As of 18 October 2021, Standard Bank will stop the support of the Internet Explorer 11 browser. Regular security updates are required to help protect devices, so upgrading and staying current is important. This means that customers that use IE 11 browser to access Standard Bank Internet Banking will experience degraded services or will not be able to access the browser.
Internet Explorer: A brief overview
The first version of Internet Explorer was released in 1995 and played an instrumental role in the internet browser ecosystem when it had a market share of roughly 95% in 2003. Over the years, usership declined due to the launch of other free web browsers, such as Google Chrome. Today, Internet Explorer has less than 1% market share.
On 17 March 2015, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Edge would be replacing Internet Explorer as the default browser on its Windows 10 devices, even though Internet Explorer is still installed in Windows 10 to maintain compatibility with older websites and intranet sites that require ActiveX and other Microsoft legacy web technologies.
The first phase of the decommissioning of Internet Explorer began last year when it was announced that the web app for Microsoft Teams would stop working on Internet Explorer from 30 November 2020 while services included in Microsoft 365, such as Outlook and OneDrive, would stop connecting to Internet Explorer 11 from 17 August 2021. The browser itself will continue to be supported for the lifecycle of the Windows version on which it is installed until 15 June 2022.
What does this mean for you?
Essentially, as an internet user, it is time for you to switch to a different browser option to continue to get the best out of your browsing experience. While it will take another year before Internet Explorer is fully shut down, a large number of well-known applications are phasing out support for the browser, including social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as business tool providers such as Salesforce.
What are your other browser options?
Microsoft has encouraged users to switch to Microsoft Edge, which has legacy support for Internet Explorer-based websites and offers users a faster, more secure, and more modern browsing experience. However, there are other options in the market, such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Brave and Safari, which offer their own unique browsing experience for different devices.
