Microsoft to Start Automatic Updates of IE Without Asking the User

By Ellen Messmer

December 15, 2011 — Network World — Microsoft next year will change its automated update process for the Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser to push out the latest version of the browser for XP, Vista and Windows 7 without the notification-style install prompt presented to the end user today.

Rival Google Chrome has had automatic, no-questions-asked updates since its release in 2008.

For those who have opted into the general Windows Update process, the current yes-or-not style install prompt for IE has confused the end user and has slowed browser upgrades, says Ryan Gavin, general manager of IE at Microsoft. Simply updating IE automatically would be a more secure approach, he says.

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The browser is always a big attack space for malware, says Gavin. Updating browsers is fairly simple. And security researchers are unanimous about getting users to the latest version.

Microsofts plan, which will commence in January for certain parts of the world, appears to be getting the thumbs up from some security researchers.

Automatic updates are a very good idea based on every piece of security research Ive seen, says Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer and founder of White Hat Security. Keeping software up to date particularly Web browsers is critical to online security. With that in mind, Im pleased that Microsoft is moving toward an automatic update model, particularly because their approach balances the needs of enterprise customers who still need a mechanism to manage software updates.

Microsofts plans call for starting the new update process for IE in January 2012 with customers in Australia and Brazil. Based on how the new IE update process fares, Microsoft intends to scale it up gradually across the rest of the world. Though Microsoft wont say exactly how many versions of IE are used today worldwide, Gavin acknowledges its well into the hundreds of millions.

The latest version is IE9, released last March. Gavin points out about 35% of users in the U.S. have that version today Not all Microsoft operating systems support the exact same latest browser version, but Microsofts goal is to move end users to the latest version available for each platform. Microsoft says it will take care not to change any of the users personal browser settings in the process, such the home page, search provider or users default browser.

The automatic update process is expected to only occur when a major new browser version is made available, and would likely happen only about once or twice a year depending on the Microsoft schedule for completed new versions of the browser.

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