Reminder: Microsoft Edge Legacy will be retired in March 2021

Martin Brinkmann
Jan 31, 2021
Internet, Microsoft Edge
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9

Microsoft maintains three different web browsers currently on its Windows 10 platform: Internet Explorer 11, the legacy Microsoft Edge browser, and the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser.

Support for the legacy version of Microsoft Edge ends in March 2021; Microsoft will release a last set of security patches for the web browser on the March 2021 Patch Day before support ends officially.

The company introduced the legacy version of Microsoft Edge when it released its Windows 10 operating system in 2015. Microsoft Edge was designed as a modern web browser with better web standards support, performance, compatibility, and also user features such as an add-ons system that was easier to create extensions for.

microsoft edge legacy end of life

The browser, while better in many regards than Internet Explorer 11, had its fair share of annoyances, and it did not manage to capture a lot of market share on desktop systems. Microsoft released the first stable version of the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser in January 2020. It was clear then that the days of the classic Edge browser were numbered.

Support for the legacy version of Microsoft Edge ends in March 2021. Internet Explorer 11 continues to be supported, the most important reason for keeping the browser alive is backwards support for certain features that many Enterprise organizations and businesses still rely on.

The new Edge supports an Internet Explorer mode that makes it easier to access content that requires Internet Explorer 11 supported features. Microsoft started to exclude Internet Explorer from accessing some of its company tools, e.g. Microsoft Teams access was blocked in November 2020 and Microsoft 365 access will end in August 2021 for users of the browser.

What does it mean for users?

Windows 10 users who still use the legacy version of Microsoft Edge will have to find a new browser to use; this can be the new Microsoft Edge web browser, which replicated much of the functionality of the classic version, or a third-party browser.

Windows 10 includes Internet Explorer 11 and the new Microsoft Edge browser by default.

Microsoft has not revealed plans to uninstall legacy Edge from Windows 10 systems. A likely scenario is that future Windows 10 images won't include the legacy version of Microsoft Edge anymore, and that the legacy version will be removed eventually.

It is not recommended to run the legacy browser after support end as new security vulnerabilities won't be patched anymore after the March 2021 Patch Day.

Now You: Did you use the legacy version in the past? What is your take on the browser? (via Deskmodder)

Summary
Reminder: Microsoft Edge Legacy will be retired in March 2021
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Reminder: Microsoft Edge Legacy will be retired in March 2021
Description
The legacy version of Microsoft Edge will run out of support in March 2021 after the Patch Day releases of the month.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Allwynd said on February 2, 2021 at 5:49 pm
    Reply

    Edge never amounted to anything. Even the new Edge that supports CRX is nothing without the imbeciles at Microsoft shoving it down everyone’s throat at any given opportunity.

    It’s really disgusting how unless you change your default browser, everything is opened in Edge now.

    I don’t like Chrome, but at least Google gave it brand recognition so people will continue to use Edge just to download Chrome.

    I can’t even use Edge, because in order for me to use Sync, it requires me to have a Microsoft account, which I don’t have and the reason for that is because as soon as I sync in, my local Windows 10 account gets automatically turned into a Microsoft account and I never get notified, let alone asked for approval.

  2. Paul(us) said on February 2, 2021 at 1:33 am
    Reply

    Martin, Will you let us know or its wise to uninstall M.s. Ledge?
    And if its possible and wise what’s the best way is to do it so it complete gone from the system.
    Maybe in a article?

  3. Corky said on February 1, 2021 at 1:25 pm
    Reply

    What’s the betting it will hang around and be impossible to remove from the OS for years to come just like IE can’t be removed.

  4. anona said on February 1, 2021 at 11:39 am
    Reply

    What happens to WebView (EdgeHTML-based, not the Blink-based WebView 2) which is still used in lots of UWP apps? What happens to Legacy Edge on the Xbox One? Will those still be supported if a security problem is found?

  5. John G. said on February 1, 2021 at 9:58 am
    Reply

    As far as I know, IE 11 will be supported forever by Microsoft. There are plenty of goverment sites in Europe that still works with Java Runtime, so IE11 is the only way to work with them. :[

  6. pat said on February 1, 2021 at 5:56 am
    Reply

    One thing I loved about Edge legacy was that it was the browser that used the least amount of resources to play videos, 720p videos with 13% cpu on my little Asus laptop, I even watched the “Lord of the ring” trilogy on internet, + 9 hours of wifi streaming on battery. I didn’t see any browser doing better than him.

  7. John said on January 31, 2021 at 11:31 pm
    Reply

    “Legacy Edge” was actually the only MS browser that I was at least a little bit interested in. IE is IE and the new Edge is just a Chromium fork.

    But all I want from MS is that they let me remove whatever browser they include in Windows and don’t nag me with ads and other annoyances. That’s all I’m asking, really.

  8. Jody Thornton said on January 31, 2021 at 7:42 pm
    Reply

    At one point, I wished they would have release the legacy version of Edge for Windows RT tablets, We only had access to IE 11, and that browser is now useless for general browsing.

    I eventually sold my surface tablet, and enjoy iPads and Android tablets now.

    1. Donny said on March 20, 2021 at 3:13 am
      Reply

      the New Microsoft edge sucks causes internet delays that i notice, and i have a constant connection with Xfinity, not only that i notice both Microsoft Edge or Chrome when you run it, the window opens normally then shuts down and then re-opens again real fast, this is bullshit, i don’t like it and so i un-installed Microsoft edge all together, i don’t use it any way so screw that.
      What ever they did, messed up a lot of things so i did away it with Problem Solved..

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