Microsoft is tired of supporting old, unsecured versions of its browsers and has decided to start implementing silent version updates to IE for any one that is using auto-updates on their PC.

Silent IE version updates will commence in January. Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 will be affected, with XP users being forced to upgrade to IE8, while Windows Vista and 7 users getting forced up to IE9 when it is released in March.

It seems MS is hoping to regain some market popularity by forcing users of old & outdated IE products to see what the latest IE offers. Of course, this will also save them support costs as they will no longer need to offer support for old browsers. And hopefully, this will also reduce the impact of viruses, spyware and malware, many of which can be stopped dead in their tracks by simply ensuring the PC is running fully updated & patched software.