Microsoft announced the 2017 that it plans to turn off VBScript on the Internet 11. The company then shut down, but maintained it for specific environments, to give more time to organizations still using VBScript.
VBScript was released by Microsoft about two decades ago and is an active programming language based on Visual Basic.
Sometime in 2000 VBScript became famous when a worm known as I Love You or Love Letter Virus was released.
Users received ILOVEYOU-themed emails containing a LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.txt.vbs attachment. Those who opened the attachment infected their computers with the worm.
One of the problems then was that Windows hid the actual attachment extension. So many Windows users thought it was a harmless text file from someone who loved them.
Infected computers continued to send emails using the victim's contact list.
Microsoft then advised Microsoft Internet Explorer users to disable VBScript from the Internet browser to protect their browser from VBScript attacks.
Administrators and users had to manually disable VBScript in Internet Explorer at that time.
The cumulative updates released in July 2019 for Windows 10 disabled VBScript by default on computers running Microsoft's latest operating system.
The next cumulative updates which will be released in August 2019 for Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 will do the same on older machines.
However, VBScript will not be removed at this time. Microsoft says it will still be possible to enable it on systems if older technology is still required.
Settings for enabling or disabling VBScript execution in Internet Explorer 11 will remain with settings per site security zone, through the Registry, or through the Policy Group if you need to use these scrips.
A post on the Microsoft Support Website gives us more details about the options available. In short: administrators will be able to enable VBScript using the registry, Group Policy (business only), or Web site security zone.
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