Firefox users, Microsoft wants you back.

The company late Wednesday released its first major upgrade of Internet Explorer in five years -- adding features like tabbed browsing to bring it more in line with Opera and Mozilla's Firefox.

Other new features include improved security to help keep users from falling victim to things like malicious software attacks and phishing scams. There's also a box in the browser that lets people search the Internet without going to a separate Web page, much like competitors.

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MARKET SHARE DIP

Web analysis company WebSideStory estimates that Internet Explorer's U.S. market share has dropped from 93 percent two years ago to about 86 percent now. Firefox currently commands about 11 percent of the market while smaller offerings account for the rest.

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PLAYING CATCH-UP?

Colin Teubner, an analyst with Forrester Research, said people already using Firefox and rival products might not immediately come back to IE. That's partly because those users have soured on Microsoft, he said, and partly because IE7 doesn't break much new ground. "A year ago Firefox was head and shoulders above Microsoft's current offering, and I think even with IE7 it's mostly playing catch up," he says.

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HOW TO GET IT

The new browser is available for downloading now at http://www.microsoft.com -- and due to security improvements over IE6 will be delivered starting next month to Windows XP users who signed up for automatic security fixes. The browser also will be an integral part of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, due out for big businesses in November and for consumers in January.

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