Introduced in 2001, Internet Explorer 6 is outdated, Microsoft says. (Wikipedia image)

Still using Internet Explorer 6? Microsoft wants you to upgrade … now.

In a blog, Microsoft said it is instituting automatic updates for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, beginning with users in Australia and Brazil in January. The update will be delivered via Windows Update, but users can opt out and upgrade at their own pace. This approach follows a more subtle campaign using social media.

Using automatic updates isn’t anything new (Firefox and Chrome have done it for awhile), but why does the software giant want users to stop using one of its products? For one, IE6 was developed 10 years ago, but at the beginning of 2011, more than 12 percent of users around the world used IE6. Today, that number is down to 8.3 percent, but includes 27.9 percent of all internet users in China.

“Now that we’re in 2011, in an era of modern web standards, it’s time to say goodbye,” Microsoft writes on its own “Death to IE6” countdown site.

More importantly though, are the security issues of using older browsers. Numerous patches have been released for IE6, and several vulnerabilities remain. CNET News has a blog post that goes deep into some of these problems, and predicts that the latest version of Internet Explorer will give Firefox and Chrome a run for their money.

Even though many internet users shifted away from Internet Explorer to Firefox and Chrome a long time ago, 53 percent of the world still uses IE, which was named one of the worst tech products of all time.

Despite this, Microsoft is still supporting IE6 until 2014.