What’s happening to Internet Explorer? It certainly had its critics over the years, but now it has come to this?! Due to the recent attacks on Google (maybe you’ve read about it) through the much vulnerable IE6 version, the popular browser has received more negative publicity and now it may lose even more users.

Few days ago, hackers exposed a security hole in version 6 and attacked Google with malicious code, which was then even published online for everyone to see.  Even though they used the old version 6, Microsoft cannot guarantee that newer versions 7 and 8 are totally secure. Potential threats include hackers stealing your passwords, bank account and credit card details. Now German, French and Australian governments advise against using all versions of Internet Explorer.

Microsoft suggests that all users upgrade to the latest version (IE8) and install all critical Windows updates. This may help because there is no evidence that individual users have been targetted, and only IE6 is at risk at the moment. However, if you don’t want to risk it, then maybe you should temporarily switch to another browser. The obvious choice would be Mozilla Firefox, but there are others, such as Apple Safari (yes, you can use it on your PC :)), Google Chrome and Opera.

Personally, I like Internet Explorer 7, but I think I will switch to Firefox and occasionally to Safari. I’m not  a big fan of Google Chrome and I have never tried Opera.

Hopefully Microsoft will find some permanent solution to the security problem, because I’m not ready to give up on Internet Explorer.