Viruses/Worms News

Microsoft releasing Internet Explorer 8 today

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Microsoft said it will release Internet Explorer 8 at noon today, along with a company-commissioned report claiming IE8 is more secure against malware than browsers from Mozilla, Apple and Google.

IE8's Release Candidate 1 was 69 percent effective at catching malware, according to the Microsoft report. Mozilla Firefox 3.07 was 30 percent effective, Apple Safari 3 was 24 percent effective and Google Chrome 1.0.154 had just a 16 percent effectiveness rate at stopping malware infections.

The company said its security firm conducted 141 discrete tests from Feb. 26 through March 10 while monitoring connectivity to ensure the browsers could access the live malware sites being tested.

Amy Barzdukas, a senior director at Microsoft, said people should "look closely at the results" before questioning the validity of the report.

IE8 will be included as part of the Windows 7 release, but for the first time since adding a browser to its operating system, users will have the ability to turn off IE8 as a feature in the system.

Users will be able to download IE8 at 12:00 noon eastern on Thursday from Microsoft's Internet Explorer website and its online download center.ADNFCR-1765-ID-19082580-ADNFCR

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