Microsoft will force open some websites in Edge instead of Internet...

Internet Explorer is undergoing major changes.

Starting next month, users trying to access certain websites will be denied IE from loading the URL and the website will automatically open in Edge instead.

This IE-to-Edge enforced behavior is part of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer expiration plans.

Microsoft has gradually rolled out the feature for some Windows users for testing purposes since the Edge 84 was released this summer.

However, with the release of Edge 87 slated for next month, Microsoft plans to enable IE-to-Edge enforced action for all IE users.

Forced IE-to-Edge behavior enabled for 1,156 websites only

At the heart of this new feature is a new DLL file that Microsoft tacitly added to Edge installations over the summer.

The dll file named ie_to_edge_bho.dllis a Browser Helper Object (BHO). BHO files are plugins for Internet Explorer. This file will be installed under:

C: Programme Microsoft Edge Application [VERSION] BHO

C: Programme (x86) Microsoft Edge Application [VERSION] BHO

Even if the BHO file is saved in the Edge folder, the BHO is loaded via a registry key in IE every time Internet Explorer is started.

This BHO monitors which websites a user wants to access, regardless of whether the navigation occurs by clicking on a link or by entering the URL in the address bar.

Every time this happens, the ie_to_edge_bho.dll The file checks to see if the user’s URL can be found on a list of websites with known IE incompatibilities.

This list is maintained by Microsoft engineers and currently contains 1,156 entries.

Big names on the list include YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Yahoo Mail, StackOverflow, StackExchange, VK, ESPN, Chase, Hotstar, Moneygram, Eharmony, and GoDaddy, to name a few.

This means that by next month, most IE users will no longer be able to load these websites into Internet Explorer. Every time they try The site will open in a new Edge window. [see a video here]

In IE, the DLL loads the following page and explains why the site could no longer load using Internet Explorer.

Image: ZDNet

Since this is a fairly intrusive new behavior, Microsoft is careful to provide corporate customers with group policies so they can disable enforced IE-to-Edge behavior, or at least control some aspects of their behavior.

Obviously, this new action is only available on systems that have both Edge and IE installed. System administrators who manage older workstations that only have IE installed do not have to worry about this forced redirection to Edge.