Internet Explorer facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Internet Explorer

Screenshot Internet Explorer 11 running on Windows 10
Original author(s)	Thomas Reardon
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	August 16, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-08-16)
Stable release(s) [±]
11.0.220  (November 10, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-11-10) (security updates as of October 11, 2021 ))
Preview release(s) [±]
N/A
Operating system	Windows (previously supported: Mac OS X, Solaris, HP-UX)
Platform	IA-32, x86-64, ARMv7, IA-64 (previously supported: MIPS, Alpha, PowerPC, 68k, SPARC, PA-RISC)
Included with	Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 Windows 95 OSR1 and later Windows NT 4 through Windows 10 version 21H2 Windows Phone 7 through Windows Phone 8.1 Mac OS 8.1 through Mac OS X 10.2 Zune HD Xbox 360 Xbox One
Successor	Microsoft Edge
Standard(s)	HTML5, CSS3, WOFF, SVG, RSS, Atom, JPEG XR
Available in	95 languages
Type	Web browser Feed reader
License	Proprietary, requires a Windows license

Internet Explorer (often called IE) was a popular web browser created by Microsoft. It was a program that let you explore websites on the internet. IE was first released in 1995 as part of the Microsoft Windows computer operating system.

For many years, Internet Explorer was the most used web browser. In 2002 and 2003, about 95% of people used it! But over time, other web browsers like Firefox and Chrome became popular. This caused IE's usage to go down.

The last version of Internet Explorer was Internet Explorer 11. Microsoft later created a new browser called Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer 11 was removed from newer versions of Windows, like Windows 11, in 2021. On June 15, 2022, Microsoft officially stopped supporting Internet Explorer 11 for most Windows versions. Now, Microsoft Edge has a special "IE mode" for older websites that still need Internet Explorer to work.

The Story of Internet Explorer

The idea for Internet Explorer started in 1994 with a person named Thomas Reardon. Microsoft bought some code from another company called Spyglass, Inc. to help build it.

Internet Explorer 1: The Beginning

Internet Explorer 1 came out on August 16, 1995. It was included with a special add-on for Windows 95 called Microsoft Plus! At first, only about six people worked on Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer 2: New Features Arrive

Internet Explorer 2 was released in August 1996. This version added important features like SSL (for secure websites), cookies (small files websites save), and support for Internet newsgroups. It was also the first version available for Windows 3.1 and Mac computers.

How many people used Internet Explorer from 1994 to 2010.

Internet Explorer 3: Becoming Popular

Internet Explorer 3 was released in August 1996 and became much more popular. It was the first major browser to support CSS, which helps make websites look good. It also introduced support for ActiveX (small programs that run in the browser) and Java applets. This version was the first to use the famous 'blue e' logo. About 100 people worked on IE3.

Internet Explorer 4: Joining Windows

Internet Explorer 4 came out in September 1997. This version was deeply connected with the Windows operating system. If you installed it, your Windows desktop could even look like a web page! This close connection led to some legal issues for Microsoft. IE4 also added features for companies to control browser settings and allowed you to browse websites offline.

Internet Explorer 5: More Web Standards

Internet Explorer 5 was launched in March 1999. It was included with Windows 98 Second Edition. This version improved support for XML (a way to organize data) and allowed you to save web pages in a special format called MHTML. It also introduced XMLHttpRequest, which was a big step for creating interactive websites (later known as Ajax). By 1999, over 1,000 people worked on Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer 6: The Long-Lasting Version

Internet Explorer 6 was released in August 2001, just before Windows XP. It added more features for web developers and a new look that matched Windows XP. IE6 was very widely used for many years. Microsoft later suggested people upgrade to newer versions because IE6 became old and had some security risks.

Internet Explorer 7: Tabs and Security

Internet Explorer 7 came out in October 2006. This version brought many improvements. It introduced tabbed browsing, which means you could open multiple websites in one browser window using tabs. It also added a search box, a way to read web feeds (like news updates), and a filter to protect against phishing (fake websites trying to steal your info).

Internet Explorer 8: Better Standards Support

Internet Explorer 8 was released in March 2009. Microsoft focused on making it more secure and easier to use. IE8 also followed web standards much better, which helped websites look the same for everyone. It even passed the Acid2 test, which checks how well a browser supports web standards. New features included Accelerators (quick ways to use web services) and InPrivate browsing (which doesn't save your browsing history).

Internet Explorer 9: Faster and Modern

Internet Explorer 9 was released in March 2011. It was designed to be much faster, especially for JavaScript (the code that makes websites interactive). It also used your computer's graphics card to make web pages load more smoothly (called hardware accelerated rendering). IE9 improved its support for modern web standards like CSS 3 and HTML5 video.

Internet Explorer 10: For Newer Windows

Internet Explorer 10 was released in 2012 with Windows 8. It was an update that only worked on Windows 7 and newer Windows operating systems.

Internet Explorer 11: The Final Chapter

Internet Explorer 11 was released in October 2013. This was the last version of Internet Explorer. Instead of making an IE12, Microsoft launched a brand new browser called Microsoft Edge in 2015. While IE11 was still included in some versions of Windows 10, it was mostly there for older websites. As mentioned, Microsoft officially stopped supporting IE11 for most users in June 2022.

How Internet Explorer Worked

Internet Explorer was designed to show many different kinds of web pages. It also had features that worked with the Windows operating system, like Microsoft Update.

Standards Support

Internet Explorer used a special "engine" called Trident to display web pages. It supported common web languages like HTML and CSS. However, it sometimes had its own ways of doing things, which meant some websites looked different in IE than in other browsers. Newer versions of IE tried to follow web standards more closely.

Special Features

Internet Explorer added some unique features that other browsers later adopted. One example is the favicon, which is the small icon you see in your browser tab or next to a website's name in your favorites list.

Easy to Use Features

IE included features to make browsing easier. It had Pop-up blocking to stop annoying ads and tabbed browsing (starting with IE7) to let you open many pages in one window.

Temporary Internet Files

Internet Explorer saved copies of websites you visited in a special folder called "Temporary Internet Files." This helped pages load faster if you visited them again. It also meant you could sometimes look at pages even when you were offline.

Security and Safety

Internet Explorer had a security system that put websites into different "zones" (like Internet, Local Intranet, Trusted sites). Each zone had different security rules.

Starting with IE7, it included a phishing filter. This helped warn you if you were about to visit a fake website trying to trick you. IE8 also started blocking websites known to have malware (harmful software).

In Windows Vista and later, Internet Explorer often ran in "Protected Mode." This meant the browser had fewer permissions on your computer. So, even if a bad website tried to do something harmful, it would have a harder time causing damage to your system.

Microsoft regularly released updates and patches to fix security problems in Internet Explorer.

Security Problems

Over the years, Internet Explorer faced many security challenges. Some spyware and computer viruses were able to get onto computers because of weaknesses in IE's security. Sometimes, just visiting a bad website could install harmful software without you even knowing. This was called a "drive-by install".

Many security issues were also linked to ActiveX controls, which were small programs that could run in the browser. Because these ActiveX programs had a lot of access to your computer, if they had a flaw, it could be a big problem. Microsoft added safeguards in later versions to help control ActiveX.

In 2010, there was a serious security flaw that affected Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8. Some governments, like Germany and France, even warned their citizens to use other web browsers until Microsoft released a fix. Microsoft quickly released an update to fix this problem.

How Many People Used It?

The number of people using Internet Explorer was very closely linked to how many people used Microsoft Windows. Since IE was included with Windows, its use grew very quickly.

By 2002, Internet Explorer was used by about 95% of internet users! It had almost completely taken over from its main competitor, Netscape.

However, after 2003, IE's market share slowly started to drop. This was mainly because new browsers like Firefox and later Chrome became popular. Even though its share went down, Internet Explorer remained a very widely used browser for a long time.

Usage Over Time

Here's a quick look at how many people used Internet Explorer over the years:

	Total	IE8	IE7	IE6	IE5	IE4	IE3	IE2	IE1
2009	sm=n 66.92%	sm=n 10.4%	sm=n 26.1%	sm=n 27.4%	sm=n 0.08%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
2008	sm=n 72.65%	sm=n 0.34%	sm=n 46.06%	sm=n 26.2%	sm=n 0.15%	sm=n 0.01%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
2007	sm=n 78.60%	sm=n -	sm=n 45.5%	sm=n 32.64%	sm=n 0.45%	sm=n 0.01%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
2006	sm=n 83.30%	sm=n -	sm=n 3.49%	sm=n 78.08%	sm=n 1.42%	sm=n 0.02%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
2005	sm=n 87.12%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n 82.71%	sm=n 4.35%	sm=n 0.06%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
2004	sm=n 91.27%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n 83.39%	sm=n 7.77%	sm=n 0.1%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
2003	sm=n 94.43%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n 59%	sm=n 34%	sm=n 1%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
2002	sm=n 93.94%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n 50%	sm=n 41%	sm=n 1%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
2001	sm=n 90.83%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n 19%	sm=n 68%	sm=n 5%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
2000	sm=n 83.95%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n 71%	sm=n 13%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
1999	sm=n 75.31%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n 41%	sm=n 36%	sm=n 1%	sm=n 0%	sm=n 0%
1998	sm=n 45.00%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n  ?	sm=n  ?	sm=n  ?	sm=n  ?
1997	sm=n 39.40%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n  ?	sm=n  ?	sm=n  ?	sm=n  ?
1996	sm=n 20.00%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n  ?	sm=n  ?	sm=n  ?
1995	sm=n 2.90%	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n -	sm=n  ?	sm=n  ?

Operating System Compatibility

Over time, Internet Explorer worked with many different operating systems. Early versions could even run on Mac and Unix computers. However, newer versions of IE mostly worked only with different versions of Windows.

^* Internet Explorer 6 SP2 was only available as part of Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1 or SP2.
^** The version of Internet Explorer included with Windows 95 changed with different releases: 2.0 was with OSR1, 3.0 with OSR2, and 4.0 with OSR2.5.
^*** Not directly supported, but could be installed using a special "Standalone" installer.
^& The final version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 did not include IE7.
^$ Not directly supported, but possible with a special installer for IE6 Alpha.
^Ł Internet Explorer 2.0 and 2.0.1 needed System 7.0.1 or newer. Internet Explorer 2.1 needed System 7.1 or newer.
^€ Included Internet Explorer 3.01 in Mac OS 8.1; Internet Explorer 4.01 in Mac OS 8.5 and 8.5.1; Internet Explorer 4.5 from Mac OS 8.6 to 9.0.4; Internet Explorer 5 from Mac OS 9.1 to 9.2.2.
^¥ Internet Explorer 5 Macintosh Edition needed Mac OS 7.6 or newer. Internet Explorer version 5.1; 5.1.4; 5.1.5; 5.1.6 and 5.1.7 needed Mac OS 8.0 or newer.
¹⁶ This means it was a 16-bit version.

Removing Internet Explorer

It was possible to uninstall major updates of Internet Explorer. However, removing the version that came with Windows was a bit tricky. Microsoft argued that taking IE out of Windows could make the system unstable.

If you removed Internet Explorer, some programs that relied on its parts might stop working. Also, the Windows help system wouldn't work well because it used IE components.

With Windows 7, Microsoft added a way to safely remove Internet Explorer 8. This removed the main IE program (iexplore.exe) without harming other parts of Windows.

Related pages

• Web 2.0

Images for kids

• 

  Internet Explorer 1

• 

  Logo for Internet Explorer 2

• 

  Logo for Internet Explorer 5

• 

  Page zoom as seen in IE9. You could zoom from 10% to 1000%.

• 

  Internet Explorer compared to Firefox on the Acid3 web standards test.

See also

In Spanish: Internet Explorer para niños