Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser lost market share again in December to Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari browsers. IE held 75.8 percent of the browser market in December, down from 77.1 percent the previous month, according to data from Net Applications. Firefox increased its market share from 15.6 to 16.4 percent during the same period, while Safari went from 4.6 to 5.1 percent.

An interesting side note in Net Applications' data is the speed of adoption of new browser versions. Firefox 2 was officially released in late October, 2006, and just over a year later, nearly all Firefox users have upgraded to the newer version (96.5 percent use Firefox 2 versus 3.5 for Firefox 1.5). Internet Explorer 7 was released just ahead of Firefox 2, but it took until last month for the majority of IE users to have switched to version 7 (53.4 percent now use IE7, with most other IE users still on version 6, although some older versions are also still in use).

The New Tech Heroes have used the Firefox browser since its official introduction in November, 2004, and I continue to recommend it to our friends and clients for its security features and overall ease of use. Its growth in market share is largely due to its reputation as a more secure browser, as many of its innovative features are now part of Internet Explorer 7, including tabbed browsing.

Regardless of which browser you choose to use, it's vital to upgrade to the most recent version and, as with any software, make sure any security patches are downloaded and installed regularly. The browser has become the most common computer application, increasingly used to replace traditional desktop-based software, so its security is paramount to any home or small business computer.