It’s 2019, but some businesses and government agencies still have old websites that don’t function correctly in new web browsers. Windows 10 still includes Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft has committed to supporting it with security updates.
We recommend avoiding Internet Explorer when possible. It’s old and outdated. It doesn’t include modern web features and is likely easier to attack than modern web browsers. Only use it when necessary—which, for most people, shouldn’t be much.
Even Microsoft recommends avoiding IE and encourages you to use Microsoft Edge instead. Microsoft’s Chris Jackson has called Internet Explorer a “compatibility solution“—not a modern web browser you should use.
How to Open a Web Page in IE From Edge
If you use Microsoft Edge, you can quickly open web pages in Internet Explorer when necessary.
To do so, click menu > More Tools > Open with Internet Explorer. Edge will launch IE and open the current web page.
How to Launch Internet Explorer on Windows 10
You don’t have to use Edge to launch IE. You can launch Internet Explorer and use it normally. You’ll find Internet Explorer in your Start menu.
To launch Internet Explorer on Windows 10, click the Start button, search for “Internet Explorer,” and press Enter or click the “Internet Explorer” shortcut.
If you use IE a lot, you can pin it to your taskbar, turn it into a tile on your Start menu, or create a desktop shortcut to it.
Don’t see Internet Explorer in your Start menu? The IE feature may be removed—it’s installed by default, but you’re free to remove it.
Head to Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off. (You can launch the Control Panel by searching for it in the Start menu, too.) Ensure “Internet Explorer 11” is checked in the list of features here and click “OK.”
How to Automatically Open Specific Websites in IE
For system administrators, Windows 10 offers an “Enterprise Mode” feature. Administrators can add a list of websites to the Enterprise Mode list. When a user visits a site on the list in Microsoft Edge, Edge will automatically open that web page in Internet Explorer 11.
This lets users use the Microsoft Edge browser normally. Rather than manually launching IE, Edge will automatically launch IE when they navigate to a website that requires Internet Explorer.
This option is part of Windows Group Policy. You’ll find the “Configure the Enterprise Mode Site List” option at Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Microsoft Edge.
This will all likely change a bit with the launch of the new Microsoft Edge. It’ll be based on Chromium, the open-source project that forms the basis of the Google Chrome web browser. But Internet Explorer, in some form, is set to be part of Windows 10 for the foreseeable future. It’s still necessary for websites that require ActiveX and browser helper objects.
IE may soon be the best way to use old websites that require Adobe Flash on Windows soon, too.
RELATED: What ActiveX Controls Are and Why They’re Dangerous
