Microsoft is working to make Edge browser in Windows 10 one of the fastest, most stable, and most secure apps on the market, but at the same time, the company doesn’t want to neglect Internet Explorer, which continues to be available on older versions of Windows.

Today, the company has announced that Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 has just received HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) for more effective protection against man-in-the-middle attacks.

HSTS was already available in Internet Explorer on Windows 10 and in Microsoft Edge, but with this update, Windows 7 and 8.1 users are getting it too. The new feature is being shipped via KB3058515, an update included in this month’s Patch Tuesday rollout.

“Site developers can use HSTS policies to secure connections by opting in to an HSTS preload list, which registers websites to be hardcoded by Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, and other browsers to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS. Communications with these websites from the initial connection are automatically upgraded to be secure. Like other browsers which have implemented this feature,” Microsoft explains.
The Windows 10 advantage

While it’s good to see Microsoft add such security improvements to Internet Explorer 11 on older versions of the OS, there’s no doubt that the company hopes that everyone would eventually migrate to Windows 10, which is offered free of charge to those on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

Needless to say, there are lots of security updates waiting for you in Windows 10, so Microsoft Edge should become the preferred browser for everyone who decides to upgrade.

Edge will be offered alongside Internet Explorer at first and will become the default browser, but Microsoft has already indicated that, at some point in the future, it could remove the old browser and keep Edge the only option. This can only happen when the new Edge engine becomes good enough to tackle any compatibility issues that might arise with company apps and websites.