you may come across an interesting site that you want to revisit later. Instead of writing it down on a paper, you can add the site into the Favorites list. The quickest way to do it is pressing Ctrl + D, which opens a dialog box that lets you name the item or leave the original name as is, as well as specifying the location to save it.
InPrivate Browsing
Internet Explorer records every site that you have visited. When you want to revisit a site but you forget the exact address, you can browse the history to find it. There are times, though, that you may want to hide your internet activities.
InPrivate Browsing is a specialized mode that prevents Internet Explorer from recording your visits in the history. As a result, anyone else who has access to your computer won’t be able to find out about your secret online activities.
However, there is one major disadvantage of using the mode. Since the cookies are not stored as well in the browser, you will have to login again the next time you revisit a site that requires you to do so.
Internet Explorer Free Download for Windows
Internet Explorer is an obsolete browser, but it is still used by a tiny percentage of worldwide population, especially companies. One of the reasons for companies to keep using Internet Explorer has something to do with the high cost of IT infrastructure.
As for home users, some of them are just reluctant to use another browser because it means they have to take time to familiarize themselves with all the new stuff that the browser has. They don’t see any strong reason to switch browser because Internet Explorer is already enough to satisfy their needs. Either you have the same reason or a different one, Internet Explorer is still available for you to download. You can click the link below to download Internet Explorer for Windows:
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Internet Explorer (IE) was Microsoft’s premiere internet browser that was released back in 1995. It enjoyed a long lifespan of 27 years before going out of service in June 2022.
The web browser has a reputation for doing a poor job at surfing the internet and protecting its users. That reputation was further compounded on by superior options like Firefox and Google Chrome.
Since then, Microsoft has moved on to the more recent Edge web browser and recommends that people do so. However, there are some out there who prefer to stick with the tried and true instead of upgrading.
The spirit of Internet Explorer lives on the internet, however. You can still download it, just not officially.
What is the latest IE browser version?
According to Microsoft, Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 10 is the latest version of the internet browser that saw a release and support, but it’s only available for specific versions of the operating system.
The last IE 11 version is available on Windows 10 1903 and 1909. These operating systems also include the more specialized versions like Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise.
Going through that web page, you will also see IE 11 on other versions of Windows 10, plus a version of the browser for Windows Server 2019 and even Windows 7. The reason you see these browsers on that page is that they are the ones that got the most updates.
Windows Server, for those unaware, is a special type of operating system that’s meant for “enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.” Companies use this for their computer servers.
It’s not something the everyday person can get their hands on. All that said, the question remains: can you still use Internet Explorer in 2022? The answer is yes if you still have a computer with the browser on it.
Microsoft strongly recommends that you upgrade to the newer Edge browser, and so do we. Not because of Edge’s features, but because of protection against malware. Bad actors are out there constantly making new forms of malware and improving upon it.
It’s possible that they’ll create malware that IE 10, for example, can’t protect against, if they haven’t already. Microsoft Edge comes with new security tools and is much better protected against malware
Using an outdated browser that no longer has official support from Microsoft is putting your computer at great risk of getting infected by malware.
Quick tip:
Since IE is quite an outdated browser and has no recent updates, you should think of switching your browser. Opera offers fast performance and has a free VPN where you can browse comfortably with increased privacy and security.
Another appreciable feature is the built-in ad blocker to browse with fewer distractions. On top of that, you can browse with a virtual IP address that helps hide your location and also lets you view the web with amplified online privacy within the mobile and desktop Opera browser.
Opera
Outstanding features to improve your desktop and mobile browsing experience.
How many versions of Internet Explorer are there?
Technically speaking, there are 11 major versions of Internet Explorer in the world, assuming there is a very old computer out there running the original IE browser from 1995.
Fantasies aside, the most recently updated versions of the web browser are Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7, as briefly mentioned earlier. Microsoft also lists Internet Explorer 9 RTM as having gotten an update.
RTM stands for Release To Manufacturing and this version of IE9 is simply the latest release of it. It can be used to block ActiveX controls on all websites you visit. ActiveX is used to render multimedia content but is prone to errors. It’s software that rarely gets updated.
Officially speaking, you cannot download Internet Explorer, only Microsoft Edge. We also don’t recommend downloading any Internet Explorer files you find on the internet.
You may come across a Google Search listing that states you can download IE 11 here. Those websites tend to be filled with malware and downloading a file can get you infected.
Plus, IE 11 for Windows Server isn’t available to the public, and companies that use a web browser utilize Edge instead. Internet Explorer for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 is available to download. The same goes for Internet Explorer 9 RTM.
Windows 11 doesn’t natively support IE, but there is an option that will be covered later.
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1. Downloading Internet Explorer 11
- Start by going to the Internet Explorer 11 downloads page.
- Click the Download button.
- Go to the downloaded file’s location and double click to begin installation.
- A window may appear asking you if you want to make changes. Select Yes.
- A window will appear telling you that Internet Explorer 11 has customized settings. Click Install.
- The installation will happened rather quickly. A window will appear telling you that Windows 10 must restart before using it. Click Restart now.
- Click on the search bar, bring up Internet Explorer, and click it to open the browser.
2. Activating IE Mode
- For Windows 11, open Microsoft Edge and click the three dots in the upper right hand corner.
- In the menu that appears, click Settings.
- Click the Default browser entry on the left hand side.
- In this tab, click the blue question mark to learn more about Internet Explorer mode.
- To turn the mode on, click the drop down menu to the right of the page.
- You can choose Always, Never, or Incompatible site only. The final choice is for legacy websites that only work on Internet Explorer.
- Next, select how and when websites will loaded in Internet Explorer Mode. Click the drop down menu next to Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer mode.
- Select Allow and Internet Explorer mode is now On.
What versions of IE are still supported?
Well, none of them. Microsoft no longer officially supports Internet Explorer anymore and there are no plans to change that. And you also can’t have two versions of Internet Explorer on your computer either, at least not in an official sense.
The download link shown earlier is, so far, the only known safe version of Internet Explorer that you can download in 2022. It’s entirely possible that you can have another, but as mentioned earlier, we don’t recommend it because of the risk of malware.
At best, you can have Internet Explorer and Edge on Windows 10. If you’re curious to know which version of IE you have, follow these instructions.
- Click the gear icon in the upper right hand corner.
- Click About Internet Explorer in the menu.
- The Internet Explorer version will appear in a new popup window.
Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions on other apps or if you have some that you recommend. Also, feel free to leave comments about guides you’d like to see or information on other web browsers.
Cesar Cadenas
Networking & Security Specialist
Cesar has been writing for and about technology going on for 6 years when he first started writing tech articles for his university paper. Since then, his passion for technology blossomed into a prosperous writing career. He first started writing about tech in the entertainment world and would later move on to write about smart life tech and social media. He was recently a Technical Writer for tech company Extron where he wrote user guides for audio and video equipment.
He has since moved on to being a freelance writer looking to have a career in copywriting and hopes to share his love and knowledge of technology with the world. Recently, Cesar has written for the cryptocurrency news site, BTCPro and helping people understand tech.