Oh terrific. Just when we thought things were winding down for the festive season, Microsoft users are advised not to use Internet Explorer until a major security vulnerability is plugged. Clearly I agree, but I'd add a second plea - when you've cross-graded to Chrome, Firefox, Opera or whatever else, stay with it.

This isn't because I believe Microsoft should be toppled from its pole position in the market. I'm not one of those; I hear plenty from people who hate MS and forget that the fact you can hire people for an office job and not worry about training them to operate a mouse is mostly down to the efforts of that company. Yes of course it was aiming for its own profit at the time. I have no problem with that.

No, the issue I have with IE's market dominance is that this market share makes it a more appealing target to the hackers, which is why this sort of thing happens.

Think about it. Some 95 per cent of desktops are Windows-based and the vast majority use the default browser, Internet Explorer. If you were a hacker wanting to cause trouble through a browser there's frankly only one choice. If, on the other hand, a load of us migrated away, without any negative comment on Microsoft, then the target becomes less clear.

Of course it's not going to happen, at least not quickly. But if you are among those moving away temporarily, it might be worth considering not coming back immediately just because you can.