Microsoft has announced that certain versions of Internet Explorer are vulnerable to being hacked due to a security flaw in the software code.
Machines running one of the affected versions of I.E. can be compromised by allowing a hacker to remotely execute malicious code on your system.
If Internet Explorer is installed on your system (and it almost certainly is), you’ll need to ensure that this update is installed ASAP even if you never use Internet Explorer to browse the Internet.
The list of affected browsers extends all the way from I.E. 7 to the latest version. All versions of Windows up to and including Windows 10 will need to have the update applied.
This post on the Microsoft website gives more details about the issue as well as instructions for installing the critical update.
Notes:
1 – If you have Windows Update set to automatically install updates, your machine most likely already has this update installed. If not, you’ll need to install the update manually per the instructions listed in the Microsoft post at the above link.
2 – This bug is only present in Internet Explorer. Microsoft’s new Edge browser and all of the popular third-party browsers such as Chrome and Firefox are not affected.