Microsoft Ending Support for Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10 Next Week

Are you still running Internet Explorer 8, 9, or 10? If so, you'll want to get ready for changes coming soon.

Microsoft announced this week that it's ending support for all Internet Explorer browsers except for Internet Explorer 11 on January 12. On that date, users of those aging browsers will receive a message advising them to upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 or Microsoft's newest browser, Edge.

Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 won't be removed from your PC, and they'll still work, but Microsoft warns that continuing to run those browsers after January 12 exposes users to "potential risks."

Because Microsoft won't support those browsers any longer, they won't get security updates, meaning your PC could become vulnerable to viruses and another malware.

GameSpot sister site CNET reports that Internet Explorer's market share on desktops has dropped from 58.2 percent at the beginning of 2014 to 48.6 percent in December 2015. Over that same period of time, Google's Chrome rose in share from 16.4 percent to 32.3 percent, according to NetMarketShare.

You can learn more about the upcoming Internet Explorer changes here on Microsoft's website and at CNET.

In other Microsoft/Windows news, Microsoft this week announced that Windows 10 had reached 200 million installs, putting it on the "fastest growth trajectory of any version of Windows ever." Microsoft's goal is to have the OS hit 1 billion installs by 2018.