Why use a nine-year old browser, asks Microsoft

"When Internet Explorer 6 was launched in 2001, it offered cutting-edge security - for the time," says a webpage created specifically to get people downloading IE8. Since 2006 the internet has evolved and the security features of Internet Explorer 6 have become outdated said the firm.

“With the latest state-of-the-art security features, Internet Explorer 8 is designed to cope with today's modern cyber crime. In fact, research studies prove it,” Microsoft adds.

It says that in a study by NSS Labs, Internet Explorer 8 caught socially engineered malware 85% of the time compared to Firefox 3's 29%, Safari 4's 29% and Chrome's 17%1.

You can see the webpage here along with a feature to pass it on to anyone you think is still living in 2006.