Worried about recent Internet Explorer warnings?
asks Peter Clarke of PC PAL
Several of my customers have reported recently seeing worrying headlines such as that in the Daily Mail, “Don’t use IE: Government issues warning over Internet Explorer bug and says hackers are ALREADY exploiting it”
Internet Explorer (IE) is a commonly used internet browser and Microsoft has said that the IE bug is present in versions 6 to 11. So, what does it mean for you?
Firstly, don’t panic. This is not unusual for any software and Microsoft will provide a fix in one of those updates that we are all asked to do on a regular basis. The difference this time is that those of you using Windows XP will not be provided with a fix as XP is no longer supported by Microsoft.
What should you do?
If you are using an operating system other than Windows XP
- Keep up to date with your Windows updates – it is easy to set a schedule to automatically look for and install them. This will ensure you don’t miss important security updates
- If you are still worried, try using a different internet browser such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. These are simple to use and can be set as your default browser to make things easy for you
If you use Windows XP as your operating system
- It is advisable to switch your browser to Chrome or Firefox as stated above
- Consider an upgrade to a supported operating system which will therefore get security updates. This may be possible using your existing computer and just upgrading the software
If you need some help with this or want to discuss it further don’t hesitate to call me – I’ll be happy to help and find a solution for you.
