The new browser has a new feature called “InPrivate”. Using this feature of the browser, users can access websites in private, hiding their personal details from search engines that use the information to target advertising at individuals.
The feature, called InPrivate, has been dubbed in some blog postings as "porn mode", because it also hides the browsing history from other people using the same computer.
Google has faced an outcry over the amount of information it collects from users of its services. David Mitchell, an information technology analyst at Ovum, said: "If the hype around privacy gains more credibility, more people will hit the private button. There is a potential threat here to click-through advertising."
IE8 will be available for public download as a "beta" version, but Microsoft would not commit to a date for the software to be bundled into the Windows operating system.
Several features in IE8 are reminiscent of Firefox, the open source rival browser , including the use of customised and site-specific searches in a feature called Visual Search. However, Microsoft has denied it had copied features from rivals.
According to Net Applications, a web consultancy and applications provider, Microsoft’s worldwide share of browser usage is 73 per cent with Firefox on 19 per cent.
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