CTL Blog

End of Support for Internet Explorer 8 in CoursePlus

December 26, 2013 | 1 Minute Read

As Microsoft will officially end support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014, and the University is pushing everyone currently using Windows XP to migrate to newer operating systems before that time, we will officially be ending support for Internet Explorer 8 and blocking access to CoursePlus using Internet Explorer 8 starting on May 27, 2014.

The Center technically stopped supporting Internet Explorer 8 for CoursePlus and online courses almost two years ago. However, you could still sign into online courses using Internet Explorer 8 until May 2013, and you can currently sign into CoursePlus using Internet Explorer 8. This will end on May 27, 2014, however, when you will no longer be able to sign into CoursePlus using Internet Explorer 8.

There are numerous reasons for this change. First and foremost, security is a major issue. Once Microsoft stops providing support and security patches for Windows XP and Internet Explorer 8, security experts uniformly predict massive and ongoing exploits against these tools, making them unsafe to use on the Web. Second, in order to create the tools that faculty and students alike need in CoursePlus, we have to use technologies that are not available in Internet Explorer 8 (a Web browser that is currently four years old). Finally, the number of people using Internet Explorer 8 has plummeted, and it takes significant financial resources to continue to support a browser that fewer and fewer people are using.

If you are using Windows XP, you can continue to access CoursePlus after May 27, 2014, if you use Firefox or Chrome as your Web browser instead. JHSPH IT fully supports Firefox and will happily install it on your computer if you need them to do so.