Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 10 browser for Windows 7

Microsoft announced the general availability of Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7, providing availability of IE10 to millions of customers worldwide. It hopes the latest version of its market-leading browser will win back customers who have migrated to Google Inc's Chrome and help it establish a toe-hold in the fast-growing mobile browser market.

The world's largest software maker, whose Internet Explorer browser elbowed out Netscape Navigator in the early days of the web, said IE 10 is 20 per cent faster at downloading sites than its predecessor IE 9 and allows for touch-screen commands.

The browser has been available since late October for users of Windows 8, Microsoft's new touch-friendly operating system, but now becomes available for the 700 million or so users of Windows 7.

Microsoft is hoping PC and laptop users will like the new browser enough to consider buying Windows 8 tablets rather than Apple Inc's iPad, which does not run Internet Explorer.

Various versions of Microsoft's venerable Internet Explorer franchise still dominate desktop browsing, with 55 per cent of the PC browser market all together. But it has in recent years lost share to Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome, which now account for 20 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, according to tech research firm NetMarketShare.

IE 10 running on Windows 8 has got generally good reviews, and has been hailed as the best version of Internet Explorer yet, but it has not been considered decisively superior to Chrome or Firefox.

In the smaller but faster-growing mobile browser market, Apple's Safari is the runaway leader with 61 percent, owing to the popularity of its iPhones and iPads while Google's Android browser has 21 per cent.

Tablets running Windows 8, including Microsoft's own Surface devices, have not sold strongly since they were launched last October, restricting IE 10's popularity so far. Only 2.3 per cent of computer users are running Windows 8, according to NetMarketShare.

First Facebook, then Apple and now Microsoft's computers hacked

Microsoft said that a small number of its computers, including some in its Mac software business unit, were infected with malware, but there was no evidence of customer data being affected and it is continuing its investigation.

The world's largest software company said the security intrusion was "similar" to recent ones reported by Apple and Facebook.

The incident, reported on one of the company's public blogs happened "recently", but Microsoft said it chose not to make any statement publicly while it gathered information about the attack.

"This type of cyberattack is no surprise to Microsoft and other companies that must grapple with determined and persistent adversaries," said Matt Thomlinson, general manager of Trustworthy Computing Security at Microsoft, in the company's blog post.

Over the past week or so, both Apple and Facebook said computers used by employees were attacked after visiting a software developer website infected with malicious software.

The attacks come at a time of broader concern about computer security.

Newspaper websites, including those of The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, have been infiltrated recently. Earlier this month US President Barack Obama issued an executive order seeking better protection of the country's critical infrastructure from cyber attacks.