One of the most talked-about features in Microsoft's beta launch of IE8 is its private browsing service, which is being dubbed the 'porn mode'.

Officially called InPrivate Browsing, it lets surfers browse the net without a list of their searches, history and passwords being stored on their computers.

On the IEblog, Paul Cutsinger, lead program manager for IE8, wrote: "If you are using a shared PC, a borrowed laptop from a friend or a public PC, sometimes you don't want other people to know where you've been on the web."

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 - watch the video

Brier Dudley, of the Seattle Times, wrote: "This is a great feature for anyone who is uncomfortable with the Big Brother-ish level of user-tracking that online ad companies do nowadays. That stealthy monitoring is the obscenity everyone encounters on the web."

However, Dutch security researchers have claimed that the InPrivate Browsing mode isn't as secure as Microsoft claims.

On the Wall Street Journal blog, the beta launch has been given an enthusiastic welcome, especially with the addition of colour-coded tabbing and the Accelerator features, which allow surfers to access web services without leaving the page they're on.

The rise of Mozilla's Firefox browser has ignited a 'browser war', but, if anything,Microsoft seems to have been rejuvenated by its rival's steady rise, which saw Mozilla claim nearly 20 per cent of the global browser market. And this atmosphere of competition is good news for surfers.

As Ben Worthen writes in the WSJ: "Microsoft wouldn't need an ad campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld if it came out with more products like this."

However, not everyone is impressed. Some members of Web User's online community have expressed no desire to try IE8.

"Why can't Microsoft just stand still for a moment and stop mending things that aren't broken? Or just get those things working that aren't?" said forum member Heidi.

You can download IE8 from here. Let us know what you think in the Web User forums.

Read Web User's initial impressions of IE8 Beta 2.

www.microsoft.com/ie8

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