According to the July 2010 statistics revealed by Net Market Share, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) web browser has shown a second consecutive monthly rise in usage; with the fastest growing web browser overall being IE8.

As per the most recent metrics, the IE still retains its leading position in the browser market, with almost 60.74 percent of the global Internet users preferring Microsoft’s applications over the competitors.

Talking about the dominant browser market position of the IE, Microsoft’s Ryan Gavin said in a blog post: “Overall Internet Explorer share grew 0.42 percent worldwide in July, while Firefox lost 0.90 percent share and Chrome dipped 0.08 percent in share. Most interesting is the fact that Internet Explorer 8 continues to be the fastest growing browser with a 0.98 percent increase worldwide in July.”

Gavin further added: “IE 8 now represents more than 30 percent of browser usage worldwide. In the US, Internet Explorer 8 picked up share for the third month in a row.”

Meanwhile, as per the Net Market Share data, the Mozilla Firefox was the second ranking browser in July, holding a 22.91 percent browser market share; followed by Google’s Chrome in the third place, with 7.16 percent.

In the fourth place was Apple’s Safari browser, which had 5.09 percent share during the month; and, in the fifth slot was Opera, with barely 2.45 percent share of the browser market.