24 PCWorld DECEMBER 2020NEWS WHY MICROSOFT HAS BLOCKED HUNDREDS OF SITES
and indicated that the change in behavior will
roll out in Edge version 87, scheduled to be
released on or about November 19 (and may
be available by the time you read this). If an IE
user tries to access a blocked site after the
update, they’ll see the warning at right. There
are a ton of sites that will be affected; you can
simply click the link and search for your
favorites. (Microsoft isn’t specifically saying
how these changes will be made to Internet
Explorer, or if the changes are being pushed
to Edge.)
Once the site is actually redirected,
Microsoft will also show a small banner
indicating what steps have been taken, with
the notice that “some websites no longer
work with Internet Explorer.” There’s also a
link to a supplementary webpage that offers
just a brief explanation, as well as a link (go.
pcworld.com/ixme) to running Internet
Explorer within the new Microsoft Edge.
At this point, you have two choices:
Import your browsing data from Internet
Explorer into Edge and begin using it as your
default browser, or enable Internet Explorer
Mode within Edge. (Even though Microsoft
makes the claim that some websites won’t
work with IE, Microsoft seems to be implying
that IE Mode will, in fact, work.)HOW TO ENABLE
INTERNET EXPLORER
MODE WITHIN EDGE
IE Mode may not be a full replacement forInternet Explorer, but Microsoft makes it
available specifically for businesses that
run legacy websites that depend upon
Explorer. IE Mode can be turned on via
Edge’s settings.
In the address bar for Microsoft Edge, type
edge://settings/defaultbrowser
and click Enter. Slide the Allow Sites To Be
Reloaded In Internet Explorer toggle to On.
You’ll need to restart your browser.
There’s one big gotcha here: To launch the
site in IE Mode, you’ll first need to visit it within
Edge, as you would any other site. Then you’ll
need to click the three-dot menu in the upper
right, navigate down to More Tools, then click
Reload In Internet Explorer Mode.
The catch, of course, is that you’ve already
loaded it within Edge, and the Edge UI...so
why reload it in Internet Explorer? Microsoft
hopes you’ll use this “why bother?” approach
to ditch IE altogether.