Andrew Heinzman
Internet Explorer doesn’t work with most websites—that’s nothing new. But beginning this November, Internet Explorer will tell you when it doesn’t work with a site and force you to use the newer Microsoft Edge browser instead.
The new IE-to-Edge feature is included in Microsoft’s upcoming Edge 87 update, scheduled for November 2020. It’s part of Microsoft’s plan to force people off the aging, unsupported, and unsafe Internet Explorer browser to the Chromium-based Edge browser.
Microsoft’s IE-to-Edge feature relies on a DLL file tucked away in Edge installations. The file, cleverly named ie_to_edge_bho.dll, is an Internet Explorer plugin that checks which website you’re trying to access. If you attempt to visit a website with known IE incompatibilities, then IE will force you to use Microsoft Edge instead.
At the time of writing, Microsoft maintains a list of 1,156 websites with IE incompatibilities, including YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Chase, and Yahoo Mail. The list will continue to grow as Microsoft pushes people to migrate from IE to Edge.
Some people may already encounter the IE-to-Edge prompt, as Microsoft began testing it with the release of Edge 84 earlier this year. That said, systems without Microsoft Edge won’t behave this way, and Enterprise customers using Internet Explorer can disable redirection through group policies.
Source: Microsoft via ZDNet
