London: Software giant Microsoft has planned to implement automatic, silent updates to the latest version of Internet Explorer.
Microsoft said it was starting the project to update millions of machines to improve security online.
Future updates to the browser would be applied without a user's knowledge to help beat scammers catching people out with fake updates, the BBC reports.
“The Web overall is better - and safer - when more people run the most up-to-date browser,” wrote Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's IE boss, in a blogpost.
He said the data gathered by Microsoft for its security intelligence reports showed that many cyber criminals targeted old or outdated software when they tried to trick people into installing fake updates.
Gavin said that to beat such scams, the latest version of the browser was installed all future updates would arrive silently and be applied without a user getting involved.
The upgrade programme will affect IE users running Windows XP, Vista and 7, and will first be rolled out in Australia and Brazil. Only those Windows users with automatic updates turned on will be enrolled in the programme.
Those using Windows XP will be upgraded to IE8, while those on Vista and 7 get bumped up to IE9. This will probably mean the demise of IE6, a 10-year-old version of the browser that Microsoft has been trying to kill off for a while, the report said.
Microsoft also said that those who did not want their browser updated could opt out or uninstall the software.
ANI
First Published: Sunday, December 18, 2011, 15:15