Last year Microsoft announced that Internet Explorer 11 will be the last version of its popular browser and its official support for previous versions will end in 2016. The company has placed their resources into the development of Internet Explorer’s replacement, the Edge web browser which was packaged with Windows 10 and released earlier this year. Beginning on January 12, 2016, the company will discontinue technical support and security updates for every version of Internet Explorer previous to version 11. 

A significant portion of computer users are still using older versions of Internet Explorer, including version 10 (4.37%), 9 (6.57%) and 8 (10.48%), with a smaller contingent still using 7 and 6. Added up, this accounts for approximately half of all Internet Explorer users (Source: NetMarketShare). According to ComputerWorld, it equals 370 million users who should upgrade their browsers or switch to a different browser altogether when Microsoft stops providing support. 

The primary risk in continuing to use unsupported software concerns security, particularly as it relates to a web browser. As the majority of computer viruses infect users through websites and web-based applications, the lack of software updates makes a computer increasingly vulnerable to viruses, spyware and other threats which can steal data or cause damage. Microsoft releases a significant amount of security and privacy patches for its software every month, typically on a Tuesday, referred to by Microsoft users as Patch Tuesday. These updates routinely address serious security holes in relation to an ever-evolving variety of online threats. This past year alone, the company has released dozens of security patches for various versions of Internet Explorer, some of them rated "critical" based on Microsoft’s own security standards. 

In addition to security threats, users who don’t update may also experience problems with software which works in conjunction with their web browser. For example, Microsoft’s Office 365 is intended to run with the latest version of Internet Explorer or Edge. Businesses may also run the risk of not complying with due diligence, security, and privacy requirements by using unsupported software.