Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1 comes pre-installed with Enhanced Protection Mode, or at least it did. The company has today announced that IE11 will no longer have Enhanced Protection Mode on by default, as they have finished gathering the feedback they were collecting.
Microsoft’s support page says: “This update changes the default setting in Internet Explorer 11 for the desktop to disable Enhanced Protected Mode. During the preview releases of Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer 11, we enabled Enhanced Protected Mode by default in both the desktop and immersive modes of Internet Explorer. This was done so that we could receive feedback and data about sites that use add-ons that are incompatible with Enhanced Protected Mode. “
Internet Explorer 11 made its first ‘official’ appearance in the Windows 8.1 Preview, in which Enhanced Protection Mode was on by default. Enhanced Protection Mode disables a number of plugins among other techy stuff which can be a threat to your PC. The reason Microsoft had it on by default was so they could collect feedback from the feature, and now according to them they have finished doing just that.
You can, of course, still enable Enhanced Protection Mode via Internet Explorer 11’s settings dialog. Microsoft even recommends you do this, as having Enhanced Protection Mode on is indeed somewhat of a plus.
