Microsoft announced that the much anticipated Internet Explorer 8 browser is now available for download.

The new browser incorporates Web Slices and Accelerators to make your intenet experience faster and easier. It also features improved security including the new ability to completely remove all traces of any use of the browser including history, cookies, and other misc. data generated by browsing the web, which was often very difficult to do with previous versions of IE.

IE8 is available for download from Microsoft's website and is available in 25 different languages. You can catch the full press release here.

"Customers have made clear what they want in a Web browser -- safety, speed and greater ease of use," said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. "With Internet Explorer 8, we are delivering a browser that gets people to the information they need, fast, and provides protection that no other browser can match."

In response to extensive customer research and input from tens of millions of customer sessions, Microsoft developed Internet Explorer 8 to focus on what matters most to people. The security enhancements offer protection against existing and emerging security threats online. It blocks two to four times more malware attacks than other browsers; cuts down on the time it takes to complete common tasks on the Web such as searching, mapping and sharing, including navigating 15 of the 20 top worldwide sites; and blurs the lines between the services they use daily and the browser used to access the Internet.