End of Biggest Torrent Search Engine - Torrentz.eu shutdowns Forever !

Over two weeks after the shutdown of Kickass Torrents and arrest of its admin in Poland, the world's biggest BitTorrent meta-search engine Torrentz.eu has apparently shut down its operation.

The surprise shutdown of Torrentz marks the end of an era.

Torrentz.eu was a free, fast and powerful meta-search engine that hosted no torrents of its own, but combined results from dozens of other torrent search engine sites including The Pirate Bay, Kickass Torrents and ExtraTorrent.

The meta-search engine has announced "farewell" to its millions of torrent users without much fanfare, suddenly ceasing its operation and disabling its search functionality.

At the time of writing, the Torrentz.eu Web page is displaying a message that reads in the past tense:

"Torrentz was a free, fast and powerful meta-search engine combining results from dozens of search engines."

When try to run any search or click any link on the site, the search engine refuses to show any search result, instead displays a message that reads:

"Torrentz will always love you. Farewell."

Launched back in 2003, Torrentz has entertained the torrent community for more than 13 years with millions of visitors per day.

However, today, the popular meta-search engine has shut down its operation from all Torrentz domains, including the main .EU domain (both HTTP and  HTTPS version) as well as other backups such as .ME, .CH, and .IN.

Although many copyright holders were not happy with the site with both RIAA and MPAA have reported the site to the U.S. Government in recent years, says TorrentFreak, there is no news of any arrest or legal takedown of the site in this case.

Still, it would be fair enough to wait for an official announcement from the site owners.

End of MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER

Yes, from today, Microsoft is ending the support for versions 8, 9 and 10 of its home-built browser Internet Explorer, thereby encouraging Windows users to switch on to Internet Explorer version 11 or its newest Edge browser.

Microsoft is going to release one last patch update for IE8, IE9 and IE10 today, but this time along with an "End of Life" notice, meaning Microsoft will no longer support the older versions.

So, if you want to receive continuous updates for your web browser and avoid being exposed to potential security risks after 12 January, you are advised to upgrade your browser to Internet Explorer 11, or its new Edge browser.

End of Life of Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 

"Internet Explorer 11 is the last version of Internet Explorer, and will continue to receive security updates, compatibility fixes, and technical support on Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10," Microsoft says.

This move could be part of Microsoft's bigger plan to move its users to the new Edge browser, which is currently available only on Windows 10 PCs.

With the launch of Microsoft Edge last April, the company attempted to encourage Windows 10 users to switch to Edge if they are using its rival browser, such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, as the default web browser.

Edge has been designed completely separate to Internet Explorer, and promises speed and usability, with support for Cortana -- Microsoft's virtual assistant.

Around 340 Million Users Run Internet Explorer

For higher adoption of Edge, Microsoft is finally ending support for Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10. However, an estimated 340 Million Windows users are still running Internet Explorer, and nearly half of those are believed to be using one of the expired IE versions.

Therefore, the older versions of the browser will receive KB3123303 patch today that will feature "nag box" asking users to upgrade their browser.

If you have "Automatic Updates" turned ON, you most likely upgraded to IE11 already. However, users with older IE browsers can turn "Automatic Updates" ON by clicking on "Check for Updates" in the "Windows Update" section of the Control Panel.