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Microsoft Edge replaced Internet Explorer as the default Windows web browser in 2015. Six years later, Microsoft is rather aggressively replacing this version of Edge with a newer model.
Microsoft announced on its tech blog on Friday that Edge Legacy (the old browser version preinstalled on Windows 10 PCs) will be automatically removed from those PCs with a software update on April 13. Anyone still using Edge Legacy on Windows 10 is strongly advised to upgrade to the new version of Edge based on Google’s open source Chromium software, which launched a year ago.
If you don’t make the change manually by April 13, your PC will do it for you. Those who have Edge Legacy on their taskbars or desktops will see it replaced by the new version of Edge. You could theoretically continue to use Edge Legacy if you just don’t install the April 13 software update, but the Chromium version of Edge is the only one that will continue to get new features and, more importantly, updates. security update.
For what it’s worth, Microsoft promises the new Edge is fast and reliable. We’ll let you be the judge. It should go without saying, but if you’re using a third-party browser like Chrome or Firefox, this change won’t affect your daily routine in any way. It will be as if it never even happened. We promise.
The deletion news is not entirely a surprise. Microsoft confirmed in August 2020 that the Edge Legacy browser will no longer be supported after March 9, 2021. The latest development reinforces the coming change, with Microsoft making the dramatic decision to automatically remove the browser.
Internet Explorer will stick around, although that is also scheduled for some changes. Microsoft began removing browser support in November 2020, and this is expected to end on August 17, 2021, when Microsoft 365 ends support for the now-old browser.
That doesn’t mean Explorer will follow Edge Legacy into oblivion, however. Microsoft wrote in the 2020 announcement that the browser “will not go away.” The reason? “Customers have made critical investments in legacy applications from IE 11 and we respect that those applications still work.
That said, you definitely shouldn’t continue to use Internet Explorer unless you have a specific reason for doing so.
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