📢 Microsoft starts redirecting users from Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge (Chromium)

Microsoft has taken a new move to phase out Internet Explorer for its new Chromium-powered Microsoft Edge browser. The company has identified a list of 1,156 websites including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Hotstar, Yahoo Mail, Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, and many others, that will redirect users from IE to Microsoft Edge.

Starting next month, the redirect will take place to the users who are having Microsoft Edge Stable version 87 or higher installed on their system.

The chromium version of the Microsoft Edge is the latest browser from the Redmond giant that is currently being offered to Windows, macOS, Android. Microsoft to soon publish a Linux version of the browser, which is now being tested by Edge Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Now the software giant is ramping up its efforts to kill the Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) browser, and offer users to use the latest version of Microsoft Edge by issuing a redirect notice.

Initially, the redirect will take place to the sites which have compatibility issues with Internet Explorer, and the list of such incompatible sites maintained by Microsoft contains 1000+ websites.

According to the Microsoft Edge enterprise roadmap and release schedule, Microsoft to release Edge 87 next month. With that in place, Microsoft to show a one-time redirection dialog to the users explaining why they are being redirected.

Users will also be prompted to provide their consent to copy their browsing data and preferences (Favorites, Passwords, Browsing History, Home Page, Search Engines, open tabs, settings, and cookies) from Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge.

If they don't provide their consent by checking the "Always bring over my browsing data and preferences from Internet Explorer", they can click Continue browsing to continue with their browsing session.

In case you want to know, this redirection is being offered through an Internet Explorer Browser Helper Object (BHO) named "IEtoEdge BHO".

For those who want to know, Microsoft is currently testing Sleeping Tabs and Startup Boost features of Microsoft Edge and those will hit the stable release channel very soon.