"We believe that the combination of consumer opt-in, an open platform for publishing of Tracking Protection Lists (TPLs), and the underlying technology mechanism for Tracking Protection offer new options and a good balance between empowering consumers and online industry needs," says Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate Vice President, Internet Explorer, on Microsoft’s IE Blog site. Users do not always realize that information about products they research or buy online is often shared with third parties, Microsoft says. When switched on, the Tracking Protection Lists that will be introduced in IE9 will work like the "Do Not Call" list.

"When the browser calls any other website to request anything (an image, a cookie, HTML, a script that can execute), the browser explicitly provides information in order to get information," Hachamovitch says. "By limiting data requests to these sites, it is possible to limit the data available to these sites for collection and tracking."

Internet Explorer 9 will allow users to write lists and share them with friends and coworkers so they can get the same protection. Microsoft plans to release the standards used to compile TPLs under an open license to enable other browser manufacturers to incorporate the functionality into their own products. However, the tracking protection system will be turned off by default in IE9, and users have to opt in to utilize it.

Microsoft plans to release the new browser in early 2011. The current Beta has been downloaded more than 15 million times since it became available in September 2010.

"This is quite a coup for Google as they have gone from zero to almost 10 percent of the US market in under two years," said Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter, in a statement. "There is a battle royal going on between Google and Apple in the internet browser space (Chrome v Safari) as well as in the mobile market (Android v iPhone)."

On an international scale, Chrome commands a market share of 9.4 percent and passed Safari some time ago. Google’s web browser supports almost 50 languages, while Apple’s Safari is currently available in 16 languages. The latest analysis is based on 3.6 billion page views, according to StatCounter. The company says that it analyzed 874 million page views in the U.S.

Speed and (perhaps perceived) security seem to be the factors users take into account before deciding what browser they want to use. The latest version 5 of Google's Chrome claims improved JavaScript and application performance. To increase security, Chrome periodically downloads updates of two blacklists (one for phishing and one for malware), and warns users when they attempt to visit a harmful site. Google notifies the owners of listed sites who may not be aware of the presence of the harmful software.

Google's Chrome is flying high with business and personal users. Photo: www.imagine-your-world.com

Security concerns may be the main reason for Microsoft's slow but steady decline. The company lost 0.7 percent market share in the four week period from March to April 2010, but 7.9 percent compared to April 2009. During 2002 and 2003, Internet Explorer basically controlled the market with a share of over 95 percent.

Microsoft hopes to turn things around with the upcoming Internet Explorer (IE) 9. IE 9 focuses on new standards such as HTML5 and CSS3 and a preview already scored 55 out of 100 possible points in the ACID3 browser test. By comparison, IE8 scored only 20 points.

The planned release of Google's new Chrome OS, which site on top of Chrome, could provide an additional boost to the browser. As Firefox, Chrome is also betting on extensions to help to customize the experience users have with the browser.

Some CSS3 features such as opacity will be supported, Microsoft said during a platform preview. Since the software is not even in Beta, which is estimated to be released in May 2010, it still has many rough edges such as a missing back button. Microsoft hopes that the new release will help to stop bleeding market share to its rivals. Mozilla’s Firefox now accounts for almost 25 percent market share, and Google’s Chrome is also gaining ground at the expense of Internet Explorer.

The preview tries to give developers something to work with, a target for their website code. The new browser engine's Acid3 score climbed from 20 to 55 out of 100 on the test in the preview, so there is still room to improve the number until the final version is released. When this time will come is not clear yet. Developers interested in the new release can have a look at the preview here.

"Our investigation so far has shown that Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 4 on Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 are not affected, and that Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 on Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, and Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 are vulnerable", Microsoft says in a blog post. “The vulnerability exists due to an invalid pointer reference being used within Internet Explorer. It is possible under certain conditions for the invalid pointer to be accessed after an object is deleted. In a specially-crafted attack, in attempting to access a freed object, Internet Explorer can be caused to allow remote code execution.”

Microsoft recommends running IE in Protected Mode, which is only available on systems running the Windows Vista or later operating systems and at least IE7. In Protected Mode, Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista cannot modify user or system files and settings without user consent.

Microsoft is considering an "out-of-band" update to mitigate the exploit before the company's next patch Tuesday, the company said on its blog.