Big things are expected when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. Something similar is at play here for Internet Explorer 11, the latest version of Microsoft’s web browser, and Windows 7, the company’s popular operating system.
The only thing is that Windows 7 is the most popular OS in the world — by far.
And not everyone (or every company) is ready to upgrade to a new version of Internet Explorer upon release, for one reason or another. That is why Redmond released the IE11 Automatic Update Blocker Toolkit last week, giving users the power to block the deployment of upcoming browser.
Microsoft also rolled out a detailed blog post that provides more details on the tool, while confirming that manual installation of Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7 machines will actually be possible.
As the company explained:
“The IE11 Automatic Update Blocker Toolkit can be used to prevent Internet Explorer 11 from being automatically installed on users’ Windows 7 machines when it is available via Automatic Update.
This Toolkit has no expiration date and is configured either by running the registry file on the client machine or by deploying Group Policy in domain joined environments. The toolkit also provides an unblock procedure that allows IE11 to be installed through Automatic Update.”
It is worth noting that Windows 7 machines that are running the preview version of Internet Explorer 11, released earlier this year, will not have the installation of the full version blocked by this toolkit.
But you can read up on the full details at the link above, as the new browser looks set to be pushed via the Windows Update option later this week.
Internet Explorer 11 lands as part of Windows 8.1 on October 18 as the default web browser on the upcoming operating system.
It will be available in two different flavors, namely desktop and Modern (pictured above), with the former also set to be offered as an optional download to Windows 7 users.
