It's time to say goodbye to IE6.

This article was originally published as part of the Pobox blog. Pobox was acquired by Fastmail in 2015.

It can be hard to say goodbye to something familiar. A favorite toy, an old coat, a well-used picnic blanket… they all hold fond memories. But if Internet Eplorer 6 were an old coat, it would be a flammable polyester one infested with bugs, that was secretly giving you a rash every time you wore it. It’s time to say goodbye to IE6.

The security breach at Google, amongst other locations, targeted computers that have IE6 installed, because they have so many security vulnerablities. IE6 is notoriously HTML non-compliant, so web pages can look substantially different on IE6 than they do on modern web browsers. (Test your browser, to see how standards compliant it is!) Because of its non-compliance and limitations, more and more companies are refusing to support IE6 browsers, including Google Apps, and more and more organizations are pushing people to upgrade, like the German Government.

IE8 is not perfect, and still has security vulnerabilities that are being discovered. But it is light years better. Like most modern browsers, it will warn you about phishing attempts, which protects not only from computer viruses, but also identity theft, and even the possibility of giving hackers access to your bank account.

If you have a custom application that requires the use of IE6, it may not be possible for you to upgrade your version of IE. If that’s the case, please download Firefox, and use it whenever you are not using the custom application. The security holes in IE6 may mean that you are compromising all the data on your computer, or that spammers are using your computer (and your Pobox account!) to send spam and viruses, if you continue to use it for your daily browsing.

Nearly 90% of Pobox customers have already made the switch. We hope that you guys will spread the good word to friends and family members you might see using IE6, or even do them a favor, and help them upgrade their computer! For the last 10%, it’s time to make the switch.

Yes, Jenn, I’m talking to you.