Your next PC could very well come loaded with Google Chrome. Google is in talks with PC vendors about the possibility of including Chrome with both desktops and laptops.

Manufactures such as Dell, HP, Acer, and Toshiba are all showing interest in shipping Chrome as the default browser. Currently, the majority of PC’s ship with Internet Explorer as the default browser, as it is included with both Windows XP and Vista.

Google Chrome currently has about 1% of the browser market, while Internet Explorer has around 70%.

Users of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer could be at serious risk, with criminals hoping to be able to steal users banking passwords and other personal data.

The risk presents itself when users visit particular websites with infected code.

Security firm Trend Micro said that it has found the exploit on several websites, which until now has mostly been used to steal computer game passwords.

Microsoft has only confirmed that Internet Explorer 7 is at risk, and is yet to determine if other version of its popular web browser are affected.

A patch is in the works and we will update you when it is released.

Update: A patch has been released and should be pushed out to users with automatic updates turned on, or alternatively users can go to Windows Update and get the patch.

Microsoft has just released the IE Cumulative Security Update for December 2008.

The security update is rated critical and fixes four privately reported vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution when users view web pages with malicious code.

The security patch fixes IE 5.01, IE6 and IE7 on all versions of Windows, and the update is available on Windows Update.

It has been a good month for the ‘underdogs’ in the browser wars this month, with Firefox, Safari and Chrome all gaining ground.

Firefox has hit a fantastic milestone, now with over 20% of the web browser market, up 4% from last month. Apple’s Safari has climbed to just over 7%, up 8.5% from last month.

Even Google’s Chrome has crawled back some ground, after a steady drop off rate from the browsers first month. Chrome gained around 12% during the month, taking it’s total share to just under 1%.

The losers this month were both Opera and Internet Explorer. Opera lost 5% of it’s market, and is now 5th in the race, behind Google Chrome. November also saw Internet Explorer’s market share plummet below 70% for the first time since 1999.

You can view the full report at the Market Share website. Historical data can be sourced from Wikipedia. The browser wars are really firing up.

Microsoft has confirmed that IE8 will now be delayed to 2009. On the IEBlog, Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of Internet Explorer has stated that Microsoft “will release one more public update of IE8 in the first quarter of 2009, and then follow that up with the final release”.

The reason for the delay according to Hachamovitch is so the IE team can “make any changes they feel are necessary for the best possible customer experience using IE8, and report any critical issues. Our plan is to deliver the final product after listening for feedback about critical issues”.

Despite the delay, this should be good news for users of IE, as the current beta 2 is still quite buggy. The extra time should let Microsoft fix all outstanding issues to deliver a stable and complete product.

Those of you still using Internet Explorer may notice that you can only download a maximum of two files at once. With a quick registry fix you can increase this number up to 10. The steps you need to follow are found below:

1. Click Start->Run
2. Type ‘regedit‘ without the quotes and hit Run.
3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersions\Internet Settings
4. Click Edit->New->DWORD Value
5. Call it MaxConnectionsPerServer
6. Right click on the new value and select Modify
7. Change Base to Decimal
8. Change the Value data to 10 and click OK
9. Click Edit->New->DWORD Value
10. Call it MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
11. Right click on the new value and select Modify
12. Change Base to Decimal
13. Change the Value data to 10 and click OK
14. Click File->Exit

You should now be able to download up to 10 files at once. Much better for today’s broadband connection. This trick works for all versions of Internet Explorer from version 4 onwards. Happy downloading!

Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, has considered moving Internet Explorer’s core over to the open source WebKit rendering engine.

It appers the move is being considered as a way to stem the bleeding of users to other web browsers, who are looking for more complete and compliant web browsers.

Market Share by Net Applications shows that for October, IE’s market share has dropped to 71%.

With IE8 set for release in early 2009, changes of this magnitude would likely not be seen for another 2 years, in what could possible be IE9.

This move, if true, would be fantastic news for users and web developers everywhere.

ExitReality has today released a plugin that allows users to surf the web in 3D. This will allow surfers the chance to walk through their favourite websites as if they were playing a computer game.

The 3.5MB plugin will turn any normal website into a compelling virtual room.

The idea from ExitReality’s founder Danny Stefanic has been in development for 13 years.

Mr Stefanic says “It is the entire web in 3D – making 40 billion virtual worlds – and it will instantly transform 2D content into 3D“.

Flickr can be turned into a virtual art gallery, while YouTube can be turned into a virtual cinema. It’s second life for every day people.

Currently, the browser plugin only works on Windows and is compatible with both Internet Explorer and Firefox. The plugin can be downloaded from the ExitReality website.