Microsoft Internet Explorer users may be surprised when they are redirected to Edge next month

Microsoft has been slowly removing users from its old Internet Explorer browser for a very A long time ago, you recently came to use a forced Windows update to install your new Chromium Edge browser on your Windows PC. But next month, Microsoft plans to force your computer to automatically launch about 1,156 websites in Edge, too, if you try to launch an “incompatible” site in IE.

That’s the report from ZDNet, who also recorded a video showing how it works:

There are many big-name sites on the auto-launch list in Edge, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, various Google products, Microsoft Teams, and quite a few banks and other big brands.

According to Microsoft’s FAQ, the change will be rolled out to Microsoft Edge version 87, which is scheduled to arrive the week of November 19, and Edge will attempt to automatically migrate your browsing data from IE unless you uncheck a box (see image down).

Given that previous versions of Internet Explorer have long been web developers’ nightmare, and since even generous estimates suggest that Internet Explorer accounts for no more than 5 percent of current web traffic, this is not a particularly frustrating move. Personally, I haven’t touched IE in years and am glad to hear that it could become a minor security risk.

But I also understand that some people still use the browser, and those people might get confused when their computer suddenly starts Edge. This post is for them.