Microsoft has decided to follow the lead of its rival browser, Google Chrome, as the software giant revealed on Thursday that it will soon implement silent updates of the Internet Explorer across the latest Window platforms.

The new update mode, according to a blog posted by Microsoft IE senior director Ryan Gavin takes effect January 2012 and initially covers Australian and Brazilian Windows users who installed IE8 and IE9.

Most Vista and Windows 7 will be affected by the adjustment, Gavin said, except for the Enterprise users who enjoy the privilege of manipulating the software environment of their personal computers.

The whole process, Microsoft said, will be deployed in gradual phase around the world and users opting to accept the new update mode will not be further prompted by pop-up notices of IE patches available for download.

It will be "a measured approach ... scaling over time," Gavin noted.

"Our goal is to make sure that Windows customers have the most up-to-date and safest browsing experience possible, with the best protections against malicious software, such as malware," the Microsoft executive added in the Thursday blog posting.

Browser silent updates have been the brainchild of Google engineers and hailed by web security experts as considerable shields to users regularly roaming many sites in the internet.

According to Wolfgang Kandek of Qualys, "silent updating is generally seen as a big improvement to security on the internet."

In a reaction blog cited by CRN Australia, Kandek pointed out that these days, majority of internet users have adopted the habit of installing patches to their browsers within three weeks of released updates, , with Chrome users leading the way at 97 percent.

With silent updates in place, Kandek said that users are somewhat more protected as their PCs enjoy some lead time against possible attacks.

He added that updated browsers minimise risks and shut down some windows that hackers can exploit in deploying their malwares.