Microsoft: 7 percent downloads are malware

REDMOND, Wash., May 18 (UPI) -- U.S. software giant Microsoft said Wednesday that 7.1 percent of all downloads on Internet Explorer are malicious programs, often called malware.

While explaining the effectiveness of Application Reputation, a program designed to protect Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft revealed that IE9 and its predecessor IE8 block as many as 5 million malware attacks each day, PC Magazine reported Wednesday.

"Using reputation helps protect users from newly released malware programs -- pretending to be legitimate software programs -- that are not yet detected by existing defense mechanisms," said Jeb Haber, program manager for SmartScreen in an online posting.