What's wrong with Internet Explorer?

The U.S. government's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is strongly suggesting that users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) switch to another web browser because of "significant vulnerabilities" in technologies included in IE. Once such vulnerability in IE is ActiveX, which lets web sites download and install software onto your computer, sometimes without your knowledge. ActiveX was intended to make it easy to add multimedia and interactive features to sites, but instead it's become a tool for sneaking spyware onto unsuspecting computers.

What ITS recommends

To limit exposure to security vulnerabilities, we recommend that you use a web browser other than Internet Explorer (IE). IE is still required for some applications at Boston College and other sites on the web. While we understand that it is inconvenient to switch between browsers, doing so will contribute to increased protection for your computer. Many people all over the world have made a similar choice.

Web browser ITS recommends instead

ITS recommends that you download and install Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release), which is free from Mozilla, and then use it instead of Internet Explorer.

Web applications at BC that require Internet Explorer

See Boston College's software testing results in the BC Application Compatibility Matrix (BC sign-in required) to see if you may experience problems if you do not use Internet Explorer with a specific Boston College application.

Note: If you find other Boston College web applications that only seem to work properly with Internet Explorer, please report it to the Help Center at: help.center@bc.edu