Microsoft will remove all traces of VBScript in future versions of Windows. The old scripting language had become a vector for malware.

Starting this month, Microsoft is sending VBScript to the Windows graveyard. The exit takes place in several phases. In future versions of Windows, the scripting language will continue to be available as an on-demand feature, but eventually it will disappear from Windows completely. Microsoft has not yet given an official date for this.

The door is open to malware

VBScript is a true monument in Windows and has been part of the operating system since 1996. The tool allows system administrators to write and run scripts. PowerShell has also been available for this since 2006, so VBScript has been reduced to a special role.

Since no browser other than Internet Explorer, which was also finally discontinued in June 2022, has ever supported the scripting language, VBScript no longer had the right to exist today. A new version has not been released for ten years.

In fact, Microsoft has good reasons to discontinue VBScript. Those who continued to use the scripting language were attackers who saw it as a useful way to infect Windows systems with malware.

Retired

Microsoft is busy combing through older Windows applications that have been replaced by better alternatives and no longer have any practical use. Wordpad was also discontinued last month.