The greatest feature of Windows is that the current version is compatible with software developed for the earlier versions. And nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to the flaws in Internet Explorer (IE). It seems that no matter how often this great internet tool gets patched, it remains compatible with hackers' software.

What we lovingly call Internet Exploder is one of the main routes into PCs for malware such as viruses, spyware, adware and buffer overflows. The obvious remedy is to remove it from the system.

If only it were that easy. Microsoft has weaved IE so closely into the Windows operating system that even the EC's E500m antitrust case could not winkle it out.

Having tested the Firefox browser for half a year or so, I finally tried to remove IE from my laptop last week. To do this I tried the "Add/Remove" gadget in the Windows out-of-Control Panel. Many of you will know that from here the "Add/Remove Windows components" panel is just a mouse click away, and therein is a tick-box that looks like it is there to help add or remove IE from the system.

Having cleared the checkbox and rebooted I could be forgiven for thinking that IE had in fact been removed. But then I had a Homer Simpson moment of forehead thwacking duh-ness. It happened when I clicked on a URL in my Lotus Notes email client, and saw that IE dutifully opened up and loaded the web page.

A quick search of the web revealed hints and tips on hiding IE from the user, but the gist was that IE cannot be taken away. It is woven into the Windows Update mechanism so tightly that were it to go people would have no way of patching their computers. Who said the Americans don't do irony?

Faced with such obstacles it is a minor miracle that this month IE's usage share dropped below 90 percent. Of course, there is an argument that IE has so many problems only because it is such a large target. But this argument overlooks the fact that compared to the producers of the Firefox browser, for example, Microsoft is slow to fix security flaws.

Incidentally, it's interesting to consider that Macs can run IE, and though Macs are not immune to hacking, the problems tend to have less to do with IE than with other elements of OS X.