Since the launch of Windows 8.1, the popular search engine Google has been displaying in ‘legacy mode’ for everyone using IE11. There has been no explanation as to why this is happening, and what’s strange about this is that this wasn’t happening on Windows 8.1 before the product launched. October 16 saw Google to be working fine, October 17 did not.
Neither Google nor Microsoft are yet to comment on why this has started to happen to users running IE11. A quick Google search reveals that I am not the only one who is experiencing this. On Google’s own Product Forum, users are complaining that Google is showing up in Legacy mode for them. I also tweeted this out on Twitter, and I received the same response.
Now today, on October 19. Google is completely broken. Search results are being displayed all wrong. The results are in the wrong place, almost as if someone came along and blew the search page up. Why this is happening is still unclear. But it’s strange that this begun happening the day Windows 8.1 launched.
So right now, Google is screwed on Internet Explorer 11. The search engine works absolutely fine on Google Chrome, and FireFox, and Opera, and Safari. It’s just Internet Explorer. Is this Microsoft’s fault? Or is this Google’s?
Update: We have a fix. Whilst in IE11, press ALT+X, navigate to Compatibility View Settings and uncheck ‘Use Microsoft compatibility lists’.
This leads us to believe that this is an error on Microsoft’s part, not Google’s. Microsoft is telling IE11 to display Google in compatibility mode, which renders Google broken. Either way, for users who don’t know how to access the compatibility settings, or don’t have the permissions to, this is a serious problem for IE11 and needs to be fixed.
Update 2: Microsoft has provided a statement to our pals over at Neowin regarding this issue. Microsoft seems to be blaming Google for this issue. “It appears Google made some changes to its search engine that temporarily impacted the way search results rendered for some browsers. We have already made the necessary adjustments to ensure customers using Internet Explorer are not impacted.”
Further reading: Google, Windows 8.1
