You’ve probably noticed all the recent bad press IE6 has been getting regarding its security over the past year – remember Google being hacked? Well, new figures out have revealed that IE8 has finally overtaken IE6 as the world’s most used browser.

IE8, the latest version of Internet Explorer, now holds 22.31% of the market, compared to the troubled IE6's 20.07%.

Users have been warned to upgrade their browser after a series of flaws in the nearly decade-old IE6 - including the vulnerability that led to Google being hacked.

The Department of Health have warned NHS staff to avoid IE6, whilst the governments of Germany and France have urged citizens to upgrade or switch.

The third most used browser version was Firefox 3.5 with 17.10%, followed by IE7 at 14.58%.

Overall, the group of IE browsers lead the market with 62.18%, followed by Firefox with 24.41% share in January. Both slid slightly, contributing to Google's Chrome browser climbing from a 4.63% share in December to 5.20% in January.

Safari and Opera also posted slight declines, down to 4.51% and 2.3% respectively, according to Net Applications.