Internet Explorer update procrastinators look out!

Come January, Microsoft will start forcing users to update from older versions of Internet Explorer. But don’t fret: if you have Automatic Updates enabled in Windows Update, the update will occur seamlessly and worry free.

Microsoft already provides security updates to Internet Explorer through Windows Update. However, under the forced update, legacy browser users will see a full-browser upgrade. This means Windows XP users on Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 will be upgraded to version 8, and Windows Vista users will be upgraded to Internet Explorer 9.

According to Microsoft, a big motivating factor to introduce the forced upgrades is security risks. The latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report indicates that malware is an enormous threat facing computer user as malware often goes after security holes in browsers.

According to Microsoft, forced updates will first be introduced to Windows users in Brazil and Australia because people there use a broad spread of IE6, IE7, and IE8.