How safe is Internet Explorer?

Is Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser unsafe? Should you reconsider using it?

Last week Google announced that its subsidiary in China, along with many other companies, have been targets of a very sophisticated cyber attack. The news created a big buzz in the media and around the political world because it seemed to pit Google against China. From the consumers point of view, the worrisome news is that one of the security holes that the attackers used was found in the Internet Explorer browser, arguably the most popular browser in the world.