NSS Labs conducted a study:

Microsoft's IE8 Catches Most 'Social Malware' (PC Magazine)

NSS Labs is an independent entity with business in many areas unrelated to this, but it's important to note that the study was funded by Microsoft.

That said, and even though the study shows IE8 and it's new SmartScreen filter head and shoulders above all other browsers, the funding does not make the study illegitimate. "Socially engineered Malware," as they put it, is arguably the most important form of Malware these days. We've reported on it many times in the last year, with recent examples here , here and here . The basic idea is that the user is enticed into visiting a web site and downloading Malware believing it to be something else.

SO what do you think about the study? So you think its ligit or no way no how?